1. For When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed by Life 

Sometimes the problem isn’t your writing; it’s everything else going on in your life. The mind can be a crowded place even on the best of days! But when you’re stressed, the swirl of thoughts and feelings can be a tidal wave reaching up to drown you. Your writing goals (like mine) might be a victim of this overwhelm because, unless you’re a full-time writer, it’s a “you” thing that can be cut without impacting anybody else. 

And yes, sometimes simplifying your to-do list is needed. But other times, you need to declutter your mind (not your schedule) to help you see the time and space you do have for writing. That’s why meditation can be a great pre-writing ritual! Even a 13-minute meditation like this one can help clear the way for a productive, easeful writing session. 

2. For When You Want to Keep Your Writing Sprints Interesting

Writing sprints are a great tool you can use to get over a resistance toward writing. For me personally, after a long day on my computer, often the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer and restart my angry typing. But if I can tell myself, “just do twenty minutes and then you can go read,” I’m much more likely to get to it. And then once I start, I might find my groove. And when I find my groove, I’ll keep going!

There are tons of musical meditations you can use that are in increments of ten minutes. Simply hit play and write until the music stops. Here’s one of my favorites! It’s upbeat and has no words, so it is fun without being distracting.  

3. For When You Need a Power Nap Before You Write

Rest is a key ingredient to creativity! But if you’re like me and wake up actually grumpier and more tired after a nap, you probably avoid siestas altogether and just accept tiredness as a part of life or skip writing and go to bed early. 

An alternative you could try is Yoga Nidra. Don’t worry, this won’t require you to bend into a pretzel or stand in tree pose. Yoga Nidra is actually “yogic sleep”. It resets your nervous system through a set of body scans and other techniques that put your body into a state of rest and digest…without you actually needing to go to sleep. It’s not meditation, but has similar benefits. 

So if you have time (most Yoga Nidra sessions, like this one I love, are 20+ minutes), give it a try! You’ll feel both invigorated and at peace. That’s a great state from which to write. Bonus tip: there are tons of Yoga Nidra’s you can do before bed to help you fall asleep faster, too! That might set you up for more energy to write the next day.

4. For When You’re Stuck in A Plot Hole or Other Writing Mishap

Sometimes you write yourself into a hole that you just don’t know how to dig yourself out of. It might be that you’re bored by your own book, changed your mind about a subplot or character too many times and don’t know what to do next, or don’t know how to get your character from point A to point B. 

Visualization exercises can be a great way to get your mind processing ideas and information in a different way. Here’s a “treasure hunting” visualization that I enjoy. It really stimulates all your different senses as you move through a magical cave and into a room with thousands of little treasure chests, each containing a message for you! Perhaps one of them holds the key to your present writing conundrum? 

5. For When Rejection Stops You In Your Tracks

Rejection is one of those more unfortunate ingredients in the writing process. But if you’re bravely putting yourself out there, sooner or later, you’re gonna get rejected. It may be from a beta reader who thinks your most beloved character is two-dimensional, it may be from a your dream agent, it may be from a publishing house, or it might be that first 1-star Goodreads review you read even though you know you shouldn’t have. 

Rejection is a reality of the process. But knowing that intellectually and dealing with it emotionally are two different things! Meditation can be one tool in your toolkit for sorting through the sadness (or anger) and finding the motivation to carry on despite it. Here is one meditation that might help you press pause on your emotions instead of letting them swallow you whole. 

Ashley Christiano is a fantasy writer, experienced tarot reader, and professional astrologer based on Los Angeles, CA. As The Novel Mystic, she combines the power of astrology, tarot, and creative writing to empower women, educate the astro-curious, and inspire her own storytelling. You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter to learn more or get your own reading.

The post #5onFri: Five Meditations to Help You Find Your Writing Confidence appeared first on DIY MFA.

At dusk I listen to the birds tucking in for the night. Their chatter is loud but not quite as loud as the morning. Hearing the birds wind down from the day signals my mind to likewise slow down for the night. My stress levels calm down on days my internal clock is synced to birdsong at dawn and dusk.

I feel like a part of my day is missing if I don’t hear the birds sing. I start the day relaxed and centered, and my observational skills are sharper. This is the perfect time to start listening. Spring is prime time for males to show off in hopes of attracting a mate. Birdsong is in full swing.

Why does birdsong relax the brain?

