New creative writing group incorporates yoga

"Bikram Writing is a Hooooot! Hooooot!"

I had the good fortune to meet Liz Worthy at last night's Book Ball. Liz has organized a new creative writing workshop called Bikram Writing, so named because, like Bikram Yoga, the class is based on the precept that an increase in blood circulation will increase your creative flow. It is the least precocious, most creative creative writing class I think I've ever been to.

Some might not have the palate for the kinds of exercises Liz uses to get things flowing. We started with what she called literary stretching, consisting of body movements like italics (stretching to the side), increasing font size (standing on tip-toes), periods (hopping on one foot), colons (both feet), and even characterizations (sad face, happy, hungover, surprised, i'm-ready-to-work face). It was all a cute way to stretch and stay focused on what we were doing. To finish, we lightly pattted up and down our own arms and legs, chest and stomach. From this moment I knew I was in a good place - never before have I been to a writing class that did more than even mention the body, much less tap it awake. It's incredible the kind of difference being conscious of your body makes when you're sitting still and trying to be dynamic. Could it be that this is the most commonly made mistake of all writers?

When we were seated Liz read the nine rules that Chuck Jones applied to the Road Runner cartoon in order to get us thinking about structure and creative boundaries. They are as follows:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "beep beep!"
2. No outside force can harm the coyote - only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.
3. The coyote could stop any time if he were not a "fanatic." To clarify, a fanatic is one who redoubles his efforts when he's forgotten his aim.
4. There is to be no dialogue except "beep beep!"
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road. Otherwise, logically, he is not a Road Runner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters (the American Southwest).
7. All materials, tools, weapons, mechanics must come from the Acme corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the coyote's biggest enemy.
9. The coyote is always more humiliated when harmed by his own failures.

Ingenious, right?

We then did some extremely easy writing exercises ... but don't let that fool you! Effective does not need to mean difficult; you do not need to brainstorm (or daydream) for half the afternoon to get your brain in the right place. Instead, we typed simple words or phrases like "mom" and "no lemon no melon" first forward and then backward. This gets the brain thinking in a way that it normally doesn't (which is to say, this is a quick and easy brain stretch).

We continued with a copying exercise. In the sprit of Mary Gordon, who starts her days off by copying paragraphs that contain a "heft and cadence" she can learn from, Liz read from this year's Nobel Prize winner in Literature Herta Muller's novel The Appointment and we began to write or type what she said. She repeated each phrase or sentence two times so that our pace was not so fast as to prevent us from absorbing said heft and said cadence.

We spent 60 seconds making a list of yellow things and two minutes to determine what the main character in our current works would take on vacation. She took out a premium package of markers and we made maps of our stories - five minutes on that. We also took about the same amount of time either to consider or write about the things that get glossed over in any story and specifically in our own current stories; we contemplated things that are silent or unspoken in our texts and the reason for these silences.

Unfortunately, I had to leave barely halfway through the class as Litquake was beginning for the day, but the idea is that each exercise takes more time and allows more creative license. As in Bikram, we were getting warmer and warmer. It's true!

Liz is a little shaky but she has no reason to be and I love this; it means she really cares and wants to do a good job to prove she has the right to do it. The room was full of passion and humility, and these are things that all writers could use more of. At Bikram, you probably won't learn how to sharpen your characters or devlop your plot. But you will learn how to seduce your own muse onto the page, how to tap back into the process of being creative. You might spend ten minutes on dictation but it's only ten minutes and it helps so much; you just know you should do things like this but you never think of them and when you do you never take the time to actually do them.

At Bikram you will. I was only there for 45 minutes and I had a complete breakthrough with my current story just because I was thinking differently and was more relaxed.

As it says on their site: "this is a 90-minute writing class that borrows from the discipline, group dynamic, and structure of a yoga class. Aside from a little stretching, and perhaps a yoga outfit, however, this will not actually resemble a yoga class. I promise no lotus positions, downward dog, or smelly armpits. Instead, look forward to fun writing exercises, encouragement, inspiration, and time to work on your manuscript."

The group is completely open to the public at no cost whatsoever; simply bring a laptop or pen and paper.

Where: Sycip Conference Room | 4th floor | Main Library | 100 Larkin Street

(near the Civic Center BART station)

When: October 24 & November 7, 2009 | 10am-11:30am (and check the site for future dates)

Hope to see you there!

Wish my articles were organized by topic in a handy table with feature pictures? They are!