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Week
4: Meditation: Meeting Your Guide
This week's
lecture is brief because it's pretty much just an introduction to the
experiential "lecture" -- the Guide Meditation tape I sent you.
What is the Guide Meditation? It is a guided tour, in a relaxed state,
into your subconscious to find a writing guide, muse, or spirit who
will support you in your work. This guide meditation was created by
Deena Metzger and is discussed in her book, Writing for your Life
(although it is my voice on your cassette).
I made such a tape for myself, following Metzger's instructions, in
1996. I have used that cassette over and over. The guides I found have
been as diverse as imaginable. They range from family members (alive
and dead) to mythic religious figures to forces of nature, to famous
writers and political leaders, to non-human animals. Some guides challenged
me, some hugged and caressed me; some told me exactly what I was already
thinking while others completely shocked me with their insights.
The settings in which my guides appear have been equally varied -- from
deserts to rain forests, from oceans to mountains. Some meditations
have left me fired up to write, others have caused me to become aware
of other truths in my life. Sometimes I end the meditation laughing,
ready to pour out joyful words. Other times the tears roll down my face
as I converse with my guide and harvest bitter fruits I had previously
been afraid to taste.
When I first envisioned this course it was with Metzger's Guide Meditation
at its center. Why am I so keen on the Guide Meditation? It is a tool
that can help us on several levels to connect more directly with our
writing. First of all, setting aside quiet time to sit with yourself
and give yourself over to your internal landscape is nourishing to your
writing spirit. Even if you don't end up writing anything immediately
after performing the Guide Meditation, you are still feeding that part
of your soul that you use for writing. This tape can do for a writer
what stretching and warming up does for an athlete or bar exercises
do for a dancer: the Guide Meditation can help you relax and limber
up the "writing muscles" you will use later in your writing practice.
The structure of the meditation also encourages us to explore parts
of our minds that we didn't know were there. It can bring us to teachers
and supporters we didn't know we held inside us. That is a real gift,
because being a writer is hard and we can use all the support we can
get!
The meditation also can provide an endless supply of new characters
and writing material. Each time you do the meditation, you encounter
an entire landscape, journey, and set of characters you can put on the
page. You might end up culling them for future pieces.
Sometimes the guide tells us something about ourselves that is deeply
personal and revelatory. These insights may help you understand forces
in your life that have been blocking your writing, truths that you have
been reluctant to face that are hindering your creative journey. This
can be immensely useful for getting past "stuck places" in your writing.
In such cases, you might wish to communicate what you have learned to
other people, or you may feel the journey is too precious to share.
In some cases, the guide you meet might become your long-term Muse.
You might return to her or him again and again to gain direction and
inspiration for new work.
Regardless of which of these things happen for you, finding a guide
to help you along your writing path can be an invaluable tool.
Some words of caution and encouragement before you take your journey:
Try not to have preconceived ideas of how the journey will go or who
the guide will be. Even if you have taken similar meditative journeys
in the past, do not expect that this one will have the same outcomes.
This is a new moment and you are in a different situation; try to let
whatever comes, come.
Also, don't let earthly realities bind you. Go wherever your mind takes
you, whether that would be possible on the natural physical plain or
not.
Lastly, try not to have expectations -- neither that it will be wonderful
or transformative or magical, nor that it will be stupid and pointless
and "New Agey." Try to believe that whatever you need to happen will
happen and that you don't know what this is until after it is over.
ASSIGNMENT: WEEK 4
Please set aside some time when you can be alone, preferably in quiet.
Ideally you want at least one uninterrupted hour to listen to the tape
and then write down your experience.
Find a comfortable spot to sit or lie down. (If you are a person who
tends to fall asleep easily, please sit rather than lying down.) Put
the tape in on Side A, "Guide Meditation." Then follow the instructions.
Super Size It!
Do the Guide Meditation a second time, later in the week,
and write down your experience again. What are the similarities and
differences? What is your muse telling you about your writing and how
to move into it more deeply? Are there similar themes that emerged from
both meditations?
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