Book block: Not in your head

We tend to think about writing as something that happens “here” between our ear. But I believe that writing is a physiological event, not just a mental event – it involves the entire organism, not just the brain.

Which means that the writer’s bloc is not a mental failure Will But a physiological condition. And if this is the case, there is likely a physiological solution.

Dip!

It has become recently obsessed with fascia, the connective fabric of the body.

Last month, I attended the seventh annual conference on fascia research in New Orleans. Yes, I am now a full war. fascism? While I was in Congress, I listened to lectures and scientific reports shows as well as videos that watched the autopsy. Here is my best summary:

For years, everyone thought that the fascia was merely mobilizing peanuts, and the pill that I made to reach the “important” parts: organs, bones, and muscles. But then anatomy began to realize, Stop. The fascia is cooler than it. It is a 3D crystal network that passes through everything: members, tendons and bones. It is dynamic. It is alive. It is loaded with sensory neurons.

And the roll Remember. This is Kicker. Muscles memory? Poor designation. It is actually the one who register. The fascia is the place where the result is “kept,” says Bisel van der Cok. In 2015, the fascia was officially announced as a member of the International Federation of anatomy associations. (Finally, some respect!)

In Congress, I saw a video clip with the entire fascia network properly. It looked like a super suit made of Spiderweb and Mush, all connected. You realize: This is not the decoration. It is a living memory palace for the body.

So every time someone told you as a child, Sitting shut up; You are bad. or shame upon you , Remember your fascia. I put a knot style to protect you. This means that when I sit in writing and feel a “ban”, I am not only against today’s project. I am an embodied life Stop. no. bad.

Polyvagal theory

Polyvagal adds another layer. Before 1996, the scholars believed Nervous system He had a trusser: sympathetic (fighting or journey) and parsympathetic (comfort and digestion). But Stephen Borges came along and said, There is a third system: freezing.

What was considered the failure of the fighting or the journey – “You are just closing” – re -drafted as its own adaptation circle, governed by the dorsal Vague. When this system begins, you go to the lock and the shift. Hello, the writer’s block.

Now this is the desired part. The vague nerve extends from the brain to the bottom across the body, and carries signals in both directions. Nerves and louds It arrives In the brain, bring messages from the body to the mind. Effective nerves exit The brain, send orders again. Here is the percentage that blew my mind: four times the number of signals higher from The body to the brain as is down from the brain to the body.

In other words, the body has more to say about the case creativity From your mind. We can learn to speak in the body’s language to convert the nervous system from turning off to what Porges calls “Create and Connect”.

Body language

How do we speak the language of the body?

Well, for beginners, we can listen. I can notice the location of my body in space (Proprioception) and what is a feeling within my body (Intervalction). You don’t need to fix anything. Just a corrective note. Eastern traditions were saying this forever. Add a slower breathing, allow the roll of roll to the separation, and the body begins to whisper to the brain: You are safe. You can create.

My writing method

I have a writing how to use it for years. I give myself two options:

He writes.

Or take a break. But the break has rules.

At a break, I can only notice sensory events. I can see my breath. I can sip coffee and pay attention For taste and temperature. I can walk and notice my body moving across space. I am Not possible Do: Check the email, plans for my grocery store, and fiction revenge Speeches.

If you want to think strategically, I return to writing.

So I switch. If you are tired of writing, I turn into sensing. If you boring From sensing, returning to writing. I use one of them’s resistance to push me to the other, like placing a sailboat in the wind. The resistance becomes the payment.

And in sailing, if you fail to hunt, you end up to “in iron” – diving, and sails flutter, do not go anywhere. This is the writer’s bloc.

My replacement keeps me moving, preventing me from locking in iron.

German word emptiness

I recently learned the German word mUße From Philip de Faris Ali German gemst From my podcast 50 words for snow, where I and Cohost Emily Garies are looking for words that lack the equivalent of English. emptiness It means a kind of restorative comfort, not just distraction. I can rest by watching YouTube, but this only stimulates the strategic mind. The real REST is what already restores the body, relieves the fascia, and brings me back to curiosity. This is the type of comfort that I want to switch with writing.

Liberation from shame

I heard a book saying, “I do not like writing, but I love writing.” Funny, but such a problem. I think writing can be more enjoyable if we stop treating it as a moral test of the power of will.

If you see the writer’s bloc, there is no defect. My nervous system only does his work: protect me, and hold me. My muscles are not represented in the use of will, but to calm the system and redirect it – it returns it towards safety, towards the curiosity, towards playing.