by Shauna Fallihee. June 14th, 2020.

Music is meditation. As musicians, the sound we create is our object of meditative focus. As each tone and phrase evolves, we draw on our training to both guide the music with intention and be responsive to its authentic unfolding. Music happens in the present moment.

There are countless distractions that can carry our attention away from the meditative act of music-making. Some are relevant and necessary, like being musically responsive to our fellow artists, quickly fixing a falling wig, observing the physical and emotional response to an audience or audition panel. And then there are thoughts of grocery lists, random memories of elementary school book fairs, a sudden and strong desire for a hot dog from that cart you had that time…

Your mind is designed to move. While scientists debate how many thoughts we have per day, it is in the tens of thousands [1]. Even when we decide to focus, our minds wander. It’s their nature. During a retreat talk about concentration, meditation teacher Howie Cohn suggested that concentration isn’t something that can be forced. Rather, he posited that concentration arises naturally when we connect to a point of focus with curiosity. When we maintain interest and curiosity about each individual moment of creating music (or talking with a friend, eating an ice cream sandwich, washing our hands...), we are present.

Scientific research and anecdotal evidence suggests that meditation, even in short duration, can improve numerous mental skills including awareness, concentration, and memory. Emotional qualities like resilience, patience, compassion, equanimity and calm, as well as reduction in reactivity, anxiety and even pain perception are widely reported [2]. Imagine the potential benefits for musicians!

Just like our musical skills, our minds can be trained. Meditation practices cultivate our ability to let go of thoughts and come back to the present moment. Concentration meditation practices use a mental or physical object like the sensations of breathing, a scan of the body, or a mantra to anchor one’s attention. We practice noticing when thoughts or sensations arise, gently letting those thoughts or feelings go, and returning to our point of focus. It’s essential to understand that your mind will wander, sometimes constantly, and that isn’t an error. The practice of meditation is to notice we’ve drifted and come back with connection and curiosity.

Breath Meditation: Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths and observe the movement of your body as you inhale and exhale. Settle your attention on the place most prominently moving with the breath (nostrils, chest, abdomen, etc). Let your body resume its natural breathing rhythm and simply observe. Notice how each breath is slightly different in its length, smoothness, and the way it feels in your body, much like each unique moment of making music. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the direct experience of breathing.

Insight or Mindfulness meditation practices invite us to experience the full range of passing phenomena: sounds, smells, physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions. A light anchor of attention, like the breath, settles the mind so it can observe its own nature. By looking at our minds, we observe our own mental and physical tendencies with greater clarity and ultimately live our lives with greater awareness.

Open-Awareness Practice: Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths to bring your mind into your body. As you settle into the present moment, open to passing thoughts and sensations. You might add a light mental note such as “thinking”, “hearing”, “itchy”, “shifting” to support your awareness. Notice the nature of things to arise out of nowhere and pass on their own. This same spontaneity is the magic of music.

These are two large categories of practice. Many cultures have a meditative or contemplative tradition, some religious and some secular. Within each tradition, there are lineages and specific practices within them, each intended to cultivate different skills. Finding the style that is engaging and resonant for you is part of the practice.

A common analogy for meditation practice is a waterfall. Rather than standing directly under the deluge of thoughts, feelings, and life experiences, meditation creates the space for us to step behind the water and observe it. We then have the opportunity to make different choices. We might wait or walk a different way. And sometimes we do have to walk through the waterfall but we do so with less reactivity and fuller awareness.

Listening Meditation: Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths to bring your mind into the sensations of your body. As you settle into the present moment, open to sound. Begin by noticing the sounds in your immediate environment. Some are sustained, some brief. Some louder, some softer. Gradually expand your awareness to take in sounds that are far away. Notice the tendency of the mind to identify the source of a specific sound or create a story about it. Try to simply experience the immediacy and impermanence of sound itself.

