Mokuso – The Gentle Art of Preparing Your Mind
Photo by Katerina May on Unsplash
There is a practice that originated in the martial arts in Japan called mokuso. It roughly means “silent” or “still” (moku) + “thinking” (so).
In karate, for example, students do it before class begins. You spend a few minutes meditating, deeply focusing the mind before starting practice. It’s not just about stilling the mind, but also about visualizing what you intend to do during the session. In the case of karate, you might visualize the kata, or forms, you will practice that day. You might mentally rehearse how the session will go, and think about what you’d like to work on during the sparring sessions.
Now think about your writing time, and how it normally goes. Do you feel calm and focused when you start? Or do you squeeze it in among all the different competing obligations of your day? How long does it take you to settle into “writing mode”? Are you easily distracted? Do you struggle to stay focused?
It may seem counterintuitive when you may already feel like you don’t have enough time to write, but taking a few minutes to sit down, take a few deep breaths, and focus before you start writing gives your mind a chance to transition into creative mode.
You don’t need to have a formal meditation practice to try it. The steps are simple:
Sit quietly for a moment. The traditional mokuso practice calls for specific postures, but you can just sit in your chair, hands in your lap or on your knees.
Close your eyes. Take a few steady, deep breaths. Focus on the sensation of the breath going in and out.
Let your body relax. You might do a body scan, relaxing your facial muscles, neck, back, arms, legs.
Think about your writing project. What do you need to work on during this session? Is it clear in your mind?
Is there a question or problem that comes to mind in relation to your story? Allow yourself to feel what it’s like in your body. Is there any tension? What feelings arise?
Visualize yourself writing. Focus on the feeling of flow. The feeling of ease in your writing. Focus on the next scene.
Gather your energy from deep in your belly. Feel it flowing through you. Allow yourself to feel it fully.
Open your eyes, and begin.
This practice is a form of Priming, deliberately preparing your mind to write. It allows you to focus faster, and stay focused, with fewer distractions. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes, but gives you time to decompress from everything else, and transition to your writing time.
We all live in a world of constant stimulation and distractions. It becomes harder and harder to quiet the mind, to sit down and focus on anything for more than a few minutes. I’ve noticed it in myself: I have to force myself to sit and watch a movie, or a full episode of a TV show, without picking up my phone. I tend to get very sleepy quickly while reading, even though I used to be engrossed for hours without a problem.
Or I write (or edit) for a few minutes and then hit a rough patch and – whoops, suddenly I need to check my email, or look up some detail, or see what the weather will be like later, or make a grocery list...
All this, despite the fact that I meditate daily!
So, the ability to settle your mind more quickly, to focus better and for longer, becomes crucial. Another way to do this is to set a timer for 10, 15, 20, 25 minutes... whatever you can do. Then write. No distractions, just writing. Then stop when the timer goes off. If that’s it for the day, then great, you’re done! If you have more time, take a 5-minute break, then do another round. For some reason the timer works to help keep us focused on the task. Otherwise, it’s easy to spend most of our writing time doing anything but writing – and then frantically scramble to get something down in the last few minutes so we don’t feel the time was wasted.
Try these two practices this week: 1) taking a few minutes at the beginning of your session to focus and center on the writing ahead; and 2) setting a timer for your session. See if it helps you focus more quickly and for longer.
Have you tried these practices? Let us know in the comments!
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