Working with the elements to support your writing practice: Fire
Simple energizing, practices to root your writing into the wisdom of nature and align you with your true creative self
Fire is intimidating. Its suddenness, its unpredictability, its raw power. Growing up in wildfire country I've always had a healthy respect for this element, but today I also have come to see the wisdom in working with my metaphorical fires as a creative.
Fire, when raging out of control, is a destructive force, but as Indigenous land stewardship practices tell us, fire is also a partner to bringing new life into an ecosystem and cycling nutrients.
I work with fire-building and fire-tending in my writing practice when I need a fresh burst of energy, when I'm looking to really build up momentum and excitement, or when I'm feeling sluggish.
Building, and maintaining a fire inside of myself involves taking up space: through movement, through being true to my inner voice, through letting myself be as big as possible. Because often times when I'm feeling sluggish and unmotivated in my writing, it's because I've made myself small. So tending the fire inside me is as much an invitation to stand in my own power as it is anything else.
I call this practice of tending my inner fire truth-tending, because it involves realigning myself both with my true self AND with the parts of me that take pleasure in my work, that are big and bold and loud, that don't accept second best, and are confident in my abilities and my future success.
I've outlined some practices below that help me work with fire to support my writing: Whether or not you engage with this as a magical practice, connecting your writing to the Earth and the elements helps you feel strong and energized as you write.
Many of these practices might already be ones you do: But when practiced with intention, and with space for reflection on how the practice supports your creativity, they can powerfully transform and nourish your creative ecosystem over time.
How I use these fire-inspired practices:
There are two ways to work with this list.
The first is to choose one item from the list by letting your intuition guide you. What feels good that particular day? Pick a practice based on what you need in the moment.
The second is to commit to a practice over a period of time: Do brisk movement before writing for a week, for example, and notice how you feel at the beginning and end of that week.
In both cases, it's helpful to reflect on how your chosen practice has impacted you: in general and in terms of your creative work.
Do you feel energized? More calm? Do your ideas flow more smoothly and easily? Do you suddenly have new ideas, or new connections between ideas, after working with this element?
I like to journal about what I learn, but even just a few moments of reflecting can be a beautiful intentional practice.
Practices for Fire-inspired creativity
I divided these into a few categories, so you can choose a practice depending what you and your creative ecosystem need in a given moment.
Grounding practices:
For when you are feeling scattered or anxious, or like you have an excess of energy that you need to release.
Stand barefoot or sit/lie down on the earth, preferably in the sunlight: Feel the sun on your body warming and nourishing you.
Light a candle before your writing time and set an intention for your writing that day.
Visualize a fire burning in your belly, a couple inches below your naval. Imagine it growing and pushing away anything that isn't serving you, and filling you with your own, powerful, focused creative energy.
If you're feeling scattered because your boundaries could use a refresh, you can work with fire to imagine a ring of fire around you (not burning you!), keeping you safe and separate from the rest of the world.
Clearing and cleansing practices:
For when you feel like there's a weight on your chest, the world feels heavy, or you feel stuck or overwhelmed.
Visualization: Either sitting near a fire (or a candle even) or just imagining one, imagine the energy if that fire flowing through you and clearing away anything stagnant. Imagine the fire bringing fresh, new energy and ideas in to fill your body.
Take up space: Imagine a warm ball of light inside of you, that grows to surround you, then takes up the whole room, the house, the neighborhood. Notice how it feels to be this big, to expand out in space so much.
Or, visualize yourself as confident and assured for a few moments throughout the day as needed: Visualize how you'd move through the world if you never doubted yourself, even for an instant. This is a good, quick practice I like to use every time I'm feeling self-doubt creep in.
Pause and ask 'what do I really want here?' whenever you feel like you're either making a decision, or being asked to do something, that might run counter to your authentic self. I've developed a practice over a series of years where I very clearly know what feels like a 'yes!' and what feels like a 'no' in my body, so I will check in with that feeling. I often ask my body how it feels about a decision twice before making the decision, so I have ample opportunity to listen.
Movement is huge here too! Any movement will do, but a big part of reconnecting with our energy and momentum is experiencing physical momentum. When I need to build my own fire because I'm feeling bogged down, I'll do a sustained movement exercise (like kayaking or hiking) that lasts for a couple hours. Movement helps my body release what's weighing me down and work out the kinks, mental and physical.
When I'm needing a big burst of energy, I'll do a more intense, shorter burst of exercise (see below).
Energizing and nourishing practices:
For when you feel sluggish and unmotivated, or when you have lots of ideas but are struggling to make focused time to work on them.
Movement is useful here, too: Bursts of intense movement can help you sweat and build up heat in your body. I sometimes do a round of HIIT-style intervals when I am short on time, but other times I'll hop on my rowing machine, do a short run (I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a distance runner), or do a fire flow-style yoga practice.
Eat hot food: Either temperature-wise or spicy. Something that wakes up your senses and is packed with flavor is nourishing and energizing.
Hot beverages can be nice too, though I'd caution against a ton of caffeine because it moves you from energized to jittery and scattered. Some favorite hot beverages I like for waking up in the afternoon are heavily spiced drinks (cinnamon, etc.) and ginger tea.
Try breath of fire: A yoga breathing practice for building heat and energy in your body.
Take up space: Literally. Stretch your arms out as wide as they'll go, make your body as big as possible. Dance or move in a way that lets you make bold, big movements that explore your whole range of motion. Movements that make you feel strong and alive and energized are an important part of cultivating fire: I go to the gym most weekdays for cardio and weights, which has innumerable mental health benefits on top of the physical ones.
And, take up space with your voice: Scream, sing, etc. Or, write down that thing you've been wanting to say or share but are scared to: Getting it down on paper can help that energy that's feeling blocked start to flow again.
If you're ready to reconnect to your inner creative wisdom, and find a clear path to expressing it in the world through your writing (or other creative practice), join me for Radical Creators.
This is a 21-day program that involves a simple daily guided meditation and journaling practice, to stoke your inner creative fires and keep them burning even after those three weeks. This simple practice can be done any time in the day to fit your schedule.
It also includes a community space for support and accountability, resources, and deep dives each weekday into various aspects of creativity to really help you anchor into and expand what you learn.
I've been planning this program for YEARS, and I created it to open you up to your next level of creative expansion quickly and pleasurably, and in a way that aligns with your deepest inner wisdom and biggest visions.
This is the kind of program I wish I had when I was starting out as a writer: It would have absolutely transformed my work and my relationship to my writing, and set me on the path I'm on years earlier.
I would LOVE for your to join me for this one: We start on the Spring Equinox, and I've got lots of fun deep dives into the creative process for you to listen to between meditation sessions (I listen to them like audiobooks when I'm out for walks).
And if you're ready to reconnect to the fire of your creative practice in a sustained, personalized way, Hawthorn is a private 1:1 program specifically made to help experienced writers come home to themselves, and reconnect to the power and pleasure of writing.
Like all my programs, it's rooted in nature's wisdom and in cultivating your own unique, sacred writing practice. It's perfect for writers who love writing, but for whom writing has lost its luster, or who are feeling stuck in a rut.
I designed it for writers who have been writing for a while and for whom writing probably happens easily, but feels mechanical and no longer exciting. However, because this program is so personalized, I can customize it to support writers at any stage in their writing practice.
This is the space to reclaim your writing power and reconnect to the pleasure of process (not just product!)
I only take on a few of these clients at a time: And this program gives you the deepest access to working with me directly out of any of the programs I offer.
Fill out the client interest form here to join the waitlist!
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