I read an article today by Maria Brophy, who has very successfully managed her
husband's art career, and who shares her knowlege about marketing and managing an art business on her
blog. In it, she shared how learning to meditate has helped her with her writing, and gave some great tips for how artists can use meditation to unleash their creativity.
While I completely agree with the benefits of meditation, for me, the sitting still and emptying mind kind never really works - all I do is think about the thoughts that aren't supposed to be there - and I haven't found any real impact on either my creativity or productivity from doing this (and I have tried, over a long period of time. It certainly helped me to breathe better, and to be more calm and centred).
What works better for me is to engage fully in active meditation. For instance, Maria meditates before she starts to write, to put her in a creative space so that her writing can flow. If I do that, I feel anxious to be doing the work and it takes me away from my creative space. Instead, I simply start to work - at first, as with sitting meditation, the voices in my head become very loud - telling me I'm crap, not good enough, other artists are better, etc, etc, etc...
However, if I just start anyway, and focus on my work, very soon those voices disappear, and my mind is completely absorbed with the problems of the painting. I am not consciously thinking, and yet am making decisons and choices all along. This is a well documented thing, of course, and is described as being in the zone.
In the zone, time and the physical body fade away and it's as if something comes in to guide me.
Hours pass and time and physical concerns are unnoticed - for example, I always make a cup of tea when I start painting but it's always almost full when I stop. I just get completely absorbed and forget about evrything else.
For me, the work is the meditation. Not just any work though, for me it's painting (there is plenty of work I have to do that no amount of any kind of meditation or anything else will make timeless for me!). Working with horses does the same thing.
I've noticed that action unleashes creativity for me - such as going for a walk / run / ride, and especially in the bush or at least with trees around. When I am still, or trying to be, I get stuck. If I start to move, I get unstuck.
Interestingly, it's the same with young horses. When they get stuck, or tight, the best thing to do is just to get them moving, and then it's easy to redirect them. Moving releases both their feet and their mind. I've known and practiced this for a long time, and yet only just realised it works for me as well. There really isn't much you can learn about life that a horse can't teach you. Just
another reason I love to paint horses!
Either way, a regular practice - and Maria talks about how important it is to have a regular practice - that puts you in that empty mind / zone state is essential for allowing the full potential of your creativity and purpose to be realised.
On a lighter note - check
this out. The very funny Laura Belgray exposes the myth of meditation-as-relaxation. Too true.
I'll write more on how you can make art your meditation practice soon.
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