Our brains love predictable patterns. Knowing what is next in a pattern helps settle the mind into a groove so that everything is in sync. An example is the A-B-A pattern in music. Even if you aren’t a musician you subconsciously learn and anticipate what comes next with the structure of verse-chorus-verse. Fractals in nature, such as the repeating patterns of the leaf mimicking the structure of the tree, relax our minds in a similar way.

Tai Chi is also a restorative series of repeating patterns. I learned and now teach the forms by repeating these patterns. With each repetition a new circuit is created in the brain. Over time muscle memory takes over. This frees my creative energy to flow and my brain to percolate ideas in the background. My students love the soundtrack of birdsongs I play during class.

Birds create their own songs with a set series of patterns. When you listen to birds in your neighborhood you get familiar with these patterns and anticipate them. The white winged dove always sings woo-woo-ho-hoo. The pygmy nuthatch sings in monotones of peep-peep-peep. The owls talk across the trees by saying hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo.

On days when I am stuck or life events have pulled me away from writing, listening to birdsong hits the reset button and reframes my mind in a setting outside my inner monologue. The birds don’t care if that sentence didn’t work or I’m behind on a deadline. This time spent simply listening anchors me in a present place. It also gives my brain a rest to process and connect ideas.

How does listening to it help my writing?

I started this daily ritual after hearing nature writer David George Haskell advise other nature writers to go outside and just listen before writing a single word. It is now as much a part of my life routine as it is my writing routine.

I’ve learned from observation that birds start singing at dawn, get louder at daybreak, and go quiet when the sun is fully up. With daily practice I now anticipate who will be singing first and when others will join in the chorus. The curve-billed thrasher is the last to sing. Once he goes quiet, so does everyone else.

I love mysteries, and solving puzzles of bird behavior sparks my imagination. When the birds suddenly stop singing I look for clues to solve the mystery, such as a hawk on top of a nearby lamp post or a sudden shift in the weather. Connecting these cause-and-effect elements in nature translate to developing subplots that drive the main plot forward.

Listening to birdsong improves concentration. Your brain adapts to focus on just one thing. At first you only hear the main notes. After you recognize this pattern you’ll start to hear the in-between notes too.  Many characters and plot developments in my book were inspired by observing what was happening in the landscapes around me.

Paying attention to birdsong also helps with world building. You notice things you often overlook: the plants and trees in your area, the weather conditions, daylight or darkness, what the wind is doing, or how sound travels in different conditions. Taking in these details subconsciously helps your brain with the setting of your story.

Listening also helps with story structure. Starling songs are the shining example. Like a three-act story arc, their songs have a beginning of tea kettle-like whistles, something improvised in between, and a whistled crescendo at the end. The improvisation of a curve-billed thrasher might seem without any structure at first. In time, though, you learn the patterns and inflections of this bird’s song and the story he is telling. Sometimes these stories are warnings, and other times they are news reports.

We share 50 genes with birds related to vocal learning. Young birds learn songs from adult birds in the same way that human infants learn words from human adults. Both learn by a repetition of sounds, leading to a sequence of sounds that communicate meaning.

What are some best practices in listening to birdsong?

Ideally you want to listen sometime between dawn and sunrise. If this doesn’t fit in your morning routine you can also listen at dusk. Start with one bird and listen to that one bird’s song for a couple of weeks. Over time you will hear other notes in the song.

Once you are familiar with this one bird, start paying attention to the other layers of birds’ songs. With each day of practice you’ll hear who joins in at what time. Imagine their world. What are they saying, and why? Once you are tuned in to birdsong, you will hear it everywhere!

If weather prevents you from being outside, you can find wonderful soundscapes on Soundcloud. While writing I concentrate best when listening to soundscapes. I mostly listen to places familiar to me but occasionally I try something new. Bird songs from other parts of the world can sound so foreign that it’s like listening to science fiction.

Remember that it takes 30 days to create a habit. Right now is the perfect time to begin. Start with simply walking outside at a set time each day and listening. In time you will know who is singing what and why. Let the birdsong sync your mind and awaken your senses. 

Ambre Dawn Leffler is a Tai Chi instructor, gardener, and weather geek who writes about vegetables, seasons, communing with nature, and the interconnections of mind/body. She loves trees and cherishes time in their presence. Learn more about her tree time, garden residents, and wellness practices at her website ambredawnleffler.com and seasonal inspiration from her newsletter.

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Breathe in… I wonder who’s the guest on The Daily Show tonight?

Breathe out… I really liked Trevor Noah’s memoir. I should recommend it to my book club.

