om spirit om spirit
The of asana
How yoga is unlocking the creativity of US-based artist and illustrator Ashley Chase
A
shley Chase is an artist and
illustrator based in Los Angeles
and also a dedicated yogini.
In fact, her yoga practice has
inspired much of her work, as
well as playing an important part in her life,
and helping to unlock creativity.
Her clients include culinary and
culture magazines, educational and state
programmes, restaurants, as well as private
commissions and lots of experience in the
fashion industry. She also enjoys exploring
figure drawing through illustrating the
body in asana, based in iconic yoga poses
(watercolours and oil pastels).
Her yoga journey started years earlier.
“I got into yoga probably 20 years ago,
when I was a teenager,” she tells OM. “At
that time, it didn’t seem to be so trendy
or mainstream. Yoga studios were actually
hard to find; we had to drive to a different
town to find a studio.”
She adds: “I remember dragging my mum
to a class. The instructor guided us into
Uttanasana and then asked us to imagine
we were a tree blowing in the wind and our
arms were our branches and our body was
the trunk. “Sway like the tree in the wind,” theinstructor told us. My mum, with her head
between her knees, glared at me sideways
and whispered: “What the heck, Ashley!?” Ha!”
Today, she lives in Venice, California, and
has seen yoga grow exponentially in the
years since. “Now, I could do that on the
corner of Abbot Kinney Boulevard and no
one would think twice! In fact, it seems there
are more yoga studios than Starbucks here.”
Although she does have a favourite local
studio, she also likes to attend classes at
half a dozen other centres within biking
distance on a regular basis.Yoga and art
As well as providing immense health and
wellness benefits, there’s no doubt that yoga
has helped professionally too in her career
as an artist.
“As a visual artist, yoga has become an
important means for me to open up, both
spiritually and physically,” she says. “In a
very tangible sense, yoga helps me open
and expand the areas of my body that
become stiff from painting and illustrating.
I spend quite a bit of time hunched over
my workspace – leaning over a canvas, a
pad of paper or a computer. My neck, back“I got into yoga probably
20 years ago, when I was
a teenager. At that time, it
didn’t seem to be so trendy
or mainstream. Yoga studios
were actually hard to find;
we had to drive to a different
town to find a studio.”art