Let the Creative Force Awake!

There have been a lot of different claims about the powers of meditation, some of which can be proven and some of which can’t. I personally have been practicing meditation for a number of years, in some periods of my life I’ve been very rigorous about it, and some other not much but I can certainly feel the difference in a day that started with some “quiet mind” time.

I want to tell you about my personal experience as well ad as the scientific aspect that emerged from a study at Leiden University, that proves how meditation techniques can boost your creative powers in many ways, even if you have never meditated before.

What is this meditation thing?

Even you are new to meditation (where have you been the past decade!?) this study suggests that you can start to build up your creative powers right from the start. This means that as long as you are using the right techniques, you can start to improve your creativity right away. As well as being good for your creativity, it is thought that meditation techniques can also help you to build up other cognitive skills. Although there is no proven link between meditation and these other skills, there are millions of people worldwide who swear that practicing meditation techniques improve their mental health, physical fitness, cognitive skills and overall well-being.

You don’t need to be a Buddhist monk or some Indian Guru to practice meditation, in fact it can be done pretty much anywhere, while walking, waiting at the doctors office or sitting on a bus.

Yes, that means that you can cancel your Easy order for the Thai Buddhist Monk Robes.

How does meditation improve creativity?

One of the main ways that meditation improves creativity is to create the perfect conditions for insights. Quieting our mind will allow you to understand more about the things that surround you, and see them in different perspectives. This will allow you to make connections that were not made before, and you will start to do this without even really having to think about it.

Basically when you are faced with a problem (which is every hour of your day!), you will be able to take the parts of the problem and come up with an insightful solution. This will benefit your creative tasks, such as writing, designing, painting or poetry if you are into it!

Do all meditation techniques help creativity?

The study showed that different techniques actually have different positive effects on creativity. None of the techniques which were investigated as part of the study have had a negative effect on creativity levels on the participants. One example of a practice which was found to be particularly successful at improving participants’ abilities to think up creative solutions was the Open Monitoring Meditation, which basically means staying quiet with closed eyes, and put your awareness on your physical sensations and thoughts.

My morning routine includes something similar to that involves placing my awareness on my breathing and heart beat for about 10min. It really shouldn’t take a scientist to understand that allowing your brain to relax and chew problems at a more subconscious level will open your mind to solutions that can be a little more out of the box, right?

Why should you care?

You don’t need to be an artist or a designer to see the benefits of meditation. Improved creativity can have a positive impact on many areas of your life like in the office environment, reinvigorate your social life, improve your general health and well-being and get a little more enjoyment out of your day.

Meditation, unlike other drugs, it’s totally free and would take only 10 minutes of your day. Just choose the type of meditation you like and go for it!

Money back guaranteed.

Sources:

Science Daily

Huffington Post

Jane Friedman

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Ignazio Lacitignola

Founder & Designer

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Ignazio Lacitignola

Founder & Designer

Ignazio, or “Igi” for friends and colleagues, is an Italian designer, creative, and entrepreneur. He feels weird talking about himself in 3rd person, but for the sake of this bio, he will.

Ignazio has been a curious creative since he can remember and embraced digital design as soon as he could afford a computer and an internet connection that wasn’t 56k dial-up.

Ignazio grew up in the ghetto side of Milano, Italy, and somehow managed to graduate with honors at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, without ever going to jail.

He followed his passion and moved to the USA to study User Experience in San Francisco where he launched his career with Meno Design, a digital design studio focused on simplifying digital experiences down to their core and learning through experimentation.

He believes that every piece of design can be a work of art and he is still learning to balance his OCD attention to details with time of execution.

Despite his friendly and calm appearance he deeply enjoys Italian swearing whenever spotting bad design decisions. Which is quite often, however he is quite friendly, you should say hi.