Do these two practices mix? I believe that they do. As a Career Strategist for Writers and a Story Consultant, my belief is that the stronger you are inside and the more access you have to your story, the stronger you are on the page. Writers who do the emotional and spiritual work are often stronger in their creative endeavors. Of course, there is a stereotype that the best writers have addictions to drugs and alcohol. After 17 years of working in the entertainment business, I have found the opposite to be true. The writers I enjoyed working with the most and who showed the strongest talent on the page lived normal lives and were committed to having healthy lifestyles. Writing takes courage. Clarity is an important ingredient in being able to feel free to express yourself. If you do the emotional work that is needed to process the events in your life, expression becomes more accessible and strengthens your value on the page.
What is the best way to gain clarity? Yoga is one way to do this work. Doing yoga allows you to go inside yourself and be an observer of your emotions. Just as with writing, with yoga you have your days when you're completely on and feel like you can do anything and you have your days when your balance is all off. It reflects what life is. The beauty of yoga is that the more that you do it, the better you get. This is the same with writing. The more scripts you write, the deeper you go with your craft. As you become more self aware, your confidence grows and your connection to your emotions surfaces, giving you more to draw from in your writing.
In one of my favorite movies, The Lives of Others, they explore the idea of loyalty in depth. Do we owe more loyalty to our significant other or to ourself? Is our love for what we do more important than the love we feel for each other? Another movie that goes to powerful emotional levels is Frost/Nixon. The film questions how we can recover when we've fallen from the pedestal. How do you get success back? I applaud both movies for not just exploring the surface of life but for fleshing out and dissecting the choices that we make and the repercussions that follow. It is the willingness to explore story without fear that truly connects the audience.
I encourage writers to do yoga or any other routine that gives them the time and the means to connect with their self.
As a way to support this belief, I am doing my first Writer/Yoga Retreat and one day Storywise Seminar in Oahu from August 18th - 23. For more information, please click here and look under Events and Seminars.