Quit Sneering At Meditation and Do It
Quit Sneering At Meditation and Do It
It Really Will Help Your Writing
It Really Will Help Your Writing
A couple of years ago, I took a meditation class and committed to meditating regularly.
Turned out, I loved it.
I wrote about it on my own blog and republished that story here on Medium.
And then, about a year ago, my life got crazy. I know, I know, everyone’s life is crazy. I mean that seriously, we are all over-booked. Which is why we need meditation. And also the reason why I stopped.
But over the last couple of weeks, I’ve started again. And it is such a relief. Let me detail the ways.
Benefits
— I’m calmer.
— I’m less apt to leap to judgement.
— I’m more focused.
— I’m less reactive. (Most of the time.)
— It’s easier to get to my writing practice without moaning and groaning.
And I’m sure there are more ways that I’ve not even noticed yet. But if I had to name the two most important, I’d say calm and focus. Because those are dearly important qualities for a writer to cultivate.
Benefits to a Writer
Calm
Let’s just dispense with the idea that a writer’s life has to be full of turmoil and pain in order for her to be successful. Quite the opposite. Calm will make it easier for you to get to the page. Calm will make it easier to write — put your emotion on the page, in the words of Julia Cameron. And calm will make it easier for you to stay rooted in your writing session.
(Be sure to click on the Instagram image I embedded above. It’s a wonderful piece written by Elizabeth Gilbert about ditching the myth of the tortured writer.)
Focus
It’s what every writer needs more of. Seriously. I don’t have to tell you that we have become a society of people who walk around absorbed in their cell phones. Or their tablets, or laptops. We are now bombarded by the equivalent of 174 newspapers every day. No wonder it is difficult to focus on writing.
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Distraction minefields abound along the way to a writing session, and they don’t abate while we’re writing. Having a calm, still mind makes it much easier to tend to your words without getting lured away by the latest notification from your phone or laptop.
Aids For Your Practice
Insight Timer
I highly recommend this. It’s my go-to timer. Yes, you can use the clock app on your phone or set a timer on your computer, and that’s fine. But the Insight Timer allows you to customize your session. You can add background noise, or not. You can set interval bells so you have some idea how long you’ve been meditating, and you can choose what they sound like. You can set a warm-up countdown. You can also choose from a wide variety of guided meditations.
Insight Timer is free, but there is a paid option which unlocks every more, and it’s only $5 a month.
YouTube
Type “meditation” into the search box at YouTube and you’ll find a gazillion. Enough to keep you meditating for a long, long time. Or you can just play one of their rain or ocean sound videos.
Brain-fm
While this is my go-to site for focus music while I write, they also have sets for relaxation and sleep. Highly recommended.
Guided Meditations
Sometimes you just need a soothing voice to help you sit. The above-mentioned Insight Timer has a bunch of guided meditations, on all kinds of topics. And you can find all kinds of meditations all over the internet. Deepak Chopra and Oprah run regular meditation programs. I’m a big fan of the work and meditations of Davidji (he’s got the most soothing voice ever). Danielle LaPorte has some lovely ones.
Just Begin
Start with five minutes. Or ten. It doesn’t matter. Do it regularly enough (daily is good, just as daily writing is good) so that you start to see a difference, and then you’ll actually want to do it.
Because if there’s one thing I know about writers, it’s that we are all searching for the magic trick that will help us in our writing sessions. Meditation may not be a magic bullet, but it’s a damn helpful one.
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