The Creative Center: Write Free!
A New Program focused on the Yogic approach to Art and the Creative Process-- backed by the Sutras, Tantras, and Practicing Yogis in their respective fields. Check out the video for 2 guided Free Writing sessions! (Full Article Below)
Part One, Intro and Free Writing from the heart with Marcella:
A bit of my background with writing. I have loved the art of crafting stories for as long as I can remember. My childhood best friend and I played make believe way past when most kids had given it up. I have tons of notebooks full of pieces of stories and ideas from throughout my life. I have also loved the art of writing as a form of inner exploration through journaling. The practice of free writing, which we will talk more about soon, has been particularly helpful in integrating my spiritual practice into my writing. Recently, I finished the first draft of a novel which had been a long time dream of mine. The ability to bring my practice into my writing is what really made the project into something that felt so meaningful and helped to bring this dream to life. So let’s get into it!
We are going to be doing three to four classes on the artform of writing with the possibility/option of continuing into a creative writing group if there is interest. Today’s class will be about free writing, the next about editing, the third about reading and giving feedback, and maybe a fourth that will give people the opportunity to share writing and give feedback.
Free writing is essentially, allowing yourself to write anything and everything. A constant stream of consciousness that is uninterrupted by editing or pausing to think. It is often used as a way to break the ice between you and the blank page, or to brainstorm, or journal, or draft, etc. However, as yogis, the practice of writing, and really any creative endeavor, can be achieved and enhanced when we bring our practice into it.
Inside you is a state of being that is totally pure and clear and at peace. While your attention is caught up in the movie of the world, that state exists within you. The heart meditation will help you experience this state. It is from that state that all creativity flows.-Swami Shambhavananda
So, applying this quote to what we are working on today. The real magic comes when we allow ourselves to write from our practice. When we sit in the cozy space of the heart and just let flow from there. By being present in our hearts, we can tap into that creative energy and let it flow onto the page.
Just as with meditation, thoughts about our day or to do list will creep in, but we don’t let those derail us from what we are doing. We continue to meditate or, in this case, write. What we write may not always sound coherent, but I am consistently amazed at what comes through when I am writing from the heart. New ideas or perspectives seem to bubble up constantly. Not only that, but the entire experience of writing is more profound. Instead of the frantic go go go, hurrying to put words on the page that I sometimes get caught up in, it is a more relaxed, open, and surrendered state that my writing is coming from. It is my meditation practice flowing through my art making it a spiritual practice itself. It is this openness and connection that really inspires me to continue to create at all. I can really feel myself connecting to that sweet nectar that I experience in meditation.
Part Two: The Effort of Creation with Satyam
Words that caught my attention from Marcella’s presentation were ‘constant’, ‘without pausing’ “let flow’, ‘being present’ ‘don’t derail’, ‘continue to write’
These words recall the teachings of Shiva Sutra 2.3, Prayatnah Sadakah, ‘pauseless effort brings attainment’. It can be easy to misinterpret ‘pauseless effort’ as ‘hurried effort’, but that is definitely not the teaching as I have interpreted it. Pauseless simply means fluid, flowing, steady, surrendered. It means without thought, without resistance. The example given in the Sutras is that of a bird catching meat while flying— the bird simply catches the meat, without hesitation or thought. It’s not hurrying to catch it, or stressing, it just directs all of its awareness in that one simple direction— and perhaps what is even more important, the Sutra goes on to teach that this is the only way to catch the meat, to attain the goal— in one pauseless push: “If the yogī is not successful in one push, they will not be successful at all. It must be attained in one thrust of awareness”
Free writing is a practice attempting to help us find this fluid state of effort— or effortless effort as Patanjali describes it. Though we are seeking a fluid experience, the practice of it can be bumpy. You can think of it like the practice of watching your breath— you need a technique to get you started, but you are working to release the technique in order to find the real flow.
So we are going to establish our seat, watch our breath, and then maintain that experience of effortless effort as we write. What will we write about? One possibility is to write about your experience of effortless effort— either the one you are having now, or your understanding thus far. The importance is not to get caught up in what you are writing, but instead to focus on how you are writing.
