Do you need to relax after a long, focused session writing or are you suffering from writer’s block?
Then Meditation could work for you.
I asked my long-time friend Corinne Schurink to write a piece on meditation and she was delighted to share her knowledge, having been practicing meditation for many years.
Meditation is about being with your inner self, tapping into your intuition, being more present in the moment that is here and now, connecting with your heart space and enjoying the essence and peace surrounding who you truly are.
Through cultivating this practice you will become more calm and centred, giving your mind some space so that words may flow more easily, to allow characters and storylines to reveal themselves.
Contrary to what many people may think, that they don’t have time or patience to sit still and shut their mind off, there really is no difficult process to follow.
The most important thing is that you have a straight back whilst meditating, sit up straight in your chair, imagine you are a mountain. This allows the prana or chi, life force energy, to flow more easily up the spine and allow the mind to find its true state of rest.
Now focus on your breath. Breathe in and out deeply through your nose or mouth. Keep your eyes open and your gaze slightly down your nose. You may also have your eyes closed if you prefer. Notice the space between the out breath and the in breath. When you become aware of your breathing and feel relaxed enough, you may notice that you become one with your breath.
Don’t worry about thoughts still occupying your mind, the more you do this, the more they will calm and if they don’t, just by being more aware of your thoughts shows how your mind has finally slowed down enough to notice.
If emotions or feelings arise within you, just sit with them, they will pass just as everything in life passes, it’s only for a moment. Think of your mind as muddy water and when left alone the particles will finally settle and reveal the water’s true nature, totally clear and spacious to ‘allow the now’.
If you have difficulty focussing on your breath another way to relax is to focus on an object such as a flower, a tree, the sky, something beautiful that is true to you.
Try to follow this practice, which is also a form of mindfulness, every time you come to the end of your working day. It doesn’t matter whether you do it for 5 or 15 minutes, the key is consistency. It is also a nice way to transition from your work routine to your social life or when settling down for the evening. Another good time to meditate is early in the morning before starting any writing. With consistent practice, I promise the creative juices will not only flow but increase your creativity too.
The skill of meditation is to relax, but remain alert, and you will experience the bliss of your true nature, your talents and the joy this wonderful gift of writing can bring to your life.
A little bit more about Corinne from her:
If you wish to know more about meditation the Brahma Kumaris organisation
http://www.brahmakumaris.org/
and the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
https://www.amaravati.org/
run regular meditation workshops, for donations.
