Writer's Block Meditation

This is a twenty-minute guided meditation for writers who are feeling creatively blocked, whether it be on a specific project or in general. In this meditaiton, we work on first getting ourselves grounded and in the present and then we explore the emotions that being blocked bring up (fear, anger, frustration, anxiety, etc.). Moving forward, we work through these challenging emotions through a contemplative guided meditation that helps us get in touch with our own innate wisdom. What is the next right thing? What do we need to do to move forward into flow so that we can reclaim the joy we know we can have in our writing practice? This is a gentle meditation that will give you the tools to work through your creative block long after you get off the cushion. It's also a meditaiton that you can do again and again, as needed.

Transcript

Hello,

This is Heather from Mindfulness for Writers and we're going to be doing a 20 minute meditation today for writer's block.

So if you are feeling creatively blocked in any way,

Then I hope this will be of service to you.

And we're going to be doing a lot of contemplation,

So not a lot of direction on how to sit today,

Just get comfortable and we'll be closing our eyes.

I do recommend that if lying down causes you to get a little bit sleepy,

You might want to stay seated upright.

So whatever you're feeling today,

We're just going to welcome it and we're going to work with it and give ourselves permission to be here,

To be in this space.

So let's take a moment to just arrive from wherever you've been,

Whatever your day has been like so far.

And we'll do that with three nice deep inhales and exhales.

So take in a deep inhale and really fill your body with that nice cleansing breath and then a nice exhale.

And feel free to be noisy on your exhale if that feels honest for you today.

And another inhale.

And our last one.

So we'll start by getting anchored into our breath.

There's usually three good spots to really get centered with your breath in terms of where your focus is for it and that would be the nostrils,

The middle of your chest,

So kind of your heart center or your belly.

And this kind of breathing is not deep breathing work.

It's just natural normal breathing through the nose only.

And you're just following your breath.

So we're going to try to get a little bit of focus at the beginning of this session.

So just gradually allow your breath to just find that anchor spot,

Whether that's the nostrils,

The chest or your belly.

And of course,

You're going to have thoughts and your mind might be racing and whatever else.

Don't worry about that.

Just accept whatever is happening,

Whatever you're feeling.

There's noises outside.

Don't worry about it.

Just let that all be welcome.

It's all part of the meditation.

Remember meditation is simply arriving and being awake to the present.

So it's all good.

It's all part of it.

We don't push any of it out.

And if a thought arises,

You can just note it by saying in your head thinking and let it move on.

If another thought comes,

Just note it and let it move on.

So you're not grasping on to any of these thoughts.

You're not getting into the storylines.

When we grasp onto the thoughts and the storylines,

They control us.

And when we're creatively blocked,

This can be the thing that makes us feel like we're going mad because worry after worry after worry comes up.

And we take each of these little worries,

Each of these storylines and we run with them.

And then we start to feel more and more overwhelmed.

And so what we're doing right now is giving ourselves a chance to not grasp onto any of that,

To just note its existence,

Its presence and let it go right on by.

And now that we're feeling a little bit more grounded,

A little bit more centered,

A little bit more here in the present,

I want you to tune into what's happening inside.

What's going on with your emotions?

You might have come in here with anger,

Fear,

Frustration,

Anxiety,

Exhaustion,

Depression,

Despair,

All of it,

Some of it,

Something I haven't mentioned.

But whatever is going on,

It's keeping you from experiencing joy in your work and flow in your work.

And rather than pushing against those emotions and trying to get them to go away,

We're actually going to do the opposite.

We're going to welcome that emotion and we're going to sit with it and allow it to be there.

And the interesting thing is,

Is that more you allow that emotion to be present,

The less heat it's able to retain.

So try to see where in your body you're feeling a lot of strong sensation.

For me,

When I'm feeling a lot of emotion,

It's often in my chest or in my throat.

Sometimes if it's stress,

Specifically,

It's in my back,

My lower back.

And tuning into our bodies is a really great way as artists to be connected to our own relationship to our work.

It's all holistic.

So for example,

When I start feeling a lot of pain in my lower back,

It's a cue to me that I am entering into a state of overwork and exhaustion and that I'm pushing myself too hard.

And sometimes my body needs to give me that cue because my mind won't do it.

So see if you can feel where that sensation is.

And if you can identify what emotion is the hottest for you,

You can work with that specifically and know that you're working with fear or anger.

If you're not sure,

Just sit with the sensation and perhaps you'll be able to identify what that emotion might be.

So we're just going to sit with it,

Breathe into it and note physically what it feels like.

We're not analyzing,

We're not grasping on the storylines,

We're not solving problems,

We're not doing anything like that.

We're just sitting with it.

We're welcoming it,

But we're being gentle with ourselves and giving ourselves permission for whatever that emotion brings up.

Reviews

Rich in useful suggestions

Amazing

Really helped alleviate some frustration and get me back on track! Thank you 🙏

Thankyou so healing

Thank you so much, this is so helpful 💗 can you please add your website in your bio? You’re such an inspiration 🙏🏽🌞🌻

What a gentle and accessible guided meditation. I’m a visual artist and this helped to me. Thank you

Lovely and inspiring. Thank you so much.

Extremely helpful every time—I love the word association exercise at the end. PS I gave this 5 stars not sure why it is coming up as 4.6! ❤️💫

Thank you. I experience writing blocks very frequently. I recently got an unusual urge to write a chidren’s book but after several outcomes (draft texts) got so scared that I stopped and stepped back again. Your advice on being nice to ourselves is so helpful. I really appreciate your time and help.

Thank you, needed that encouragement!

Fantastic meditation for writers. Soothing calm voice.

Different style of experience. Half talk, half meditation, mixed in together. It seemed less structured and to the point, and more like listening to a spontaneous voice message from a friend. It helped me. Thank you! 🌷🙏

I loved this...🙏🏻😊Thankyou! Some simple but great contemplations that provoked some surprising thoughts for me.

Loved this meditation.

Thank you, this was helpful! Working on a book, with ups and downs on the way, slowly moving forward.

Nice meditation, even for those who are not writers. Thanks.