As seems to be normal with Blog tours - there is at least one guest post I wrote that did not make it up. So I get to post it here instead! I have a restless mind, and meditation has helped me focus my energy and boost my creativity. We think of meditation as just sitting and trying to focus - but there are many ways to meditate. Here are a few of my favorites.
Using meditation to boost your creativity
In The Obsidian Temple, Sulis and the Chosen use various styles of meditation to calm their minds and channel magical energy to each other. While the Desert Rising series is fantasy – using meditation to enhance your creative energy is not! Here are five great ways to make your creativity flow and focus your mind.
1. Three-part breath meditation: Set a timer for 3-5 minutes. Sit upright. Have your spine straight, your head directly over your shoulders. Inhale deeply, and with your exhale, close your eyes, relax your shoulders. Imagine your breath as a wave coming in your body. Fill your body with the wave of breath, starting by filling the belly, then letting the breath rise into the chest and then sipping a little more into the collarbones. Exhale from collarbones to chest and use the belly to press out all the air. Fill yourself from the bottom to the top and exhale from the top to bottom. Continue for the full timer you set.
2. Writing meditation: Set a timer for five to ten minutes. Have a pencil or pen and writing paper. Put pen to paper and write everything that comes into your head, without stopping, for the allotted time. It can be just words, sentence fragments, or paragraphs, just don’t lift your pen and don’t stop! A great way to break writer's block!
3. If you are too restless to sit: a walking meditation. Find a long space indoors or outdoors to pace. Take off your shoes and set a timer for five to ten minutes. Very slowly place down the heel of the foot, then roll the foot down onto the earth, to the ball of foot and toes, feeling every movement. Shift you weight onto that foot, and then focus on lifting and placing the other foot. Feel every sensation as you walk your path. When you reach the end, slowly turn and walk back. If the mind starts to think about anything but the sensation of walking, bring it back to your feet against the earth.
4. Coloring meditation. You can simply open a box of crayons or colored pencils and a white piece of paper and let your hand and eye choose your pattern. Or you can search online for mandala patterns and print one out (there are even mandala coloring books available!). A mandala is a circular matrix with a center point—a point from which all things are possible. From this center comes forth great possibilities and potential. When you color mandalas, you’re expressing your desire for healing and wellness.
5. Find a yoga or Tai Chi class online or in your neighborhood and dedicate some time to those mindful practices. Both of these forms of moving meditation quiet the mind and calm the body. The dances Sulis and the Chosen practice are a combination of the two forms.
Even five minutes a day of meditation can be a great energy and creativity boost!
Using meditation to boost your creativity
In The Obsidian Temple, Sulis and the Chosen use various styles of meditation to calm their minds and channel magical energy to each other. While the Desert Rising series is fantasy – using meditation to enhance your creative energy is not! Here are five great ways to make your creativity flow and focus your mind.
1. Three-part breath meditation: Set a timer for 3-5 minutes. Sit upright. Have your spine straight, your head directly over your shoulders. Inhale deeply, and with your exhale, close your eyes, relax your shoulders. Imagine your breath as a wave coming in your body. Fill your body with the wave of breath, starting by filling the belly, then letting the breath rise into the chest and then sipping a little more into the collarbones. Exhale from collarbones to chest and use the belly to press out all the air. Fill yourself from the bottom to the top and exhale from the top to bottom. Continue for the full timer you set.
2. Writing meditation: Set a timer for five to ten minutes. Have a pencil or pen and writing paper. Put pen to paper and write everything that comes into your head, without stopping, for the allotted time. It can be just words, sentence fragments, or paragraphs, just don’t lift your pen and don’t stop! A great way to break writer's block!
3. If you are too restless to sit: a walking meditation. Find a long space indoors or outdoors to pace. Take off your shoes and set a timer for five to ten minutes. Very slowly place down the heel of the foot, then roll the foot down onto the earth, to the ball of foot and toes, feeling every movement. Shift you weight onto that foot, and then focus on lifting and placing the other foot. Feel every sensation as you walk your path. When you reach the end, slowly turn and walk back. If the mind starts to think about anything but the sensation of walking, bring it back to your feet against the earth.
4. Coloring meditation. You can simply open a box of crayons or colored pencils and a white piece of paper and let your hand and eye choose your pattern. Or you can search online for mandala patterns and print one out (there are even mandala coloring books available!). A mandala is a circular matrix with a center point—a point from which all things are possible. From this center comes forth great possibilities and potential. When you color mandalas, you’re expressing your desire for healing and wellness.
5. Find a yoga or Tai Chi class online or in your neighborhood and dedicate some time to those mindful practices. Both of these forms of moving meditation quiet the mind and calm the body. The dances Sulis and the Chosen practice are a combination of the two forms.
Even five minutes a day of meditation can be a great energy and creativity boost!
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