1. Writing to Heal + Meditation Workshop Raising Consciousness through Self-Communication & Introspection By Melissa Grace Hoon, M.A. 2. Objectives Raise your consciousness to a positive, uplifting state that will benefit yourself and others. Discover how emotional or traumatic past experiences affect you now. Identify what does not positively serve you, and prepare to make an active and mindful plan to let go of these misfortunes. Attune with your inner freedom through meditation and reclaim your power by giving yourself a voice through expressive writing. 3. Introduction What is consciousness? What is the purpose of expressive writing and meditation? What happens when we expand our consciousness? 4. Defining Healing Tools What is expressive writing? What is meditation? 5. Writing Exercise #1 Write for five minutes about your day today. Write in story form. Write for your eyes only. Dont worry about spelling, grammar or punctuation. Notice how you feel after this exercise. 6. Exploring Writing How does writing help heal? Writing helps us accept. Writing empowers us. 7. Exploring Writing Contd How does writing help heal? Writing prepares us for reconnecting. Writing improves our health. 8. Expressive Writing Tips Write daily for 15 consecutive minutes. Link what youre writing about to other areas of your life. Use strong adjectives. Write in story form. 9. Show, dont tell. Use an active voice. Keep writing and meditating. Writing Tips Contd 10. Writing Exercise #2 Write for eight minutes about how you felt throughout your day. Notice how this exercise makes you feel. Note also how you feel when you reflect on your feelings and emotions, opposed to reporting on the days events, like you did in the first exercise. 11. Meditation Exercise #1 Recall an emotional or traumatic event in your life. Remember as you recall this memory: The calmer we are, the clearer we think! Notice how this meditative exercise makes you feel. 12. Writing Exercise #3 What happened in the event you recalled in Meditation Exercise #1? Write about this for 15 minutes. 13. Meditation Exercise #2 Set yourself up for meditation. During meditation, if you feel a sense of freedom, expand that feeling of freedom throughout your body and outward. If you feel negative emotions, turn your focus to the calm steadiness of your breath. 14. Workshop Evaluation Please email your answers to the following questions to melissahoon@gmail.com: What did you find most helpful in this workshop? What suggestions do you have to improve this workshop? Are you an experienced meditator or writer? Was information presented in this workshop new or review for you? Please explain your past experience. Do you feel that what you learned in the workshop will help you? How? Feel free to offer any additional comments to help improve the workshop.