I think creativity is just part of our spiritual DNA. Artists talk of it in different ways. But essentially when you’re in the moment of making something — whether you’re singing or painting or writing — you have an experience of something moving through you. And people have that when they get involved with sewing an apron or writing a letter.

It’s that funny sense of altered time — and that’s a spiritual experience, although people don’t often think of it that way. You know when someone will say, “I looked up and three hours had gone by.” That’s because they were absorbed in the now. All spiritual practices talk about getting absorbed in the now.

“Walking in This World” makes the case that the body is intimately involved in the creative process. How?

When we walk things tend to become clear to us. You know a lot of us intuitively know this, like if we have a relationship that’s not working very well we’ll go out for a long walk on it. And we’ll think oh we’re being so moody but we may come back saying I should stay in it or I have to break up. We automatically access our bodies just from instinct. This is also why if somebody has a trauma, bodywork is often used to release grief.

What I’m hoping to do is to get people to integrate their body into their spiritual practice and into their art. And many times in creative situations your stomach will start to go crazy and it’ll be, “Don’t trust this producer,” “This agent isn’t right for you.” — Beliefnet.com