Entering the Mental Backstage: Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering among Performing Artists

Existing literature has explored the role of mindfulness and mind-wandering on creative processes. However, it has overlooked the diversity in the creative domains as well as the experience of the artist while accounting for their relationship. In the present study, mindfulness and mind wandering- deliberate and spontaneous were explored among performing artists, i.e. musicians, theatre artists, and dancers. The study also looked at the artists' experience in their field. After an initial screening using a creativity tool, 66 performing artists were recruited, following which two self-report indices that assessed mind wandering and mindfulness were administered. The data collected was subjected to quantitative data analysis in SPSS. A Oneway ANOVA showed significant effect of the creative domain on mindfulness for the three groups, with a significant difference between musicians and dancers. Among the musicians, a significant negative relationship between mind wandering spontaneous and years of experience was seen. Among the dancers, there was a significant positive association between mind wandering spontaneous, mind wandering deliberate and years of experience. The current study highlighted the need to approach the study of creativity using a contextual perspective.