Creative Flow in Musical Composition—How My Studies in Chi Energy Shaped My Creativity as a Composer

This article was born from an artistic collaboration between a Sámi textile artist and me as a composer. At the heart of our work, Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat, three woven triptychs inspired by Sámi cosmology, met newly composed music shaped through my engagement with chi-based practices of flow and awareness. The creative process unfolded as a spiritual journey; a path of listening, learning, and standing with indigenous knowledge while acknowledging my position as a non-Sámi artist. Drawing on decolonial research, autoethnography, and relational methodologies, I describe how embodied practices, attention to breath, body, and energy flow, opened space for creativity and for dialogue. Rather than presenting measurable outcomes, I trace small yet significant shifts in how moments where music, weaving, and improvisation re-coded church spaces marked by colonial inheritance, and where relational gestures carried possibilities of reconciliation. The article contributes to current discussions in artistic research by showing how composition can be both intellectual and corporeal, both personal and political. In doing so, it suggests that creative flow, when rooted in collaboration and relationship with fellow artists and more-than-human entities, can contribute to a decolonial practice. The results are fragile and partial, but filled with resonance and hope.