Stretching Bodies and Minds: A Disciplined Writing-Yoga Connection >Joni Boone

My two-year-old is the ultimate yogi. She looks forward to daily practice with great anticipation, eager to roll out the mat and start posing. While she practices, she easily veers from simple poses to invent her own. A worm, naptime, crazy hopping – these are all her creative extensions of our daily yoga routine.

I often wish that I had the same enthusiasm for pulling out the mat as my daughter does. Once I’m into a practice, it is a lovely experience, but embracing a disciplined approach is difficult, especially since I am not a very disciplined person in other areas of my life. But in yoga, disciplined, daily sequences allow for exploration, deeper connections, getting fit, all of the benefits that come along with the "chore." Likewise, a disciplined approach to writing, a daily writing habit, could also spark a similar connection to texts and creativity. As instructors and tutors we have the opportunity to convince students of the importance of establishing this disciplined approach to writing by encouraging them to follow our examples.

The writing journal is certainly nothing new to the composition classroom. In Write to Learn Donald Murray (2002) describes his own approach to journaling. Murray’s "writer’s daybook" (p. 9) is a spiral bound log of his daily contemplations, a type of extended freewriting and discovery journal. He also claims that there are "no signs of struggle" (p.9) in his daybooks, that he’s not "fighting writing, [he’s] playing with writing" (p.9). This play, this creativity is certainly appealing to intuitive types who are motivated by inspiration and the freedom to ponder their ideas through writing.

An alternative way to practice writing is expressed by Gregory Martin, a New York Times Notable Book author and Washington State Book Award winner. Martin introduces the metaphor of the daily writing treadmill experience in "Want to be Productive? Start a 'treadmill' journal" (2007), cautioning against relying on "eccentric writing practices" (para. 2) devoid of discipline that ultimately lead to "unpublishable first drafts" (para. 3). He proposes an alternative view of writing: "Desire, like discipline, must be cultivated" (para. 4). Exercising one’s writing skills daily, like those routine trudges through a treadmill workout, Martin implies, eventually leads a writer to build skill and endurance.

And though running on a treadmill seems like a torturous analogy to this rather sedentary writer, I get Martin’s point and see the value. Establishing that practiced, disciplined approach to writing seems like a genuine way to build "momentum" (Martin, 2007, para. 9) to produce texts. The analogy, however, might be a bit unappealing and harsh when thinking of students who lack confidence in their writing abilities. There must be a way to integrate the inspired, creative Murray approach with the more rigid, product-driven Martin approach, all the while establishing a daily practice that students would subscribe to.

Perhaps a yogic approach to writing could work – a gentle daily sequence that students can use to establish a practice that could ultimately lead to playfulness, creativity, and skill. What’s important is to establish the routine first. In the past when I have become complacent and practice yoga sporadically, I still experience the benefits of the asanas – an immediate release of daily stress, awareness of my body, a calming of the spirit. The problem is that those benefits can become short lived without regular practice. Additionally, I don’t feel the freedom to explore new poses or have fun with familiar poses when I am out of practice. Alternately, when I am practicing yoga daily, the benefits are sustaining. Throughout the days and weeks my energy levels increase, I am aware of my body (including the food I put in it), and I can maintain a positive emotional and spiritual presence. Plus, I feel free to have fun with yoga. And perhaps the biggest benefit of a disciplined approach is that I become a part of the yoga community, feeling my place among other practitioners is legitimate and important.

The disciplined approach to a writing practice can produce similar benefits. Daily practice allows writers to not only build skills but also become more confident in their writing abilities, explore and play with writing, enjoying and using their creativity to discover texts and develop as a writer. And ultimately, a daily practice may make students feel like writers – part of a community of writers who do not have to publish professionally to call themselves writers. They are contributing to the academic world, the corporate world, or any other institution that they are part of through their writing. And it could all begin with that disciplined approach.

As instructors and tutors, we can model daily writing practice to our students so they realize that all writers work at the craft. When students see their instructors’ and tutors’ writing, they are more likely to become inspired from us and find our direction legitimate and useful. We can think of ways to encourage and inspire students to create their own writing routine rather than relying on the ebb and flow of assignments to guide their practice. Perhaps blogging about our writing development, providing encouraging emails or Tweets, or posting sample products could help us show students how we also work at the craft of writing daily. We could use class time or tutoring time to discuss our own approaches to the practice.

Most importantly, perhaps if we share our writing experiences with students and help them create their own approach, we are inviting them to discover their role in the writing community. By belonging to this community, they may feel more of a responsibility to create interesting, relevant, and clear texts within class and beyond. Their identities as writers will continue to take shape.

As the new year approaches and I create my list of unattainable fitness and life goals –never leave a dirty dish in the sink, read 100 books in 2010, cut out all processed sugars, I will try to model two rather healthy and attainable goals – daily practice of yoga and writing – for my students.

Namaste!

References

Martin, G. (2007). Want to be productive? Start a 'treadmill' journal. Writer, 120 (4): 26. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from MasterFILE Premier.
Murray, D.M. (2002). Write to learn (7th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt.

Did you know...
that despite her lack of visual-spatial intelligence, Joni once guessed the exact number of jelly beans in a jar, winning her daughter a basket of trinkets from a historic homestead.


Joni is a full-time staff person in the Writing Center.