Breathe in… Focus! You’re supposed to be clearing your mind.

Breathe out… What should I make for supper tonight?

If you’ve tried meditation, does this sound familiar? When I first tried meditation, I found myself on an endless loop of random thoughts, alternating with reminders that I was supposed to be emptying my mind, followed by maybe three seconds of Zen-like focus, and then back to thinking about plans for the day. When the alarm went off for the end of my session, I felt more unfocused and mixed up than when I’d sat down, plus I needed to find a pen and paper to write down all the thoughts and plans that had occurred to me during the session. I was frustrated. I’d read books and articles about meditation and participated in guided versions at the end of yoga class. I was checking off all the boxes: quiet space, dedicated time, focusing on the breath. But it just wasn’t working.

After several failed attempts, I decided that I wasn’t a meditator. I used plenty of excuses:

• I don’t like to sit still.
• I don’t have time.
• I’d rather take a nap.
• My brain is just fine, thank you.

My most elaborate excuse involved my writing. I reasoned that as a writer, and particularly a dedicated journal writer, I was already dumping all of my extraneous thoughts and feelings on paper, and therefore giving my mind a daily deep clean. Writers don’t need meditation, I decided. (Oh, how I was kidding myself!)

The Evidence Piles Up

But I couldn’t ignore all the evidence that vaunted the power of meditation. Through books, articles and stories from friends, I learned that meditative practice can be the solution to a bounty of twenty-first century problems: anxiety, depression, sleep problems, lack of focus, stress, even weight gain. It can make you happier and more conscious of how you treat your body. And all without chemicals or side effects! I also couldn’t ignore the fact that I seemed to crave the peace that meditation provided: whenever I skipped yoga class, I deeply missed that calming, empty space of savasana (the “corpse pose” that concludes each class).

I was convinced by the science and the anecdotal evidence, and I wanted to try again. But I still had a problem: I wasn’t naturally good at meditating, and I didn’t know how to get better.

Meditation: Next Attempt

I needed a little nudge, and it finally came in early January this year, when I started feeling symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder. This happens to me every year, but it was particularly bad this year because I was home a lot more often, taking care of my two-month-old baby. Lack of sunshine and social activity was making the SAD hit harder than ever. I did all of my usual interventions, including using a light therapy box and getting extra sleep, but I was still feeling emotionally ragged. It seemed like a good time to try meditation again and see if I could do it well enough to get all those health benefits I’d been reading about.

I started using the Headspace app. I’d bought a subscription the year before, did the first several sessions, then stopped after the practices got longer and longer. This time, I browsed the app further and found the creativity track, thirty days of creativity-focused guided meditations. Best of all, I could choose the length of my practice, anywhere from ten to thirty minutes. Relieved that I wouldn’t have to find a big chunk of time every day, I went with ten minutes.

I immediately remembered why I’d liked Headspace in the first place. I’d tried meditating without prompts, and it was extremely difficult to keep my mind clear. With Headspace, the occasional narration keeps me on track and also gives me an image to focus on. I don’t only count my breaths for ten minutes; I also create a picture in my mind’s eye, and use that to inform my practice for the day.

Just as in the past, the first several sessions were hard. My mind went off in a hundred directions, and I felt like I only got a minute or two of real clarity. But one day, a funny thing happened. I conjured the image that the Headspace narrator had been guiding me toward each day, and without any apparent mental effort, the image changed. It grew and evolved, becoming something more complex and beautiful. For the first time, I felt connected to a greater source. Whether it was external or internal, I don’t know, but I finally was a believer: meditation was changing my brain for the better.

I’m A Believer

I’m still meditating most days of the week, working with the creativity track. I’m enjoying the sessions more each time. It excites me to plunge into the depths of my creative mind and see what comes of it. I emerge each time feeling refreshed and focused, ready to tackle my work. Outside of the meditation practice, I’m finding other benefits. I’m falling asleep more easily, staying in the moment while playing with my kids, and even losing weight. Most importantly, when I sit down to write, the words are coming faster because the creative insights have already been teased out in my brain.

Have you tried meditation? Do you think it’s helped you and your writing life? Share your meditation stories with me!

Leanne Sowul is a writer and teacher from the Hudson Valley region of New York. She’s the curator of the website Words From The Sowul and authors the “Be Well, Write Well” column for DIY MFA. She writes historical/literary fiction and memoir; her work is represented by Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary Agency. Connect with her at leannesowul(at)gmail(dot)com, or on Twitter @sowulwords.

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