Background
“You are what you practice,” or as the Buddha said, “Whatever you frequently reflect and ponder upon, that becomes the inclination of your mind.”
As musicians we spend much of our lives practicing our instruments….or thinking about it, wishing we had more time for it, or feeling guilty about not doing it.
As I began to learn the principles of insight meditation, I realized that the skills I was cultivating could help my cello practice become more effective and efficient. A quiet and calm mind can make all the difference.
Early date with Cliff in NYC
My husband Cliff Saron introduced me to meditation on one of our early dates and dragged me to my first Buddhist retreat at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA in 1985. The teachers were Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg, and their collective enlightened wisdom transformed this reluctant participant into a willing and curious meditator.
At that very first retreat as I began to quiet my mind and cultivate a neutral awareness of just what is present, I began to notice parallels between meditation and music practice. Since then, I’ve attended many more retreats with a variety of teachers and approaches and have developed a long-term daily practice.
Over the years, each practice has informed my understanding of the other. It’s from this perspective that I teach the lessons that mindfulness can bring to music practice and performance.
To learn more about how meditation can help develop conscious practicing, quiet the inner critic, and keep us calm in stressful performance situations, check out my Mindful Practice and Workshop sections.
It was an honor to meet H.H. the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, at the Mind and Life Conference where Cliff presented his research on meditation in 2009.
Teaching about mindful practice with Sylvia Boorstein at Spirit Rock Meditation Center