WHY MEDITATE?
The regular practice of meditation can help:
- Unlock artist block
- Create a flow of ideas for new paintings
- Clear the mind of junk
- Enable you to better focus on your craft.
WHAT IS MEDITATION?
In simple terms, meditation is the self-directed practice for relaxing the body and calming the mind. There are many different ways to meditate. For me, its finding stillness in the mind by sitting quietly and ridding my mind of thought of anything other than where I am at that moment. One way of stilling the mind is to focus on your breath, which keeps you in the present moment.
It's not easy, stilling the mind, especially for someone like me who is super-hyper, full of ideas, one right after another.
When learning to meditate, instructors will advise that "if a thought arises, gently acknowledge it and bring your mind back to your breath." Good advice. It's really taken me a lot of practice just to go a few minutes without a racing mind! But each time I meditate, I get better and better at it.
I bought a book from Nick Baxter recently, who also in his book talks about the benefits of meditation for the creative process. There have been countless times where I've had a "block" and meditation has helped break through. This is just another of the many ways mindful meditation has helped me.
