by Theresa Garee | Sep 16, 2020 | Blog
Don’t Just Write. Sit! Meditation Improves Creative Thinking and Focus
I sometimes surprise my students when I ask them to try meditation during my adult writing classes. “What’s meditation have to do with writing?” more than one has asked over the twenty years I’ve taught. When I first began to teach, meditation was seen as a hippie, woo woo, new age thing. Some students even feared it might interfere with their religion.
But things have changed.
Now, most students are at least familiar with some meditation technique and many have a regular practice. I find that encouraging, especially as evidence through scientific study continues to show temporary and lasting physical, emotional, and creative benefits.
In the article “30 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Meditation” Patrick Zeis organizes his list into those categories. I read the piece as part of the 200-Hour Meditation Leader training I’m taking through Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness. I joined this intensive training so I might offer a more thorough meditative experience to all types of creative people, not just writers.
While the benefits listed in the article inspired me to deepen my own practice, two stood out as especially helpful to writers and other creative people.
First, meditation improves creative thinking skills.
People seek me out when stuck. They want to tell their stories but can’t find the deep well of creativity inside. I offer meditation as part of the solution. Zeis writes, “Science has shown how untapped creative resources can undoubtedly be found within us all.” It builds creative thinking skills needed to do this work.
The article cites a study from Leiden University in the Netherlands. The research found that “practicing open monitoring meditation techniques resulted in higher divergent thinking test scores.” And practicing “focused attention meditation techniques resulted in higher convergent thinking scores.”
I offer different meditation practices to boost the mind’s natural ability. These same methods enable me to complete projects and helped me find a publisher.
Second, meditation increases focus and productivity.
A vast majority of my clients lament their lack of focus. Some can’t finish projects or get started at all. Zeis explains that a University of Washington study showed the effectiveness of meditation. Participants who meditated as part of the study could concentrate longer without being distracted. Meditation improves the skills needed for doing this work.
Since meditation improves creative thinking and focus, I will continue to use it in my classes. If you haven’t considered meditation, add it to your writing toolkit. The results might amaze you!
The original version of this article appeared in The Innovation.
by Theresa Garee | Aug 13, 2018 | Blog
Today, I spent a fabulous afternoon in the company of writers. Yes, I did most of the talking, but what the people arbitrarily labelled “participants” didn’t know going in was that I needed them more than they needed me.
I teach the “rules of writing practice” as taught to me by best-selling author Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind). In the year 2000, shortly before Ed and I returned to my home state of Ohio after living in Taos, New Mexico where I had studied with Natalie, Nat told me to teach writing practice in Ohio. She knew what I needed.
My lame paraphrasing of Nat’s brilliance goes something like this:
1. Use Timed Intervals
. . . just like in meditation practice. Start with ten minutes. Set the microwave timer and GO! The time constraint has a pressure cooker effect, heating up our minds and helping words flow.
2. Keep Your Hand Moving . . .
. . . for the entire time period you’ve selected. It separates and your creative momentum from that oppressive internal editor. No stopping. No crossing out. Don’t let that critic have a chance to stop your naturally moving hand. If you don’t know what to write, write the topic again and continue. Something more will arise.
3. Be Specific.
Oak, not tree. Teddy bear, not stuffed animal. Capture the essential details of your life.
4. Don’t Worry about Spelling, Punctuation; Grammar. Or even the lines on the Page
5. Go for the Jugular.
If it’s scary, it has energy. If you don’t write about it, you’ll just end up writing around it. Even if you know you’ll never publish those words, just go for it!
6. You’re Free to Write the Worst Junk in America
(America, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe). Take the pressure off. We all write junk. If you’re free to write awful nasty stuff, you’ll be free to write hot, lively stuff as well.
7. Lose Control!
Don’t try to manage what goes down on the page. Let the wild waves of your mind roam free. Don’t grip the pen too hard. It doesn’t matter how sloppy your writing or your thoughts become. Set yourself free.
8. Don’t Think.
Take a vacation from logic, organization, or anything your left-brain loves. Capture the way your mind first flashes on an experience. Step into the words and go. Become the words. No mind. Just write.
Simple enough.
The problem? I forget to follow them.
These “rules” have become so ingrained in me that I take them for granted. And I forget to use them. I lose sight of the practice that has kept me going all these years. I still write, of course, but not with the wild abandon and rich freedom offered by these simple rules. My writing turns shallow and my mind dull. I lose touch with my own big heart and crazy wild mind.
So thank you today to the brave “participants” who allowed me to refresh my recollection by teaching. And thank you to Nat (always) for knowing what I needed in order for the practice to continue at my own desk and at the desks of others. As is often the case, we teach what we need to learn.
by Theresa Garee | Aug 1, 2018 | Blog
Don’t miss my next class!
Sunday, August 12 at 1 PM – 5 PM
Upper Arlington Senior Center
1945 Ridgeview Road, Columbus, Ohio 43221
Fee: $50
For more information call 614-583-5300. Register online here.
“I fully recommend Nita Sweeney, a wonderful teacher who I asked to bring writing practice to Ohio. She has studied with me intensively for many years and understands the fears and hopes of writers. Her workshops benefit beginners as well as long-time practitioners.” – Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind
Does that nasty inner critic keep you from writing? If so, spend an afternoon learning writing practice with Nita Sweeney, MFA, freelance writer, teacher, and long-time student of Natalie Goldberg. “Writing practice” reduces stress around writing, increases productivity, and tames the inner critic. In-class writing practice, optional reading with no critique and short periods of meditation help students access their wild writing minds. No previous writing or meditation experience is necessary. Course content varies to accommodate returning students. Open to adults of all ages. Bring a pen, a notebook, and an open mind for a day filled with creative fun!
by Theresa Garee | Jun 11, 2018 | Blog
Should I offer this class? I have plenty of experience!
by Theresa Garee | Aug 3, 2017 | Blog
“Technology gives us the facilities that lessen the barriers of time and distance – the telegraph and cable, the telephone, radio, and the rest.” – Emily Greene Balch
Sometimes life hands you a gift. My most recent present came in the form of an email from Cynthia Rosi, host of the podcast Word Carver which airs on WGRN 94.1 FM asking if I’d like to be on the show. What an honor!
She interviewed me about my monthly email publication Write Now Newsletter, my time assisting Natalie Goldberg, my teaching of Natalie’s techniques, the memoir I’m currently working on (Twenty-Six Point Freaking Two), and the changes I’ve noticed in the Columbus writing scene over the past fourteen years I’ve been publishing the newsletter.
Cynthia is easy to talk to. She’s smart and asks good questions. I love that she asked whether I have a “tip jar” – which I do – making it sound as if I’m a barista in a coffee shop brewing a special drink for each of you every month. I hope you enjoy this month’s selection.
You can listen to the interview here.
