Can writing be used as a tool for spiritual growth? Yes!

Write Practice is a course for all Zenways members who are interested in the art of writing. It explores:

• The links between creative practice, meditation practice and mindfulness
• Writing from ‘first thoughts’ and generating ideas
• Creative flow
• Establishing a writing practice
• Paying attention and training your observation
• Reading as a spiritual and artistic practice
• Writing about emotions
• Using a model for your writing
• Experiment and energy
• Drafting and editing

And more!

The aim of the course is that, by the end of it, you will have a complete and polished piece of work, but also skills that you can use in future writing and exercises that you can return to, to help you to develop as a writer.

Write Practice consists of written text with exercises and tips; filmed conversations between Daizan Skinner and Livi Michael about writing; links to YouTube videos by other authors and to relevant Dharma talks by Daizan.

Daizan Skinner is the founder of Zenways and the author of several books related to the practice of Zen. He is also a published poet.

Dr Livi Michael is the author of 7 novels for adults and 12 for children. She has won or been nominated for several awards, including the Arthur Welton Prize, the Faber Prize, the John Steinbeck Prize, the Nestle Children’s Book Prize, the Blue Peter Awards and the Mind Award. The Whispering Road was Borders Book of the Month throughout the USA in 2005. Her work has also been translated into several languages. 

Livi’s short stories have been published in various places including: Granta, Metropolitan, The Manchester Review, and The City Life Book of Manchester Short Stories (Penguin). She has taught creative writing for over 30 years in Higher Education, colleges, and schools.

Livi joined Zenways in 2015 and has been on several retreats, and completed her Meditation and Mindfulness Teaching Certificate in 2020.