Meditation and Creativity

I recently was asked to look into the links between meditation and creativity for an article in Spirituality & Health Magazine and thought I’d share here. 
 
As the number of studies looking at the health and cognitive impacts of meditation keeps increasing, there have been a few very small studies looking at the effect of meditation practices on creativity.  An interesting study amongst nineteen healthy adults in Netherlands published in 2012 compared the impact of focused-attention (FA) meditation and open-monitoring (OM) meditation on creativity tasks. ​

Researchers found that OM styles of meditation, where meditators sustained a receptive, open awareness, promoted divergent ways of thinking more so than FA styles of meditation with a single-pointed focus of concentration.  Divergent thinking refers to the generation of many new kinds of ideas and can be a key aspect of creativity. 

Another beautiful reminder that when we intentionally pay attention to present moment experience with kind curiosity and patience, we create the space to connect with our innate strengths, including creativity.  When we can bring a loving mindful presence to whatever it is we are doing, we naturally create the conditions necessary for innate creative intelligence to flow through us.  

Looking for a quick creative boost in the middle of your day? Consider trying this open-monitoring style of meditation known as The Sky of Awareness, and if you already have an established practice of focused-attention meditation, consider integrating something like this towards the end of your sitting to just explore what arises.  Enjoy - 

1. Taking a few moments to settle into a comfortable seated posture, eyes closed or gently gazing to the floor, allow attention to gently rest upon watching the breath just as it is.
2. Using the breath as a grounding anchor, invite attention to broaden, imagining the mind as wide and expansive as the sky.  Opening attention up to sounds, allow their pitches and tones to come and go in this vast sky of awareness.
3. Also held in this sky are sensations within the body. These too, like sounds, have the quality of arising and falling away.  Continuing to anchor into the breath, explore the quality of sensations available right now in the company of sounds, just letting it all be.
4. You may have already noticed that the broad sky of awareness also holds space for thoughts, mental images, and emotions.  They shift and change like varying weather patterns in this expansive, accepting, sky.  Instead of ignoring them or pushing them aside, see if it is possible to open attention to all of them coming and going, along with sounds and sensations.  Allow for the unfolding of life just as it is, remembering the breath is always available as an anchor when you need it.
5. Once you are feeling ready, narrow the attention back to the breath and perhaps invite a sense of gratitude to yourself for exploring this vast sky of awareness within you. Thank you.