Flow Study: The Work of Elena Brower
The Flow Study blog explores the intersection of art & yoga. Here, we’re exploring the work of Elena Brower, a poet, artist, yoga teacher, and friend of Yoga Off East. We commissioned a piece of art for the studio which hangs in our tea lounge!
Meet Elena Brower
If you want to know the work of Elena Brower, there are many avenues for doing so. Read her book of poems, Softening Time, or listen to her PracticeYou Podcast. You can take her yoga asana classes on Glo, take her Perceptive Parenting course, and explore her website to soak in the richness of this exceptionally creative being.
In anticipation of hosting Elena at the studio in March, we asked her a few questions about her yoga process and creative flow. Here’s that interview:
When did you begin painting, and what was the inspiration?
My first memory of painting is in my room at home; my mom would always encourage me to make art and offer me supplies throughout my childhood. In middle and high school, both of my art teachers opened doors to my confidence with their unconditional support. As an adult, I was asked to create my first watercolor journal, Practice You, in 2016, which became a bestseller and inspired a second journal, Being You.
When my family moved from New York to New Mexico in 2020, I realized I had space to create larger works, and began experimenting with acrylic, oil crayon, collage, gouache, and even stitching. Studying women abstract artists such as Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, Agnes Martin, and Agnes Pelton, I've continued creating, mostly deriving inspiration from my meditation practice as it's evolved. The ebbs and flows of my life as a parent, partner, writer, and creator have also informed the flavor of the work.
How would you describe your style and approach as a visual artist?
Abstract, intuitive, elemental. I love incorporating the element of water into my work directly, allowing it to tell me where to go and how to respond to it in the process of making the works.
How has your yoga practice inspired and influenced your art?
Yoga has helped me find the ground of my being and stay with myself when things feel difficult. In my art process, I paint in the same room as my yoga practice space, so I often find myself moving from painting to brush-washing to brief interludes of asana in order to listen to my breathing and take pause. I also find myself writing while painting sometimes, which I enjoy.
.... and how has your art inspired or influenced your time on the mat?
Art-making has moved me to appreciate my yoga practice all the more. While both painting and yoga happen in liminal spaces, and time seems to stop in both, art challenges me to practice patience in my cells, which then translates into my teaching and personal practice on the mat.
In your mind, how are art and yoga connected?
Both are offering time-out-of-time, a chance to pay caring attention both inwardly and outwardly, to practice simplicity, and take space. All are valuable commodities in this day and age.
“In my art process, I paint in the same room as my yoga practice space, so I often find myself moving from painting to brush-washing to brief interludes of asana in order to listen to my breathing and take pause.”
—Elena Brower
