The M3 Method: A 3-Step Ritual for Unlocking Your Creative Magic
Years ago, when I was teaching creative writing, I kept noticing the same pattern: my writers would sit down to the blank page and freeze because they arrived there carrying everything: the stress of the day, the opinions of other people, & their inner critic.
So, I developed something I started calling the M3 Method. Three simple things, done before you sit down to create. I wasn't calling it "a ritual" back then. I was just trying to help people get out of their own way.
Looking back, I realize I had been quietly doing this for myself for years. And now, in this season of Unlocking Magic, I want to pass it along, because magic doesn't require a spell book (although those are dope too). It requires a little spaciousness. And that's exactly what the M3 Method creates.
Magic isn't reserved for ceremony. It lives in the soap bubbles when you're washing the dishes. It's in the birds singing when you step outside. The M3 Method is how you slow down enough to notice it.
M1: Morning Pages (Uncensored Expression)
If you've read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, you know about morning pages: three handwritten pages of uncensored stream-of-consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. For many people, this practice is genuinely transformative.
But I'm going to be honest with you: the structure can feel inaccessible for some of us. Three handwritten pages. First thing in the morning. Uncensored. All the way to the end. That's a lot of parameters for a neurospicy brain that's already negotiating with the day before it's even begun.
Here's the version I teach: sit down once a day and give your mind five minutes of uncensored space. That's it. One of my creative mentors and coaches, Amie McNee from Inspired to Write also teaches to just write 1 page.
You can write on paper. You can voice note yourself. You can type. The point isn't the format, it's the permission to say what's actually there without editing, fixing, or performing. If five minutes feels like too much, start with one. The habit of showing up matters more than the duration.
One thing I do recommend: keep a record. Whether you write it down or voice note it, don't just let it disappear. As Julia Cameron teaches, when you go back and read your old morning pages (or listen back to your voice notes) with a little distance (she recommends 2 weeks), you find so much wisdom you didn't even know you had. Future you can use what past you put on the page.
Neurospicy tip: Can't write on the page? Voice note yourself for 5 minutes. You don't have to listen back right away. The act of saying it out loud is enough to clear the channel.
M2: Mindfulness (Meeting Your Mind Where It Is)
Here's where I know I might lose some of you. Because a lot of us were taught that meditation only "counts" if you're sitting perfectly still with a completely quiet mind. Like you've entered the void.
That experience is real and it's beautiful and yes, everyone should experience it at some point in their life. But making it the only acceptable version of mindfulness? That's where we've gone wrong.
A lot of people's nervous systems genuinely cannot handle that level of stillness, especially those of us with ADHD, high sensory sensitivity, or just a particularly busy mind. And that's ok. It is a skill and it takes time to build up to that level of stillness. For now, let’s just use what is happening inside our brains as information about where we are right now.
So, here's what I invite you to try instead: co-create with your thoughts rather than trying to eliminate them.
Close your eyes. Take some slow, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. And when a thought appears, instead of grabbing it and following it down the rabbit hole, give it a form. Turn it into a leaf floating down a river. A cloud in the sky. An animal walking past on the savanna. Let it be there. Let it float by. And if a new thought comes, that's just a new leaf, a new cloud, a new animal joining the scene.
Do not try to fight the thoughts. You're just noticing them. And by giving them that kind of personification, you start to understand your inner landscape rather than feeling controlled or overwhelmed by it.
Practical tip: The Insight Timer app is excellent for this. It has timed sessions (not just guided meditations) where you can set bells to ring every 1 or 2 minutes, so you have a gentle sense of time passing. Pick meditation music that feels soft to your nervous system, and let yourself meander.
Side Note: Did you know I have free Meditations on Insight Timer?
check them out here: https://insighttimer.com/Estyubuntu
M3: Movement (Releasing What's Stuck)
This one I was teaching long before I had the language for it. Before I learned about Qi gong. Before I learned about the fascia and what it holds. But I knew from experience that there's something stuck in our bodies that has to move before we can create freely.
My yoga teacher and very close friend Laryssa once said in class: our hips hold secrets. That has never left me. Because it's true. We carry so much in our bodies from the people we've interacted with, from our fears and our conditioning, from the day we've already lived before we even sit down to work.
Movement doesn't have to be dramatic. It doesn't have to be a run or a gym session (though it can be). It can be dancing around your kitchen. Jumping up and down. Going for a short walk. Swimming. Shaking your arms out. The point is to let that energy move through you so it doesn't sit between you and your work.
Putting It All Together
The M3 Method in practice is simple: before you sit down to create something, solve a problem, write an important email, pitch a proposal, or even write your manifestation list, give yourself these three things first.
Five minutes of uncensored expression. Five minutes of mindfulness. And some movement to shake loose what's been sitting in your body. You don't need all the conditions to be perfect. You just need a little spaciousness.
That spaciousness is where magic lives.
And I really do mean that. Magic isn't something you access by buying the right crystal or learning the right ritual. It's in the co-creation with something larger than yourself, which you can do at any point in your day, at the kitchen sink, on a walk, in five uncensored minutes before the rest of the world has opinions about what you should be doing.
I hope this episode (and this blog) gives you a doorway back to that.
If you want to go deeper, access the free Nourish: 7 Day Challenge to Meet Yourself below to try the M3 Method + 4 other rituals and practices to develop a more nourishing relationship with yourself.
