How to Use Writing as a Meditation Practice

In the intense rhythm of life, we are used to getting out of our comfort zone almost every day and facing tense situations. It would seem that with the introduction of quarantine, there should be fewer of them, but it turned out to be different. The round-the-clock stay in four walls, the continuous interaction with the household, the absence of the line between remote work and rest — all this can be attributed to the apparent stress factors, which are layered on top of each other. And with these, unnecessary and often negative thoughts accumulate in our heads. Meditation is a great way to get rid of them and break the cycle of tension. You can meditate not only sitting in the lotus position in absolute silence. Together with EssayShark research paper writing services, we have prepared instructions for using writing as meditation.

What is Meditation?

night time anxiety reliefThis is an exercise for the mind. Just like the muscles of the body, the mind needs to be trained and allowed to rest. Meditation for the mind is like exercise for the muscles. Meditation can help the mind work better, such as the ability to relax deeply or, conversely, to concentrate better on the task at hand.

Studies show that people who practice meditation experience physical changes in the brain. In one experiment, after eight weeks of meditation, the subjects experienced an increase in gray matter density in the left hippocampus (the part of the brain associated with short- and long-term memory function). In another, scientists found meditators had increased gray matter volume in several parts of the brain at once. According to numerous studies, meditation and other consciousness practices help reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. They also promote relaxation, improve sleep quality, and train concentration.

Writing Techniques to Help You Meditate

Morning Settings

This is an alternative to Julia Cameron’s morning pages. The point is not to write out all the stuff and create space for creativity, but to get through the day the way you’d like it, in your preferred mood. Morning settings take about 15 minutes (10 to 20). These are a few answers to simple questions:

  • Today I want to…
  • I’m going to be especially attentive to…
  • I know what I might get in the way today, and I…
  • And I also want to think/dream/clear up for myself today…

Cluster, or a mental map

This is a fairly well-known tool for the nonlinear organization of various fragmented thoughts and experiences. It works best if you feel like you’re being torn into a hundred little pieces. You just write in the middle of the page the main topic you want to put together (by marking it with one or two words or a badge and framing it), and then quickly draw chains of associations in different directions.

You can do a cluster of the day at the end of the day or a topic cluster if you’re going to work on something. The ideal is when after five minutes of drawing the cluster, you have five minutes for freewriting. As a rule, there are ideas, thoughts, realizations that are worth writing down.

Acrostic

You take a word for something that worries, concerns, and occupies you, write it vertically, and for each letter, write a word beginning with that letter and revealing the subject. For example, like this:

  • Panic
  • Alone
  • Invisible
  • Neglected

A five-minute “race”

This is a type of freewriting, limited in time. That is, any time you have a few minutes and something bothers, worries, or concerns you, you can open a notebook or file, set a timer for five minutes (or just look at your watch), and write or type as fast as you can — whatever comes into your head about the topic of interest. It’s an excellent way to clear your head, and you don’t need anything special to do it. When we just think about something, our thoughts often run in circles, and we don’t get anywhere in our thinking. And when we write thoughts out of our heads on paper, brain space is freed up for new insights and new ideas. If you have a little more time, you can write for up to 15-20 minutes in one sitting. This time limit helps if there is a tendency to return to the same thoughts.

Brain-dumping

This is, one might say, the kind of everyday magic that J. K. Rowling embodied in the image of Professor Dumbledore’s Pensieve. The contents of consciousness are dumped somewhere (in our case, on paper or on a screen), leaving a clean and empty space in the head, allowing one to concentrate on what is meaningful right now.

Imagine consciousness as a certain vessel with a moderate pressure of liquid from below. The liquid in the vessel is not homogeneous, and there are layers in it. By removing the foam from the surface by scooping out the upper layer, we allow another layer that was invisible before to rise to the top. It is possible to merge the contents of consciousness in any form, e.g., lists, etc.