Article By Guest Expert, Iris Van Ooyen
I regularly receive the question of how people can practice automatic writing, or inspired writing as I prefer to call it.
The concept is pretty simple. It’s a way to access your intuition and bypass your mind. For some people this is a really great way to receive intuitive insights. And the good news is: everyone can do it! It does require some practice and it is good to know what not to do. So here are some tips on how you can start to learn automatic writing.
Preparation
Go sit somewhere where you will be undisturbed, switch of your email and your phone. This will allow you to focus on the process and not have to re-start the flow and the energy time and again.
Take out a large blank piece of paper, ideally without lines.
Use a pen (not a pencil) and choose a pen that writes effortlessly. With some pens you have to press quite a bit to be able to write with it and we want as little resistance as possible. I prefer fine liners for this.
Ground yourself.
This really is key! When you are not grounded there is no point in trying this exercise. You will be too much in your head and therefore the quality of your insights will be low.
Keep your pen on the paper at all time
As soon as you are ready, put your pen on the paper and just start moving it in circles. The important thing is to NOT remove your pen from the paper. So just keep drawing circles or anything else that comes up. Even when nothing seems to happen, just keep drawing. Trust the process. As soon as words come, try to write them without removing your pen from the paper, You want to continue the flow and the easiest way is to not take your pen off the paper. This may mean that in the beginning it is hard to read what you are writing and that is ok. We’re practicing here. Not writing an essay 😉
Don’t think!
If you notice you’re writing down your grocery list, keep going. If you are suddenly jotting down your To Do list, don’t worry. We want to empty the brain of whatever is in the way. So see this as a great clearing of space. Your job is to just keep the flow of energy going. Don’t try to understand what it is that you are writing. If you try to understand the meaning as you go you will stop the flow because you are getting in your head. Just keep writing and read it after you’re done. The insights are not going anywhere 😉
The more you do it, the better you’ll get
It is my experience that the more often you do it the easier it becomes. It really is like training a muscle. For some it may come naturally and for others it takes more practice. Everyone has the ability to do automatic writing. It is just a matter of taking the time to learn the skill and practice.
Once you get more experienced and you are able to receive insights, words or drawings you can start to ask specific questions.