Part Three: The Witness of Creation with Marcella
If you internalize your awareness and access the flow of Shakti, your capacity for spiritual work as well as material work will increase dramatically.-Spontaneous Recognition
Baba is always telling us that we are not meant to hide in a cave with our practice, but to take it out into our lives. By doing this, we test our skills and learn and grow in ways that we never imagined to be possible. The question then is how? How do we stay centered in our hearts while going through our daily activities? The answer is practice. The more we do it, the more we are able to do it. It is definitely not always simple, but anyone who has tried this knows that the quality and sweetness of our tasks increase greatly when we are acting from the heart.
Free writing can be a fun and creative way to put this into practice. Writing while centered in our practice changes it from an external experience of creating something to an internal experience that creates growth both internally and externally through our work. The more we can write in this way, the easier it becomes. Then, maybe, it translates into other aspects of our lives off of the cushion and out of the notebook.
For me, one of my favorite ways that I use free writing is to process thoughts and emotions. To find the answers to my burning questions. The act of writing things out takes longer than jumping around from thought to thought in my brain. It forces me to slow down and to be present with a specific thought, emotion, question, idea etc. You may have something burning within you that wants to be written or a specific topic that you want to explore. That's great, write it and see where it goes! Alternatively, you may have nothing to write about and that is okay too! Sometimes, I will just allow myself to be curious and see what comes up as I begin to write. If I am connected inside and allow myself to write without hesitation, even if it doesn’t make much sense at first, eventually something will come up. Sometimes this is when the most interesting ideas come. To me, free writing is like a practice of being present and witnessing what your mind, emotions, and heart bring up. Just as in meditation, I try not to get attached, but allow them to play out on the page. I learn so much from this practice.
Part Four: Merging with your true nature through creativity with Satyam
Centered Writing, or centered creating, is an opportunity to reach for the loftiest goal of our practice, finding your state of being. Non-dualism and the Shambhava uppaya are specifically the practice of participating in our lives while remaining centered in our hearts— and are the very core of our practice. And as Marcella said, there is no ‘trick’ to this, only practice. As yogis, we are using the act of writing, and art making in all its forms, as a practice to realize our true nature— I know it might seem lofty, but its true.
You might ask, why not just meditate if that’s the only reason we are writing? Well, ask yourself that the next time you sit down to watch a show, read a book or post, or even talk about your day with a friend— there’s no getting around it, we need to create— its at the core of what we are. As Babaji says, “A person who has developed a steady mind is usually very creative”, and as we know from living in the ashram, the more people meditate the more they want to create. This creative energy just bubbles up like a spring. Even the Vijnana Bhairava goes out of its way to say that “This state of Bhairava that is already sung in the body of the Tantras, this state is in Its supreme way the state of Bhairavī (parā devī).” The emphasis for me here was the word ‘sung in the tantras’— Shiva went of his way to parallel the act of singing with the state of being we seek in meditation. Creating is at our core, and centered creation is a real practice for aspiring yogis.
There is one last thought about the creative act— it can’t be done from the outside in, only the inside out. As Shiva teaches in the VB, “the real state of Bhairava is the state of Bhairavī. Whenever you explain [this state]…you can’t find out [this state] because the real state of Bhairava is, in fact, the real state of the knower. It can’t be found [because] It is the [finder]. The real state of Bhairava is the perceiver, It is not perceived.” Creativity takes courage. Its so much easier to watch a show, read a book or podcast, and there is a season for all of those endeavors. But at our core we also need to create, we need to sing, we need to write, we need to go out on a limb and feel the Shakti flow through us. At first, like any practice, it will be clunky— but because you are already a meditator those wheels will begin to move freely, and the writing part will come naturally along with it. The trick, though, is not to judge, think or evaluate the experience, but treat it just like your meditation practice— just keep coming back to the practice of being present and surrenedered, and then taking that state out onto the page, or whatever medium.
Afterwards, you can read what you wrote and look for little gold nuggets within! However, it is not all about the outcome. It is about the practice itself. It allows us to write more and more freely and connect to the heart. Bit by bit, we can find it easier to release effort and to allow.