Last week, I was listening to a podcast, and the interviewee was asked about his creativity. He described it as being like an exhale.
That image stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t shake it. Creativity is like an exhale.
I was taken straight back to the early days of my treatment for PTSD, when even breathing felt impossible. I remember crying in my therapist’s room, frustrated that I couldn’t manage the simplest of breathing exercises. Breathing seemed to make me worse. My body was stuck in fight-flight mode, my sympathetic nervous system in overdrive. My breath was tight, shallow, sometimes held altogether. My shoulders practically lived up by my ears.
As Bessel van der Kolk explains in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma lives in the body, in restricted breath, braced muscles, and rigid postures. That was me to a tee. Even now, in tricky therapy sessions, I sometimes hear my therapist gently say, "Andrea, breathe."
Over time, I’ve learned something important: exhaling is where the magic happens. A long, slow breath out activates the parasympathetic nervous system through the vagus nerve. It lowers heart rate, eases blood pressure, and signals safety to the brain. It whispers to the amygdala, "You’re not in danger anymore."
Exhaling helps us come back to ourselves. And when I heard creativity described as an exhale, I thought—yes. That’s it.
Creativity as Release
When we exhale, we let go. Out goes tension. Out goes what the body no longer needs.
Creativity can work the same way. Putting brush to paper, words to page, or music into the air is a form of release. We give shape to what’s inside: thoughts, feelings, images, so we no longer have to carry them quite so heavily. Just as the body feels relief after a breath out, the mind feels lighter after creative expression.
In fact, neuroscience backs this up. Creative practices, such as painting, writing, dancing, gardening, and baking, can calm the amygdala, reduce stress hormones, and increase dopamine and serotonin. They help us move from overwhelm to regulation, from holding our breath… to breathing out.
As illustrator Laura Jaworski puts it:
“Inhale possibility. Exhale creativity.”
“In the breath of life, art lives.”
The Completion of the Cycle
Breathing has a natural rhythm: the inhale reaches a peak, then the exhale completes the cycle. Creativity mirrors this.
When we finish a creative act, whether it’s a painting, a knitted scarf, or a loaf of bread, the brain rewards us with a little burst of dopamine. A sense of satisfaction. A gentle pause, like the still moment after an exhale, when there’s space and quiet in the mind.
That’s why, for me, creativity is restorative. It doesn’t just express; it restores.
Irwin Raphael McManus put it beautifully:
“Creativity should be an everyday experience. Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe. Therefore, we create.”
Returning to Play
As children, we knew instinctively that creativity was about the act, not the outcome. Scribbles, mud pies, songs shouted out of tune, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the joy of making.
As adults, we forget. We become judges of our own work. We rate, compare, criticise. I’m learning to return to the simple pleasure of process: enjoying the painting, not celebrating the painting. Playing, without pressure.
That’s the spirit I want to invite you into, too.
An Invitation
One of my main reasons for writing these Illustrated Musings is to keep myself creating because I know how much it helps me breathe. I hope you will join me in that space.
So let me ask:
What might creativity look like for you? Not “what are you good at making?” but “what process do you enjoy?” Is it baking? Gardening? Knitting? Dancing in your kitchen? Singing loudly in the car?
And if you’d like to explore creativity with me, I’m opening up some opportunities:
🌱 For those near Kirkham, Lancashire, I’ll run some in-person art classes. Details are on my Facebook page.
🎨 For readers everywhere else: as part of my new paid subscription (£5/month, £50/year), you’ll receive a downloadable “illustration of the month” plus a monthly, gently guided Google Meet creative session. Think of it as an hour of exhaling together.
I’m offering a free taster session on Monday, September 22nd, at 7.30 pm (UK time). There is no need for fancy supplies. You can show up with scrap paper and your child’s felt tips. Cameras will be off (except mine!). Just turn up and breathe out creatively with me.
To finish off, I’m sharing some of my recent watercolours. Not necessarily my “best,” but the ones that brought me joy in the process. The ones where I let go of expectation and simply painted for the fun of it.
Here’s to many more long exhales.
Thank you, as always, for reading. If you know someone who might need this reminder that creativity can be as natural and necessary as breathing, please feel free to share it.