Meditation for Improved Creativity

Everyone with a creative passion knows that the worst part is not the critiques, not the constant practice, but the blank page. No matter how creative, skilled or inspired you might be, there is something about sitting down to work and feeling that vast expanse of nothing stretch before you and erase everything you are as a writer, painter or sculptor.

Know what makes it worse? The fact that we know the opposite side of the coin, too. How many times have you lost yourself in the midst of creation, time slipping by and your emotions seeming to flow effortlessly from your fingertips? That feeling is the reason we create - it's like a high, and we are just junkies after our next fix.

Sometimes, that fix doesn't come. It's usually only temporary, but it can turn chronic as well - even turn you from your passion for good. It is absolutely imperative that you break the dry spell and allow inspiration to flow, and meditation can help.

Get out your best pens, your laptop, your dictionary, thesaurus, or any reference book you might use. Get ready.

Set up for a meditation. Get out your mat, your pillow, your comfy chair. Light the candles and incense, turn down the lights. Or, turn them up - create the feeling you want to see in your work. Turn on the colored lights and disco ball if that's what you want to express. Involve all your senses.

Play some music. Maybe something quiet, maybe something loud. Maybe something structured, like a march, maybe something more ephemeral, like a whale song. The music should reflect what you're feeling about what you're about to create.

Get comfortable and begin the journey within. Instead of blocking out the scents and sounds around you, let them guide your mind. Or, block them out initially, to get deep within yourself, and allow them to creep back in one at a time.

Pay attention to how you feel, what you see, and any sudden pictures or flashes that occur. They may be pieces of old memories associated with the mood you've set, or they may be totally irrelevant. Either way, they can be inspiration.

Meditate as long as you need to. Don't try to keep to a schedule, because ending the session too early will only make the creation process take longer. Take your time and absorb everything you're experiencing as if you were a tourist on an alien planet. Allow the feelings to get inside, rip you apart and build you up.

Slowly work your way back to the here and now, like waking from a deep sleep. Don't rush this part either, or you run the risk of losing everything you just discovered. Drift your way back to the surface and awaken.

Turn to your materials and get everything out. Let it flow. It doesn't have to make sense - you'll sort it all out later. For now, just brain-dump everything onto a medium. Use whatever materials or techniques come to hand.

Don't worry about perfection, except in places where it really seems to matter. Don't try to create a final work, just create a data bank from which you can draw later.

You may feel a bit frenzied at this point - that's good, it means your creative high is returning. Ride the wave until it ends. If you're still struggling, simply focus on getting the gist of what you experienced on paper, as if you had to describe it to someone without words.

When things begin to slow down and you run out of steam, you may find yourself returning to a particular item over and over. Take that piece and develop it. Or put multiple pieces together until something moves you. Add and subtract, change, flip, rotate to find something real.

Eventually you'll hit it - whether you choose to continue the development immediately or later, your creative block will have been cleared.