If you've made a vow to spend more time with your journal this year, take that a step further with proprioceptive writing. Unlike other process-writing methods that focus solely on expression - including journal writing, free writing and stream-of-consciousness writing - proprioceptive writing focuses on both expression and reflection. It's basically a tool to change the way you think.
The method can be used to unburden the mind, resolve emotional conflicts, connect with the spiritual self, focus awareness and find one's voice, among other things, according to "Writing the Mind Alive, The Proprioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice," the 2002 book on the practice written by method founders Linda Trichter Metcalf and Tobin Simon.
"It's a great therapeutic tool for psychic exploration," says Anne Bright, who started teaching the method in the late '90s and founded Proprioceptive Writing Center, Southeast in Chattanooga. She is one of only three faculty members in the country aside from Metcalf and Simon. "You become your own inquisitor in a loving, open, nonjudgmental way," Bright says of the practice.
Proprioceptive writing involves the use of "auditory imagination," in which you shift to overhearing thoughts as if they were spoken rather than experiencing thoughts as just words in your head. To accomplish that shift, proprioceptive writing requires you to find a space free of distractions for 25 minutes, light a candle and play Baroque music, which has a rhythmic quality reflective of the human pulse. The slower tempos are believed to help the brain switch from its everyday beta rhythms to more creativity-conducive alpha rhythms, according to Trichter Metcalf and Simon. You then begin to write down your thoughts on unlined paper, using auditory imagination to listen to your thoughts without judging, editing or censoring them. With each thought you ask yourself, and write, the proprioceptive question, or PQ: "What do I mean by?" You then fill in the blank with whatever word, phrase or expression comes to mind.
Asking the PQ is intended to help you begin to relive specific experiences imaginatively by bringing out concrete details. "It leads to an evolution in thinking," Bright says. "It makes your writing so much more alive."
People are encouraged to do three to five writes each week. Over time, regular practice is intended to strengthen your sense of self and connection to the world, increasing self-confidence and creativity by gaining a more detailed picture and therefore a deeper understanding of your lived experience.
The practice was founded in the mid-70s, when Trichter Metcalf was a teacher at Pratt University in New York City. Along with her partner, Simon, she has been teaching the method for the past 40 years. The two continue to teach at the Proprioceptive Writing Center in Oakland, California.
The name of the practice comes from the proprioceptive sense, or the body's sense of itself. Proprioceptive writing is meant to be the mental version of that. "You're sensing your own consciousness, instead of being stuck with your ideas about yourself and the world," Bright explains.
She recently offered a two-day workshop through The Chattery, and will lead a five-day immersion with Metcalf in Santa Cruz in March. Bright also offers six-week coaching sessions, over the phone or in person, in which she analyzes clients' "writes," and has led group sessions at the local center in the past.
While practicing on your own is fine, Bright recommends an immersion or group session to get the benefit of hearing others' writes analyzed - which can be just as helpful as reflecting on your own, she says. "For me, going away is huge, where you can really sink into it," says Bright. She did a weekend immersion at a farm in North Georgia over 25 years ago when she discovered the method, which she credits with changing her life. "Everything came pouring out, and I heard my voice again."
To learn more about the method, visit the local center's website at thewayofwriting.org or purchase "Writing the Mind Alive" at amazon.com.