Yoga for the Brain

YOGA FOR THE BRAIN – Reflective Writing

When I have a problem that I can’t solve through negotiation, discussion or talking, I go to my desk and I write about it. Sometimes the writing takes the form of a splurge and it is enough to have simply let off steam on the page. More often it becomes a way of looking at the problem with greater detachment. As I write different ideas occur to me and they help me get a different perspective on my problem.

One time when I was absolutely stuck, forty five pages into a novel, I decided to write to Jane Austen about my problem. I asked her if she had had trouble with Mr Darcy and also asked her why Mr Bingley’s sisters were so poisonous. Fairly quickly, the message came back “motive”. I realised that I needed to sort out my characters’ motives.

I often write about the rows that I have with my teenage daughter and after a bit of moaning and groaning I usually come to what it is that really annoys me – often something different to the thing we have been bellowing at each other about.

One of my favourite exercises is writing about myself in the future as though it were the present. This helps me to decide what I need to do in order to reach the future situation.

Another good exercise is when I ask myself questions about a particular problem or situation. For example I have bi-polar disorder and it can be helpful to write about this in terms of something different.
E.G. If my bi-polar disorder were an animal it would be a tiger. When it is asleep, it is the depressive bit and when it is hunting it is the manic bit. When the tiger is simply walking around or hanging up a tree, it is the period of stability, full of energy and potential but relaxed as well.

I wish that I had known about another exercise when I was really depressed. I could have written about what my life would be like when I was better. It would have helped me to see the effect that my depression had on different aspects of my life and might have helped me to ask for support to improve those aspects.
E.G. I know that I was able to feel better if I went to a live performance at the theatre but I was incapable of booking tickets – so I could have asked someone to do that for me.

Another good way to get a bit of detachment from an unpleasant situation is to write about it in detail using all five senses. Concentrating on what you smelt, tasted, heard, saw and touched can help to defuse strong feelings. If you write about the same situation several times, each time using creative writing techniques to edit and re-write it can reduce stress levels considerably.

These are simple writing exercises that I can do anytime, anywhere (I always carry a notebook and pen!) and they really do work.

I have designed a course, YOGA FOR THE BRAIN which introduces these and other techniques.