Journaling your way to inner freedom
Have you svadhyaya-ed today? In yoga, svadhyaya means self-study. It’s part of the second limb of yoga, called niyamas or personal observations, and can happen a number of ways. One of my favorites is journaling.
Journaling has long been shown to be a good way to practice self-care through the exploration of the self. It can have the same calm-inducing qualities as meditation and yoga, acting as a balm for our minds. And when we do it fearlessly, detached from any outcome, we walk away from our pen and paper with a stronger sense of who we are and what we need in life.
Balancing the brain through writing.
As we breathe and move on the mat with intention, the exploration of self happens at the place where the unconscious meets the conscious. Ideally, it’s a balanced state between flow and mindfulness.
Similarly, writing, especially in an expressive or stream of consciousness style, involves a balancing of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. As the left brain works to organize and analyze information through the words we write, the right brain is free to get all dreamy and feelings-y.
The longer you practice journaling, the easier it becomes to marry imagination with practicality.
Self, meet self.
When that mysterious pathway between the dream world and the real world is opened, it’s a perfect opportunity to go spelunking into the soul.
When I want to understand the psychology behind understanding the self and the benefits it creates for our lives, I look to Jung (or Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian psychologist and all-around badass who wrote Women Who Run with the Wolves).
According to Jung, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Our shadow selves will continue to rule our lives until we can healthily integrate them into our personalities.
It can be scary to delve into the darkness. But when you only live in the light, your shadow will stay on you like a monkey on your back. Unknown to you but directing your every move, making your every decision. Which leads me to another good Jung quote: “One does not become enlightened by imagining the figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
So, don’t be afraid the dark. Take it slow, dip a toe — or dive right in.
The benefits aren’t just mental.
Just like yoga, writing has benefits for the mind and body. Studies have shown that people who journal are more likely to heal from illness or injury faster than those who don’t, and they often have reduced blood pressure, better organ functionality, and better immunity. This could be attributed to the fact that the act of journaling, when practiced without attachment to an outcome, is a stress reliever.
As mentioned above, what is not conscious can seep into our subconscious and wreak havoc on the energetic and physical body before we know what’s happening. Cultivating a consistent writing practice can help prevent this from happening by expunging our feelings on the page.
Five tips for svadhyaya journaling:
Just get started. Start with a blank page. Either in a notebook or just a loose-leaf piece of paper. It can be helpful to go back and re-read journal entries, but just getting it out is the most important piece of the puzzle. And while writing on a computer or your phone can work in a pinch, studies show that physical pen-to-paper writing is more closely linked to meditation and opens creativity-inducing neural pathways that digital writing doesn’t.
Interview yourself. Are there questions you want to ask yourself? Put them and their answers on the page. If there are no answers yet, keep writing questions. If a phrase or word enters your mind, write it. It frees up your mental space. I’m a big thinker, but there’s a certain point where your mind just gets too full. Writing gets it out and creates space for new things. Just like the breath, yoga is about the never-ending cycle of cultivation and release. So, start by thinking, but once your mind has had enough and is crying out for space, get it all out on the page. Imperfectly and naturally. Just as it should be.
Detach from expectations. Just as you held detachment as you let the words flow, have a sense of detachment when you read it back. Or never read it back depending on where you’re at in your life and what you were writing about.
Observe the times when it’s hard. Just like getting on the mat can feel like an impossible task when we’re low energy or just plain don’t want to do it, sometimes it’s hard to get out the journal and write. But dragging ourselves to the mat literally and metaphorically is part of the work. It’s part of the exploration. Even the times we skip, they tell us something. Especially when we approach it without shame or judgement, only curiosity and observation.
Relish the privacy. It’s up to you if you want to share what you meet on the page with the people in your life or with the world. The beauty of a journal is that it’s private. It’s telling if there are things you’re afraid of writing down. It’s a sign of internalized shame. So write it. Let go of shame. Let go of others’ attitudes and beliefs that have affected you negatively. You don’t deserve to carry around their burdens. Feel the freedom of writing without shame and judgement — and then decide whether it’s something you want to share or not. It’s more than okay if it’s just for you.
Self-study, or svadhyaya, can and will happen on the mat, but that’s not the only way to get to know yourself. Journaling is free and can be fun. So, if you have 15 or 20 minutes today, sit down with your notebook, paper, or device and just start writing. See how you feel after.
Then do it again the next day.