Companion Notes for Zoom Session 5, We Become Our Practice, Part 2

We ARE Our Practice!

Every moment we live, we are involved in some kind of action. Looking at the physical, mental and emotional parts of our life, we know each one has a multitude of feelings and actions that accompany those feelings, thoughts and sensations. How about the actions of the conscious, semi-conscious and unconscious mind  aspects of our mind. Each organ in our body is playing its role through various actions. Think of the actions of different states of mind when waking, dreaming or in deep sleep. There is always a corresponding physical response to these states of consciousness.

If we understand that each thought whether conscious, semi-conscious or unconscious has a physical quality (symptom) that comes with it, it may be easier to see how we are what we do on a repetitive basis. But, there are parts of ourselves we do not see unless certain conditions or situations in our lives cause us to act in ways we could not have predicted. Surprise!

Putting all this into our musical life, I’m hoping that this 5 week “course” has brought into better focus through the experiments we did that our thoughts and attitudes play a very significant role in what comes through our instruments. What, why, how, where and when have allowed us to view this process consciously. When habit is strongly embedded in us, it is unconscious. So this way of going on,( there are a myriad of ways) is an excellent opportunity to experience an awareness of the interconnectedness of mind and body. Beyond that, it allows us to be freer to discover ourselves without being stuck in just a few concepts. In fact, if you are the type of player that has a particular school of playing (firm fixed ways of going on) that works for you, hopefully by doing this five week course brings more depth of understanding to why you do what you do and offers other ways of approaching your firm foundations, perhaps adding more space inside of them for you to navigate other options.

The third overlay point in all of this, is to move away from getting too fixed in certain thoughts and attitudes that prevent more comprehensive visions of art, life and ourselves. This is the greater freedom to be (and discover) who we are truly meant to be.

ONWARD!