Madhu B. Wangu, Author at Madhu Bazaz Wangu - Page 32 of 52
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Author:Madhu B. Wangu

Benefits of Daily Journaling

Posted on May 20, 2013
in Being in Nature
1 Comment

Journaling is an integral part of the Writing Meditation Method that I practice daily. I prefer to write longhand for twenty to thirty minutes. When I write this way I feel a sense of self-exploration. Like digging deep within and excavating precious relics from underneath the surface. Sometimes I dig my outer life, sometimes my inner, and some other times both. I am my own research laboratory in search for not only my future writings but also my true Self.   Journaling helps me delve deep and excavate my self. I explore and in the process discover things that I did not know before. Thus each time I get to know myself a little better. My thinking clarifies. My attitude changes a notch. Unself-conscious writing is a way of self-exploration. Once...

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FINDING THE PORTAL by MaryAlice Meli

Posted on May 3, 2013
in Meditation
2 Comments

Before I met Madhu B. Wangu, meditation was a dim memory from the late sixties and came with headbands, patchouli oil, aummmmmm and the kind of fragrant smoke that makes one crave cheese doodles. I've practiced a kind of meditation all my life; I just didn't know that's what it was. I thought I was praying or concentrating or daydreaming. What I didn't understand was how to intentionally meditate. "But what am I supposed to think about?" I questioned Madhu, a patient, clear and creative teacher. To meditate, she simplified it for me, is to breathe. Just breathe and don't think? Too simple, surely; but not too easy.   Now I follow Madhu's quiet instructions and, after several minutes of clearing my consciousness of tasks, problems or other thoughts, I am always astonished...

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Writing Meditation Helps Surface Incubating Ideas

Posted on May 3, 2013
in Being in Nature
1 Comment

Writing Meditation Method (WMM), the combined practice of meditation, journaling and writing, as I have said in several of my previous posts, helps mindful writers in two significant ways. One, it removes the debris of doubt, fear and anxiety that presses upon us without us even realizing it. Two, it helps surface new ideas that have been incubating in our minds. Daily practice of inhaling and exhaling with awareness clarifies mind and opens heart. Breathing with attention maximizes concentration and creates a treasured space within where writers go mentally to write at their designated place and appointed time. Meditation helps ideas float to the surface. From the time an idea strikes a writer to the time it is expressed in words, it slowly develops without any perceptible signs. The incubation time between...

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Discovering Writer’s Voice

Posted on April 5, 2013
in Being in Nature
1 Comment

The daily practice of Writing Meditation helps writers penetrate beyond the restless thoughts and foggy intelligence and unlocks the door to a realm where body, heart and mind are integrated as a whole. With one-pointed concentration, the writers access the place of insights, ideas and wisdom that is beyond the reach of the senses and the intellect. The integrated self works from the deepest level where the writers are unmasked and ungarbed and authentic. This is where their original voice is rooted. Writing flow is static, stuck in an eddy until they become an integrated whole. The practice of Writing Meditation Method integrates their scattered self. Whatever the subject matter, the mindful writers drive deep into the consciousness and become one with it. This results in acquiring an original writing voice. Instead...

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LIFE TRANSFORMED by Kathleen Shoop

Posted on March 11, 2013
in Meditation
1 Comment

All my life, exercise has provided me the opportunity to do more than raise my heart rate. For example, repetitive physical acts like swimming and walking have allowed my mind to unwind, solve problems and reduce stress. As I developed my writing career I found that through exercise I was able to provide the perfect runway for my writing to take off and unwrap plot and character problems. In those early days, I found I could belt out thousands of words in just a few hours after exercising. The cycle of exercise and writing fed itself, creating excitement for me as well as concrete progress in the quality writing.   As critique became part of my writing, exercise became even more important as the critique partners raised problems in my stories...

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Writer’s Dogged Determination

Posted on March 11, 2013
in Being in Nature
2 Comments

Talent and passion for writing by themselves do not make a successful writer. Dogged determination combined with these qualities does. "To write a minimum of thousand words every day" is one of the mottos of the Mindful Writers. Whereas talent and passion come naturally, determination is to be cultivated. This is hard to do. Most writers find starting a piece  quite challenging. The good news is a Method that the Mindful Writers follow. The Method is to practice Writing Meditation that cultivates and strengthens determination to write everyday. The Method begins with fifteen minutes of unselfconscious, playful, imaginative and unrestricted writing. This free writing or spiritual journaling is followed by fifteen minutes of meditation. During these thirty minutes the writer's fragmented body, mind and heart get integrated into the whole healthy...

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MINDFUL OF MY TRUTH by Julie Long

Posted on February 22, 2013
in Meditation
1 Comment

I'm on the edge of something -  an idea, a truth. Trying to write about it feels like drawing an object when I can't yet picture it in my head but I feel it. Putting it in writing will give it permanence I'm not sure I'm ready for. This is so often the case with me: I want to see the entire picture before I begin. In reality my truth changes daily. How silly I have not recognized this before. In January I turn inward and stay quiet. I am giddy with pleasure at having the freedom to do so when the rest of the world is kicking off a new year with gusto. Being home alone with no interaction is bliss. I do what feels right: meditation, yoga, and walking, reading,...

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The Art of Mindful Writing; The Business of Publishing

Posted on February 22, 2013
in Being in Nature
0 Comments

Fear of rejections paralyses even talented and skillful writers. The Mindful Writers keep the business of publishing temporarily at bay. They complete the first draft, revise it several times and get it edited. When the draft is transformed into the final manuscript, only then does their attention shift to publishing the finished work. J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), one of the most important American writers has said, "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure." Publishing can become a major obstacle on writers' path and clog the creative flow. It is not so much "a terrible invasion of writer's privacy." But it contaminates writer's passion,...

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To Carve A Statue Of Authentic Self

Posted on January 9, 2013
in Being in Nature
1 Comment

Dear Mindful Readers, I would like to share with you an excerpt that hangs on a wall in my study:  I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of a man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture or to carve a statue and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it far more glorious to carve or paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. The excerpt is from Henry David Thoreau's classic, Walden (1854). It  inspires me in all areas of my life: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. How do I elevate the quality...

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Posts by Mindful Writers

Posted on December 26, 2012
in Being in Nature
2 Comments

Since 2010, I have posted short pieces about the Mindful Writers Group and the benefits of the Writing Meditation Method. The Method consists of daily practice of fifteen minutes of body, heart or mind meditation followed by fifteen minutes of Free Writing. (For detailed descriptions of MWG and WMM please read the following previous posts: The pieces posted during 2011: October 11 & 18, November 13 & 30 and in 2012: July 2 & 30 and August 21) The half hour meditation and writing ritual energizes the writers, builds the momentum and inspires them to work on their manuscripts for five to six hours, for some longer. It is amazing to experience how a narrow thought pattern at the beginning of the session turns into something larger than life. Writing Meditation Method...

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