Meditation has many potential benefits to offer, but one of my favorites is its ability to increase creativity.

The perspective and awareness that meditation brings are the keys to the way your mind processes new and changing information. These thought patterns are why it is so apt to leave you with deeply creative tendencies. Harnessing these powers to boost creativity through meditation is a fascinating topic to explore!

1: Focus

Meditating in nature can be extra beneficial for boosting creativity as the natural world has its own inspiring qualities.

When we learn to focus through meditation, it teaches us to block out the fluff, so to speak. This leads to hyper-awareness of one task, while ignoring that which seeks to draw our mind to distraction.

Creativity is often associated with a certain amount of distraction, but to truly & fully enhance it, it is so important to focus on what you are creating. To recreate this mode, enter a semi-meditative state while creating so that you are able to harness that experience and let it help you get where you trying to go.

One study that looked at both experienced and novice meditators, found that certain meditation techniques can potentially affect the practitioners cognitive ability to conceive of new ideas and solve other intellectual problems better.1

2: Intention

Attractive woman, meditating with eyes closed, doing restorative yoga exercise, beautiful lady in relaxation pose training, stress relief breathing technique. Well being, wellness concept

Sometimes slowing things down is enough for your creative side to become more prominent. Bringing a meditative quality to everyday things can also end up revealing hitherto unexplored ways of doing things.

Some meditation techniques are centered around intention. This means that you can have a certain path that you follow, i.e. you get from Point A to Point B, without wandering all over the place. How does that help with creativity, you say? Especially when it seems that being creative is not linear. It’s true that creativity is far more than just intention, yet this is an important step. If you have an idea where you want your creativity to lead to, then using this skill will help you arrive at your goal. Slow down and step into the journey of your own creative mind.

3: Observation

Woman meditating in a bright cozy corner in her home

When meditating, in many senses, you are an observer. You use this opportunity to step back and away from a problem and just allow yourself to be aware. Observation is a keystone of creativity. Looking outside of the obvious is one very good way to boost creativity through meditation. Creating happens best when you allow yourself this “one step back” so that you can see what you are working on through fresh eyes and a clear heart. You don’t need to be in control of what you see, just let go and watch what comes to you.

4: Perception

Perception is key, the more you explore the subtle qualities of whatever you’re observing, the more you can appreciate and understand it.

Truly creative people are those who are very perceptive. They can sense beyond the normal realm and in doing so, bring the most interesting perspectives to light. This skill is honed well by diligent meditation. In fact, it comes almost naturally. So if you want to feel beyond the surface and dig out underlying feelings to throw into your creative work, spend more time meditating. It will give you a direct result due to your heightened awareness and intentional surrender.

5: Colors & Textures

When you meditate, you likely find yourself seeing what isn’t necessarily in front of you physically. This may feel a bit strange at first, but our brains are wonderful and like to “fill in the blanks.” Allow these wanderings of the mind to guide you toward interesting ideas that you can incorporate into your creative ventures. Colors & textures that inspire you to test new mediums can help you find freshness and originality. Also look for plays of light and darkness during your meditation to give you inspiration.

6: Idea Processing

sitting meditation

Meditation is where thoughts go to die, but the space where ideas are born. This is because it is the time when you literally empty your mind of all that is pressing… all the stress, all the troubles, all the chatter. Only afterwards can you think clear again. It is in that space that you are afforded a clean slate on which to process all the creative ideas that come to you. In this manner, they can arrive later, unhindered, without losing their way in all the busyness of life.

7: Mindfulness

Meditation teaches you to be in the present. By engaging in the moment you are in, you are practicing mindfulness. This is so important when it comes to finding your creative self. Don’t worry about the past or the future. Work with what you have right now. Letting your creative juices flow when the timing is perfect means that you’ve learned to pay attention to what is happening right now. This will boost your creativity and keep you intent on whatever project is currently on your plate. Mindfulness is key to both meditation and the resulting creativity.

Mindfulness is a technique which allows introspective and perceptual awareness, encouraging the awareness towards our psychological processes and habits. It increases the interhemispheric communication, which is typical of creativity states, since the individual who meditates is able to perceive more and more subtle details of the stream of consciousness and mental processes.2

Conclusion

So there you have it, seven sure-fire ways to boost creativity through meditation. Be aware of each of these methods and utilize them to your advantage so that you can take yourself and your creating to the next level. You will find that you will experience more inspiration and better direction, plus a deeper connection within yourself and the world around you as you strive to create what matters most to you.

Be inspired! Be you! Be awesome!

References

  • 1) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12671-014-0352-9
  • 2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395604/