How artists can benefit from meditation

Earlier this week, Carly wrote a blog post featuring a talk David Lynch gave about the effects of meditation on creativity.

Meditation is a wonderful tool that has added immeasurable benefits to my life, including:

• Increased awareness of myself and my motivations;
• An expanding of consciousness—I see things more clearly than I used to;
• Increase in creativity;
• Better health;
• Less anxiety, fear, depression, anger, and other “negative” emotions;
• Increase in bliss and love in my life;
• Increased intuition;
• Feelings of connection and belonging that I never had before.

Meditation is a tool I can pick up anytime. Sometimes, I might go for weeks or months without meditating but I know it’s always there if I need it. If I feel ungrounded, or there’s too much clutter in my mind, or I have questions about a writing project, I go to meditation.

As an artist, expanding yourself and increasing awareness of the world within and without will only benefit your art. There are no contradictions or negative side effects to meditation. It doesn’t take much time. Once you learn how to meditate, you can “drop down” in seconds.

Lately, I’ve been using meditation to “switch gears” between projects. I’ve had a hectic week. Yesterday, I had to: organize a webinar, work on a new product for my business, write this blog post, write notes for a short story idea, edit a poem, and call a client. Because I was feeling overly committed and chaotic, I stopped for ten minutes between major projects to just sit and be still. Breathe in and out. Each time I did this, I felt renewed and ready for the next project on my list.

For more information on how meditation can improve your life as an artist check out Jane Friedman’s blog and the post by Orna Ross, “ 7 Ways Meditation Increases Creativity.”

Do you meditate? If so, have you noticed any benefits to your writing or art? Please share.

Exercise: If you don’t already meditate, start with 10 minutes a day. Choose a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to center yourself and quiet your mind. Breathe normally and focus on your breath for 10 minutes. When you find your mind wandering, don’t beat yourself up, just gently bring your mind back into focus on your breath. Do the entire 10 minutes. Don’t give up early. In time, those galloping horses in your mind will quiet. Commit to doing this for 30 days. Keep a journal with the changes you are noticing in yourself and your life over the next month.

What’s ten minutes a day, except maybe your life and your art?