A Mantra for Writers

Last year, my hands staged a revolt against writing. Tingling fingertips and swollen knuckles often roused me from the deepest sleep and I would stare at my stiff digits, wondering if I’d sprouted lobster claws overnight. My doctor said it was carpal tunnel syndrome, borne of too many hours of typing out the novel. I couldn’t afford the recommended weekly acupuncture treatments, and taking time off from writing was not an option, so I signed up for the new student promo at Pilgrimage of the Heart Yoga – two weeks of unlimited classes.

Stretched out on in corpse pose at the close of that first class convinced me that yoga was the way to go. Beyond the serene physicality of sun salutations, following directions offered a delicious opportunity to turn control over to someone else. That’s when I realized writers need periodic breaks from playing God: who knew manipulating characters and composing scenes was so exhausting? What a relief to have someone tell me what to do for a change.

Soon I was doing yoga five days a week. The carpal tunnel pain dissipated and my posture improved, but over time another, totally unexpected benefit came to light: yoga helped me write better.

Whenever a plot knot blocked the writing, I would stop and take a yoga break. The meditative hour replenished the creative juices and a solution to the creative puzzle invariably surfaced as I walked home from vinyassa class.

Taking it one step further, I joined Heather’s two-day vegetarian yoga retreat at a camp in Descanso last spring. One of the weekend’s highlights was a silent meditation hike. Instead of talking, Heather instructed us to compose a short personal mantra, mentally chanting one word for each step taken, over and over till we returned to the bottom of the hill.

Alas, mental mantras turned out not to be my strongest suit.

Marching uphill my mental mantra went: I’m. Writing. A great. Novel. Tramping downhill it had somehow devolved into I’m. Eating. The pork. Belly. Same cadence, different dream.

Feeling very Kung Fu Panda, I kept on with my practice and returned to Descanso that fall for a second retreat. This time we learned to make vision boards that would help ‘manifest’ our goals. By then I was working on the novel’s final chapters, so I manifested a finished manuscript, literary representation, a publishing contract … and just for the heck of it, Oprah’s Book Club.

Despite my initial skepticism, manifesting turned out to be a powerful tool. Shortly before Christmas the novel was done; by February a literary agent signed me on and in April, Penguin came through with a book deal.

I can’t get on anyone’s book club till the novel sees print, but practicing yoga, meditating and manifesting will no doubt help me survive the revision process. Did I eat the pork belly? Of course. All I have to do now is get Oprah to read my book.

Post script: And if after reading my story, you still doubt this whole manifesting/vision board business, consider this: Last month my novel won the Grand Prize at the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippine’s oldest, most prestigious literary competition. It is my country’s version of the Pulitzer Prize. Next week I’m going home to attend the awards ball in Manila, flying on the wings of a dream.