Madhu Bazaz Wangu

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"Just stick with it. What seems so hard right now, will one day be your warm up." I came across this quote from a running Facebook Page, but I thought it could apply to writing as well. A few years ago, I needed a goal to maintain my workout schedule. I'm a quitter when it comes to exercise, but I enjoyed running. My goal was to run in a 5K. No measly 5K, I signed up for Pittsburgh's Great Race with 5,000 other runners. When I survived that first one, I scheduled the next and the next. Each one became easier than the previous one. As a writer, I decided to implement the same plan for establishing a schedule and improve my writing stamina. I needed a goal. My...

Writing in Solitude; Writing with the Mindful Writers Group

Posted on July 6, 2013

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Until 2010, for twenty-five years I wrote alone in the solitude of my study. Every weekday my writer's voice emerged as I meditated, wrote in a journal and worked on my projects. The daily practice helped me overcome my fears, my internal critic and writer's blocks. I wrote for long hours, my writing improved and I was able to liberate my authentic voice from self-doubt. The practice resulted in Writing Meditation Method. I decided to share it with other writers. In March 2011, I started the Mindful Writers Group. Lori M. Jones and four other writers joined me on this journey. Once a week we wrote together. Since then, writing with others has enriched my experience of writing in more than one way. Over the last two and a half years...

Summer Solstice Soiree

Posted on June 15, 2013

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Come and celebrate the summer solstice Soiree evening Friday, June 21, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at Courtyard, 516-522 Allegheny River Boulevard, Oakmont, PA-15139, with the following authors: Kathleen Shoop* Meredith Mileti* Lori Jones* James Robinson, Jr.* Madhu B. Wangu* Bill Deasy SK McClafferty JD Wylde (*Mindful Writers) In addition to meeting and greeting the authors you will have an opportunity to win one or more of the following raffle baskets on display: Mini-ipad Basket Coffee & Gift Card Basket Kid's summer fun/books basket Summer books basket Don't miss this evening of meaningful conversations, music and literary gathering! See you there! ...

GO DAD GO! by Meredith Mileti

Posted on May 30, 2013

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For the last several months I've been traveling between Pittsburgh and Boca Raton to help nurse my dad as he battles the challenging complications of a chronic illness. Although lately I haven't been able to devote as much time to my writing as I would like, every day I try to practice what I've learned in Mindful Writers Group with whom I practice the Writing Method Meditation. Never before has the Method, which includes Journaling and Meditation, been more important to me. Journaling allows me to create quick emotional sketches that provide insight into what I am feeling. Meditation sharpens my focus, while also centering and calming me. Together the two practices help me understand and accept the next steps in this difficult journey. Being mindfully present with my...

Chrysalis Becomes A Butterfly

Posted on May 30, 2013

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For the last several months, we have missed Meredith Mileti at our Wednesday Group meetings. She was unable to come because of her frequent commute from Pittsburgh to Florida to help nurse her dad: one week sitting beside her father in Boca Raton, next week standing by in her Pittsburgh home ready to get on a plane. Sadly, her dad, Robert Mileti passed away peacefully on May 29, 2013. He was 81 years old. Meredith was by his side just as she had been throughout this journey, difficult for both of them. Even at this trying time, Meredith kept her promise of writing a post for our website. (See "Go Dad Go" on Writing & Meditation page) Death of a parent is a time of deep sorrow. No matter how...

Benefits of Daily Journaling

Posted on May 20, 2013

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...

FINDING THE PORTAL by MaryAlice Meli

Posted on May 3, 2013

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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...

Writing Meditation Helps Surface Incubating Ideas

Posted on May 3, 2013

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...

Discovering Writer’s Voice

Posted on April 5, 2013

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...

LIFE TRANSFORMED by Kathleen Shoop

Posted on March 11, 2013