Mindfulness Program for Musicians (One Heart Institute)
Mindfulness Program for Musicians (One Heart Institute)
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Jun 19 - Jun 22, 2025, One Heart Institute, Ukiah, CA
Open to all instruments and levels.
We will explore how to integrate the skills cultivated through insight meditation into your instrumental practice and performance.
Each day will feature a different topic of discussion and related experiential workshop.
Learn practical techniques to help---
Break down the process of “conscious practice” into 4 basic components
Listen with discernment rather than judgment, and become your own teacher
Maintain a calm and centered internal presence in performance and auditions
Use mindfulness meditation to lessen the negative effects of performance nerves
Create a relaxed freedom to “get in the flow” of spontaneous joy in music-making
Understand how neuroplasticity enables constant improvement in our playing
Barbara Bogatin is a cellist with the San Francisco Symphony, chamber music player, and educator in the field of mindfulness training for musicians. In 35 years of practicing insight meditation, she has integrated the embodied knowledge this contemplative work nurtures into effective methods for improving instrumental practice and performance. She will present daily talks about how the skills we cultivate during meditation can be helpful in our music-making.
Each day will feature a different topic of discussion and a related experiential workshop. There will also be opportunities to have one-on-one sessions with Barbara and other faculty members.
Meet the Faculty
Meet the Faculty
Barbara Bogatin
Barbara Bogatin
Cellist
Cellist
San Francisco Symphony (Since 1994)
Mindfulness Meditation for Musicians
Mindfulness Meditation for Musicians
Seminars:
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Juilliard School
University of Southern California
University of Nevada, Reno
The Buddha, the Brain, and Bach Workshop Presentation:
The Buddha, the Brain, and Bach Workshop Presentation:
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Stanford University
Esalen Institute
Telluride Compassion Festival
Conferences in Italy, Spain, and South Africa
Theme 1
Theme 1
Practice - Barbara will share an overview of her experience with sitting meditation retreats and explain the art of “conscious practice,” breaking down the process of practicing our instruments into 4 basic components which will be explored in depth.
Experiential Workshop where students demonstrate how they practice a difficult passage and engage in habitual practicing patterns, then consider ways to make their practice more efficient and effective.
Theme 2
Theme 2
Focus and Calm - Specific guided meditations can help us discover ways to maintain a calm and centered internal presence. We can apply this approach to performance anxiety and audition nerves, greeting every moment with wise attention and intention.
Experiential Workshop where students “perform” for each other in a masterclass setting, and try out different techniques of mindfulness training to lessen the negative effects of performance nerves. We can learn how to focus our minds in stressful situations, and use the flow of energy in our body to help us play our best.
Theme 3
Theme 3
Deepening Musical Expression - We all want to feel a sense of relaxed freedom in performance, where we can be fully present with the emotions we’re trying to express in the music. This is often referred to as a “state of flow.” Practicing metta (loving kindness) meditation can help us cultivate a heart-centered approach, which encourages improvisation and spontaneous joy in music-making.
Experiential Workshop where students play for each other and explore the “meaning underneath the notes.” We can imagine a story, a feeling, or a word that unlocks the emotions the composer is trying to convey. Contemplative practices can open the door to the creative process of flow.
Meet the Speaker - Evening Talks and Group Inquiry
Meet the Speaker - Evening Talks and Group Inquiry
Biography
Biography
Clifford Saron, PhD is a Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain and MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Saron has had a long-standing interest in the effects of contemplative practice on physiology and behavior. In the early 1990s he conducted field research investigating Tibetan Buddhist mind training under the auspices of the Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama. A faculty member at Mind and Life Summer Research Institutes in the US and Europe and a former member of the Mind and Life Institute Program and Research as well as Steering Councils, he received the inaugural Mind and Life Service Award in 2018.
Dr. Saron directs the Shamatha Project, a multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of the effects of intensive meditation on physiological and psychological processes central to well-being. In 2012, Dr. Saron and his research team were awarded the inaugural Templeton Prize Research Grant in honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama. Currently his research team is investigating how meditation experience may mitigate the effects of the pandemic on chronic stress and cellular aging, as well as examining consequences of compassion vs. mindfulness training on engagement with suffering. His other research area focuses on sensory processing in children with autism spectrum disorders to better understand how these children experience their everyday sensory environments.
Dr. Clifford Saron
Dr. Clifford Saron
Research Scientist, University of California at Davis
Research Scientist, University of California at Davis
Center for Mind and Brain
MIND Institute
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator
The Shamatha Project
Facilitator - The Buddha, the Brain, and Bach Workshop Presentation
Facilitator - The Buddha, the Brain, and Bach Workshop Presentation
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Stanford University
University of Southern California
Esalen Institute
Telluride Compassion Festival
Conferences in Italy, Spain, and South Africa
Topic 1: Neuroplasticity and Musicians' Brains - How musical training shapes our brains.
Topic 1: Neuroplasticity and Musicians' Brains - How musical training shapes our brains.
Beholding the space of the brain
A rapid and deep dive inside the brain
The importance of maps in the brain
What is neuroplasticity?
How does musical training change the brain?
Consequences of musical training on other skills.
Topic 2: Brains in Concert - Brain-to-brain coupling during performance.
Topic 2: Brains in Concert - Brain-to-brain coupling during performance.
Embodied cognition
What is brain-to-brain coupling?
Musical communication and brain synchrony
Musician-audience connections
Research studies with musicians
Topic 3: There's Something About Stillness - The effects of meditation on perception, attention, and emotion.
Topic 3: There's Something About Stillness - The effects of meditation on perception, attention, and emotion.
The complexity of contemplative science research
Findings from the Saron Lab’s research on intensive meditation
What can we learn from meditation research?
Can meditation help the cultivation of compassion?
4-Day Residential Schedule + Event Schedule
4-Day Residential Schedule + Event Schedule
6:30-6:45am Good morning
6:50 - 7:20am Tai Chi
7:20 - 7:50am Meditation
7:50 - 8:20am Breakfast & Break
8:30- 9:20am Workshop
9:30-11:00am Experiential Workshop / Practice / Private Coaching
11am-12:oopm Lunch
12:00 - 12:30pm Personal or Community Time
12:30 - 1:20pm Mindful Rest
1:30 - 2:2opm Workshop
2:30-3:30pm Experiential Workshop / Practice / Private Coaching
3:30-4pm Tea, Coffee, Snack Time
4:30-5pm Yoga
5:00 - 5:45pm Dinner
5:45 - 6:20pm Personal or Community Time
6:30 - 7:30pm Guided Meditation
7:45 - 9:00pm Talks and Group Inquiry Time
9:00 - 10:00pm Personal time
10:30 pm Quiet Time
Events:
7:30pm, 6/19: Beyond the Stage: Musicians' Roundtable--The Inner Dimension of Music-making
7:00pm, 6/20: One Heart Virtuoso Concert Series -- Saxophone Night
7:00pm, 6/21: One Heart Virtuoso Concert Series -- Faculty Concert
9:30-11:30am, 6/21: Special Outings
Participants are encouraged to schedule departures after 10:30 AM on Sunday, 6/22 so they can enjoy the One Heart Virtuoso Concert featuring faculty musicians and participate in group performances on 6/22. All classes conclude at 5 PM on Saturday, 6/21. For questions, please contact info@oneheartinstitute.org
The Mindfulness for Musicians Program is a part of the larger summer music and mindfulness programs we offer. The experience is enriched by daily wellness practices (Tai Chi, yoga), meditation, one-on-one and group workshops, practice and rehearsal times, plant-based diet, and a supportive community.
Learn more: Schedule, Scholarships, Summer Facilities
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