In my time as a yogini and now yoga teacher, I have noticed that a great number of my truly devoted students are also writers. Workshops focusing on practicing yoga and then journaling or writing a more creative piece are popping up in studios all over my city. While I love this idea, I tend to find that yoga (and really any form of intense physical exercise) clears my mind to the point that I have no writing in my head to put on the page. It's like I'm too calm to create.
Are many of you out there yogis? Do you find it helps or hinders your creative process? Both yoga and writing are disciplines, but I cannot determine if they feed or inhibit each other.
Also, with a hat tip to my procrastination post, sometimes I tell myself "I'll just finish writing this chapter after yoga class..."
8 comments:
I wouldn't call myself a yogi, but I do like yoga. I even wrote a story about it: The Second Rule of Yoga.
I am fortunate enough to have a yoga studio right across the street from my apartment, so I take classes there about 4 times a week. I love it (and would really like to become a teacher, though I can't afford the training) but I'm not sure it really helps focus my mind on writing. It's more like something I do with my evenings after work instead of writing.
Hi Jess,
I do yoga regularly and am going to become an instructor this summer before grad school starts up. I like that yoga is a discipline to keep the mind open and flexible. It doesn't really help me write, that is another discipline all together, but both processes are a movement of externalization of what we are processing internally. For me, writing is my primary means of understanding my experience and the world. I can honestly say that I conceptualize my world through the writing process. Yoga is a way to clear a space to allow that process to happen and also an expression of where my thoughts may be blocked, not to mention great yoga butt and stress release! Yea for yoga.
Yoga (and meditation) has been a critical part of my writing process! I'm glad others see a connection as well!
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Best Regarding.
Yoga
I adore yoga. I'm hoping to begin my hours for teaching this summer, or the fall...depending on scheduling.
It just helps me to feel better in every aspect imaginable. If I feel better, I write better, then I am better.
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