Natalie Goldberg has found a unique way to encourage writers, through a combination of technique and zen meditation. Writing practice is not practicing your writing, it is the act of writing. You get better, freer, by doing it.
I'm always looking for new sources to jumpstart my creativity, usually without finishing the one I started previously. I'm not feeling badly about that in this case (although I did finish it), because the first few pages did so much to help me, I would have gladly only bought them.
It's basically "free-writing," a stream of consciousness practice that gets the pen moving across the page. You're not concerned with it being any good, just doing. I've found it to be a great tool, in that it lets one get out of the way, and just write. In just the short while I've done my writing practice, I've completed lyrics for a new song, and generated many interesting new ideas I will be pursuing.
Goldberg does include some idiosyncratic ideas that seem to be more her preferences, but she has reasons why they work for her.
Writing Down the Bones is a great guide and help in gaining confidence in creative pursuits.