Meditation techniques to increase flow of creativity?

Hi,

I've got a regular 9-5 by day, but in the evenings and weekends I do write. I've got a few published shorts under my belt, but for the last year I've been stumbling my way through attempting the biggie - a novel.

The main problems I'm finding is when I get home, my mind is still buzzing from my working day. As responsibility in my role at work has increased I find it difficult to concentrate, formulate ideas, free the mind and let my hands work freely at what I enjoy most. What I've been producing of late has been nothing short of lazy ill thought out writing and I know I am capable of much much more.

I've been doing a number of google searches for meditation techiques. It seems alot of sites put forward ideas on what I need to be doing, but don't explain the techniques. So I'm left with an idea of what to do, with no way to go about it.

Please bear in mind I am a complete newbie to the concept of using meditation for clarity and creativity so excuse the naivety of this post.

Does anyone use meditation for the purpose mentioned above? And if so, would they care to share techniques, suggested reading material etc.

I've done some reading by the likes of Chopra and Toll, but these seem to be more self help in positive mental attitude rather than helping creativity.

Thanks all in advance

the study and application of transcendental meditation is a good idea. read up or attend a class. you will learn focus, breathing and concentration techniques to overcome the side effects of living in a rat race. meditation is wonderful for sleeping / overcoming amnesia. i cannot recommend TM to those who use drugs or alcohol as the impaired perception would skew the effort.

i too write. i've learned that priority one is planting your behind in the chair and addressing the keyboard. second is keeping little notepads around to catch what may fly through your imagination, great lines you may overhear in public, concepts etcetera.

reply to post by ALadInsane


It seems to me that more and more people on ATS are looking for ways to experience meditative thought.

It is not possible for someone to reply to your thread and offer you all the solutions as what is good for one person may not be suitable for another. The only advice I can give you is that in order to balance your creative mind you must strengthen your left side of your brain, this IMHO can be done by dumping the ego/baggage whether it be conscious or subconscious.

Do you have anger towards something/someone
Do you have unfinished personal business
Are you sad about something?
Is there something that has been weighing you down for more than 6 months?

In order to begin to have the creativity flowing when in a meditative state you must have a clear mind, if your mind is cluttered with all sorts of 'problems' there is simply no room to grow and 'understand'

Try a little housekeeping once in a while:

Sit do not lay down, the problem with lying down is that its easy, especially if the body is tired, to fall asleep, if you fall asleep this is not a meditative state.

Have a pen and paper handy. Unplug the phone, (you know its going to go off when you start) switch off anything that may disturb you.close your eyes and just wait and look, look iwhat your subconscious mind is trying to tell your conscious mind so that you can 'see' keep a note of what comes in to the mind by ways of words,tv screen scenarios, colours e.t.c and write it down the clearer the mind i.e dumping baggage, the easier it becomes.

Some of my best trains of thought have come from this excercise.

Painting and the Inventory of Right/Left hemispheres

I have tried a few meditation techniques in my life, i used to do TM and really enjoyed it. Now though i try the technique used by both Eckhart Tolle and Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti stated that almost all other techniques where a product of the mind fighting against itself (trying to keep itself quiet) so i found that i basically agreed with this and tried his and Tolle's........Good luck.

reply to post by LargeFries


Hey, totally hear you on the keeping a notepad to hand. Without sounding insane, I've got 3 note pads to hand, each for different things.

I've recently discovered My Writing Nook on the internet too, which can sync with a smart phone, so if I don't have a notepad to hand I can quickly jot something down for it to be waiting for me when I fire up my laptop when I get home

reply to post by franspeakfree


Totally understand on the 'what's right for one, isn't necessarily right for someone else' idea. I agree completely, I'm just after suggestions that I can try out myself to see if I can find what works for me.

An awesome post, and very helpful. Thank you

I use Dr Jefferey Thompson's Brainwave suite, Awakened Mind and Insight & Intuition CD's. They are helpful to listen to even when I am just doing housework or gardening. And the sleep one is excellent, too, though it won't make you more creative.

Brainwave Suite

A few things which I do.

First, void meditation is best, imo. As it allows you to clear your mind and allow new original thoughts to freely flow in. You can later change your focus to your desired subject.

If you can meditate and begin to feel a focus of energy, which should be easy to do (with practice)- move this energy to your right brain. I personally feel that I can bounce this energy back and forth between my brain's hemispheres. Doing this occupies my brain from distracting thoughts. There are many advantages to this: each side of the brain has corresponding characteristics which I am sure you are familiar of. The right brain is creativity oriented, imagination, hence-forth, while the left brain is real-world materialistic oriented. I believe there comes great advancement in your life if you can increase their conjoined uses - ie. making yourself 'whole'.

Heed knowing that this energy isn't just 'imaginary', but you can actually feel it very subtly. I don't know how advance you are, so don't be offended if this seems elementary. To me, this energy is easiest to feel in the hands. You can 'conjure' it there while meditating, and then move it around your body with sufficient meditation time.

Also, meditate on and focus your energy on your third eye, or rather your entire head. The pineal gland which is the third eye discretes melatonin which helps immensely with dreaming and sleep. I've found that during void meditation, and with pineal gland activation - I can easily start to have random uncontrollable 'dream sequences'. Random blurts of visuals and ideas will come to me. Watch this video clip from Harry Potter, and imagine this bright intense light radiating within your skull. It's a great fictional movie clip to help your mentally visualize later on while meditating.
www.youtube.com...

Also, if you can hear the 'static' in your head that so many people hear - you can try to lower the frequency. I wrote a small passage about this on my blog: derick.tk...
I am now unsure if the static really is brain-wave frequencies - but I still think my theory holds some promise, and even if I am complete bunk, the practice of 'willing'' shifts in this frequency has proven to be successful to me as a meditation technique. And I really CAN hear the static change frquencies. Imagination... maybe? But isn't that what your aim is? =)

Once you're all 'activated' - you can shift your meditation to focus on a certain topic - and truth will flow to you. I've learned a great deal about the universe, god, life, etc from this.

Good luck.

How did they work for you?