How Writers Can Use Meditation to Improve Their Craft

Focus and creativity are two things that writers desperately need when they are writing something. Meditation can help writers make sure that they are on track with their writing goals.

Meditation has been proven to inspire creativity. Think of yoga, the age old method of body meditation that enhances your mental and spiritual wellbeing. Yoga was recently found to be a good meditation technique for inspiring creativity, as the mental peace and the state of being tranquil actually helped people get their creative juices flowing.

The close link between meditation and writing is often underrated. Both writing and meditation work hand in hand to allow creativity to flourish. Meditation ends up making us better writers, while writing can boost our ability to meditate.

In this article, we will look at some of the best mindfulness exercises that you can follow to boost your creativity and focus. You can look at these mindfulness exercises for inspiration and make your own meditation plan to break the cycle of monotony and achieve greater things with the power and ability of your mind.

Breathing Meditation for Writers

Deep breathing is the best way to start if you are new to the concept of meditation and don’t know much about it.

The deep breathing meditation for writers is extremely easy to follow, and it can get your focus and creativity back. It takes inspiration from the age-old methods of relaxing and catching your breath back, and it gives your brain a breather of sorts.

There are certain steps you should follow to get to the most out of this meditation technique:

1. Sit somewhere extremely quiet and comfortable. You need to feel relaxed and peaceful.
2. Tell your mind that you are going to sit here for around 5 minutes and you will just focus on achieving peace within the mind.
3. Start the meditation by taking a deep breath through your mouth and your nose.
4. You will now have a sensation moving around your body. Focus on this sensation of breath and try following it across your body.
5. Take approximately a hundred breaths in a similar fashion. The number might sound big and daunting, but believe me, it won’t take much time.
6. You will now feel extremely relaxed and more focused. Get back to your work and achieve the brilliance you want with your words.
7. If you feel that you’re losing focus again, you should consider doing this breathing technique one more time.

Vipassana Meditation for Writers

Vipassana is a method of solitary meditation that helps you understand your innate thoughts and work on them for the better understanding of your surroundings. The technique is quite old.

Vipassana can help you:

• Become more aware of all the thoughts that are going inside your mind, and how they relate to you. The thoughts you get through Vipassana can help you become more aware through characterization.
• Overcome any and all obstacles that are troubling you currently. Any hinderances that come in between you and your writing goal should be overcome with this technique of meditation.

The method for Vipassana includes the following steps:

1. Start with the deep breathing technique, and continue further with it.
2. Notice where your mind is wandering. Let your mind wander wherever it wants.
3. Label things where your mind is wandering to.
4. If the mind wanders towards a thought, write ‘this is a thought’.
5. If the mind wanders towards a sensation within your body, write ‘this is a sensation’.
6. If your mind wanders to any of the sensory information, write, ‘this is sound / vision / touch / taste / scent’.
7. You should now be able to tell where the mind is wandering off to and how you can retain control over it. Master Vipassana for more advanced results.

Zen Walking Meditation

Zen walking meditation is popular with writers and other creative workers for one very important reason: it helps to change their routine and make them relax.

Zen walking is by far one of the most popular and practiced methods of meditation. If you work from home, get up to leave the house and relax. If you work at an office, just take a stroll along the pavement outside and come back in. Let your mind wander off during the walk, and do not try to curtail whatever thoughts you are having.

Zen walking meditation isn’t just needed for mental health reasons, but it can also help you with keeping a touch on your physical well-being after spending all that time seated in one place.

Describing Beauty

Writer’s block is as real as anything else that a writer experiences, and there is a need for you to identify it and work on improving it. One method of unblocking is to describe a beautiful thing. For instance, pick up a specific flower and describe all the beautiful sights and sounds around it in a 500-word article. Make sure that your words are flowing and that you’re focused throughout. With the right concentration, you can end up making significant process here.

Silent Group Meditation

If you’re in a long-term project and feel that your creativity has died down, then you need to try silent meditation. Join a group of like-minded people, and sit with them for a while. Share the silence together, and let it speak.

Silence puts the mind at peace, and makes you want to explore the aura around you. Let the silence in you come out roaring, and foster your creativity the right way.