Meditation and mindfulness often bring to mind an image of sitting in silence, eyes closed and motionless, but many methods include informal practice -  ways of incorporating mindful states into routine daily activities.

As my meditation practise has grown over the years, I've discovered the many ways in which mindfulness appears and can be nurtured in my musical activities; on and off stage, practising alone or playing with others, reading music in a classical setting or improvising in a multi-disciplinary setting.

Somatic movement plays an important role and I often work together with my colleagues from Play As We Are to add emphasis to this aspect

Introduction

The following exercises are short practices to be used before, during and after instrumental practice and playing. The aim is not just to increase our awareness, but to perhaps alter it, re-focus it and generally expand it. For many of us, our instrumental practice is full of habits and patterns of mind and body that have been ingrained for years and even decades. Patterns of thought and movement that are often unconscious and automatic. The following exercises are not necessarily aimed at changing or improving these patterns, but rather shining a light on them, enabling us to really see, hear, feel and sense what we are doing. Often this is the beginning of change, development and growth in our practice.

These exercises grew naturally for me over time, from my own mindfulness practice. I find that as I meditate over the years, I experience my own patterns changing. The process works very similarly to instrumental practice. A new technique or activity can feel challenging, uncomfortable or strange. It gradually becomes easier and feels more natural and I eventually experience it almost as if my mind and body do things “by themselves”. My favourite analogy is that of pathways in a forest; if you go off the path, it’s difficult to walk through the undergrowth, but if you go a certain way more often, a path will be created.

I think that it’s an excellent idea to have a regular mindfulness practice, although it’s not necessary in order to begin practicing these exercises. They are based on well known meditation techniques, which are cultivated as described above: by regular practice. It can be extremely supportive and effective to practice mindfulness away from your instrument.

I also wanted to address another issue; perhaps the most important. Like many other musicians I have a certain mindset when it comes to my playing and practice; there are lots of mistakes, musical and technical, which all need correcting. Technique needs to be constantly improved, bad habits eradicated. This includes other impediments to performance, such as anxiety and stress that might cause me to freeze up or become unduly nervous. In short, I would often approach my music practice with a very perfectionist mindset and a list of problems to be solved.
It would be very easy to see mindfulness as yet another tool to use in this endeavour.
What I’m actually trying to achieve with these exercises is a much more fundamental change.

Mindfulness and meditation will not fix your problems, but it will help you to know yourself, your playing, your mind and body. It will open your awareness to the fullness of your moment to moment experience.

Exercise 1 -