Teacher(s): Amy Spies

Description: "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."
― William Wordsworth

Mindfulness, writing, and life are all journeys. Every breath, every word, every interaction is its own unique pilgrimage practice. These journeys inform and deepen each other.

As a longtime professional writer/writing teacher and meditator/trained mindfulness (MBSR) teacher, I have found that mindfulness helps break through writer's block. In meditation practice, we become skillful at not letting judgmental thoughts dominate. By meditating before writing and stilling the loop of self-questioning doubts, we can then settle into the gift of the present moment and self-express more spontaneously with our own unique mindful voices.

In the Mindful Writer's Journey daylong, we will practice an array of meditations that correspond to progressive parts of the writing and the universal self-expression process

Each segment will begin with a dharma talk about a phase of this self-expression journey and the purpose it serves in stories, memoirs, mindfulness, and life. Next, there will be a prompt and a period of time to write. After each mindful writing, there will be group sharing, discussion, and questions.

As Mary Oliver wrote:

"Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it."

Led by Amy Spies, an experienced practitioner of mindfulness meditation as well as a professional writer/producer with credits spanning over 30 years of work in television, film and other media outlets, this group will explore the nuance of writing from the deeply connected space of mindfulness.

*This workshop is suitable for writers of all mediums including those writing journals, memoirs, screen or stage plays, novels, poems, and short stories.

Location Details:
InsightLA Olympic
1430 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Please note: Parking is metered every day from 9AM - 6PM, except on Sunday.
*This site is equipped with a chair lift for persons with limited mobility.

Directions: See Map

Contact teacher: Contact by email (expect responses Monday - Friday, only)

Cost: $135

Enrollment Limit: 35 | There are still openings for this program.

Items to Bring: Please bring your own writing accoutrements.

Contact Information: programs@insightla.org or 310-450-1821

We are no longer taking registrations for this class/event.