Balancing to a good start
Hey Blog world! It’s been a min. I am attempting yet again to write a post a month. Let’s see?
January has been a really fun and busy month. After coming out of the holidays, I didn’t want to move from my couch. No joke. I was fairly content to hibernate. I think a big part of that had to do with the fact that I had the busiest autumn since 2019 and I was mentally tired from all the activity. If the pandemic lifestyle I kept for a while taught me anything, it was the appreciation I have for less busy and more quiet in my life. As much as I am an extrovert, I was content to live in my bubble for a long while. So at each stage of “re-opening” over the last 2 years or so, I have been a bit resistant to the activity until I’ve become more acclimated to it. I think a lot of my musician friends were feeling this as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for the new opportunities I have been given lately but it’s also taken time to get used to my new roles in life.
My year started with a 1-Day Mind.Music.Sanctuary online workshop. It was great. I love to help fellow musicians in this realm and I felt recharged from the day. The focus in these workshops is on mindfulness while practicing and performing. The day is broken up into three separate classes; Warm-up/fundamentals, Yoga/meditation, and a Performance class where we apply the techniques learned earlier in the day to performing etudes and pieces. It’s a time to do a direct taste test on what each technique feels like to you. Did it enhance your performance? Did things feel easier to execute? Was the energy you generated too high or too low for your performance? The experience is different for everyone. And not everyone sees the same results from each mindfulness technique applied. It was very interesting to see what worked best and thinking what might work best in different situations.
A lot of mindfulness work is learning how to know yourself and take care of yourself. Know what you need when. Do you need socialization? Do you need quiet? But the only way you can learn about yourself is by being by yourself. Spend time in meditation, at the gym, take a solo vacation, take yourself to dinner alone. Or Julia Cameron’s Artist Date. Once a week you take yourself out for an experience. It takes time and consistency. Keep in mind, your interests and needs change over time. That’s growth. That’s human nature.
After running a great day at the Sanctuary, I was ready to get on with the rest of my month. I flew to Honolulu for a Masterworks with the Hawaii Symphony, followed by presenting my first faculty recital at the University of Hawaii, then I went to Omaha to play a great program of John Williams’ music with the Omaha Symphony followed by another week playing brass quintet education shows on Maui and Lana’i and another Masterworks in Honolulu. That’s mouthful to read….More on all of that in another post, lol.
My takeaway: I remembered as I embarked on all of this activity was how to take care of myself when I am not on my couch in late December watching Christmas movies and eating cookies. I needed that then, but now I needed consistent yoga, hiking and being outside in nature, hanging out with my friends, shooting photos of the pretty things around me. These are the things I need in order to decompress and keep up with my work schedule. I love the solitude on an airplane, visiting new places, experiencing 3 degrees for a few days, making new friends and sharing music. It’s all about balance. And your balance changes in every season. Thanks for reading and I hope you are finding balance this month.
