Jennifer Kurdyla will be joining us virtually on Thursday, April 28th for Write to Heal: Awaken Your Creative Potential with Ayurveda. Her class will explore creative activities, such as writing, and how they are important tools for facilitating the digestive process that’s essential to our longevity and well-being, especially when it comes to digesting emotions, thoughts, and everything that passes through the mind.
Using writing as a mindfulness practice like meditation or yoga can help prevent all that information from getting “clogged” in the channels of our mind, which over time can lead to states like brain fog, overwhelm and burnout, memory loss, insomnia, and—of course—various states of indigestion in the gut.
In anticipation of her upcoming workshop, Jennifer sat down with The Alchemist’s Kitchen to discuss her passion for Ayurveda and writing. You can watch her full interview on our YOUTUBE channel. Below are her suggestions for journaling prompts that correlate to the four doshas, the three types of energetic forces of Ayurvedic medicine.
As you begin to experiment with writing as a mindfulness practice, consider the role of the doshas with regards to how your personal constitution, any current imbalances, the time of day, and season of the year and of your life are affecting the qualities in your mind and expression. These prompts may reveal which dosha is dominant right now, and support balancing those qualities and elements in your mind and body. Before you write, do any movements or centering practices that help you transition from your previous activity.
Choose a body part that you feel neutral about emotionally and physically. Write a letter to that body part and share what you appreciate about it. Set a timer for 5 to 15 minutes, and only write within the limits of this creative container.
Close your eyes and take 3 breaths before you sit down to write, and clear the space around you. If you wish, light a candle or incense, or apply some essential oil or perfume to invite in a fragrance you enjoy. Open your notebook so you see two facing pages (left-hand and right-hand side), and let your writing only fill that space—stop when you fill those two pages. Write about a childhood memory when you felt free and playful, or draw or doodle any of the feelings or memories associated with that. Close your eyes and take 3 breaths before moving into your next activity.
Move to a new location from where you were before when you sit down to write. Make yourself cozy with pillows or blankets or a cup of tea. Set a timer for 5 to 15 minutes, and make a list of all the qualities you appreciate about yourself, how you spend your days, or in general about your life at present. Keep the items short, no more than 1 line on your page, and don’t stop moving the pen on the page the whole time. When you’re done, read the list out loud and choose one of the items/activities to do at some point in your day.
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