It is natural and common to have a flurry of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations before musical performance. Our mind immediately tells us a story around those sensations. Someone who loves performing might experience them as joy, energy, excitement. Someone else may label those sensations “performance anxiety” and fear may compound when they arise. A meditator who has spent time observing their body and mind learns to experience those sensations with space and objectivity. They may note that their heart rate is elevated, their throat feels tight, fearful thoughts are arising. From their experience in meditation, they know these are simply passing sensations. With practice, we learn to allow these thoughts and feelings to pass.

Performance Visualization: Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths to bring your mind into the sensations of your body. As you settle into the present moment, begin to imagine a performance. With as much detail as possible, visualize your performance venue, your clothing, the sounds, sights, and smells of your environment. Feel your body breathing and imagine the touch of your instrument or the vibration of your voice. Savor every detail of your most satisfying performance, from beginning to end. If you get distracted or complete the performance, gently bring your awareness back and resume.

One of the great benefits of meditation practice is that inner work radiates outward and helps us to connect more openly with others. Specific practices cultivate mind states like loving-kindness, compassion, generosity, and sympathetic joy for others' fortune. While these practices can range from feeling deeply emotional to somewhat rote, their cumulative influence on our relationship to self and others can be profound. Loving-kindness, compassion, and gratitude practices can help a musician realize that opportunity, musical fulfillment, and happiness are not finite commodities. This naturally leads us to become more generous musical collaborators.

Metta (Loving-Kindness) Meditation: This practice offers goodwill through the silent repetition of phrases. Choose 3-4 statements along the lines of “be happy”, “be peaceful”, “be healthy”, “be safe”, “be free.” Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths to bring your mind into the sensations of your body. As you settle into the present moment, begin to silently repeat these phrases to yourself (“may I be happy, be peaceful, be healthy…”). Continue your practice by imagining and silently repeating your phrases to a benefactor (someone who has helped or supported you), a dear friend, a neutral person (someone you’ve encountered but might not think of again), a difficult person, and ultimately all beings everywhere. Imagine the person in as much detail as possible. When your mind wanders, simply return back to your phrases.

Mindful movement practices like yoga, tai chi, qigong, or hiking offer the opportunity to observe our mind’s reaction to physical movements and postures. Depending on the intensity, we might use the physical challenge to challenge the stillness of the mind. The therapeutic benefits of movement for both the mind and the body are widely accepted. Intimate awareness of our body, as well as increasing strength, flexibility, and mobility, can dramatically improve musical coordination and unlock artistry.

Touchpoints Meditation: Sit comfortably tall with your eyes closed or a soft gaze. Take a few deep breaths to bring your mind into the sensations of your body. As you settle into the present moment, scan your attention over your entire body. Let your attention rest on a place of body contact (eg. right calf touching left shin). Notice the sensations of contact: pressure, temperature, vibration. Let your mind move to another point of contact and bring awareness to sensation. Then a third. Repeat the process by scanning your entire body again and noticing 3 sequential points of contact. This practice gives a musician the opportunity to develop greater body awareness and sensitivity.

Being an expressive artist is vulnerable and puts us directly in touch with the full spectrum of our emotions. When being a musician represents part of our identity, we can have strong emotions related to our perceived success in practice and performance. R.A.I.N. is a helpful acronym for relating to intense emotions. This method, championed by meditation teachers Michele McDonald and Tara Brach, consists of the following:

Recognize. When a negative emotion arises attempt to recognize and name it. Observe the sensations in your body, as well as your thoughts.

Allow. Allow or accept the emotion, rather than deflecting, ignoring, or defending against it.

Investigate or Inquire. With as little judgement as possible, investigate the emotion. What caused it, what does it feel like in your body, how and why might it be meaningful?

Non-Identify and Nurture. Acknowledge that while you may feel intense emotions, those emotions are not who you are. Practice self-compassion in this moment. Acknowledge the discomfort of the feeling you’ve identified and explored. Nurture and support yourself the way you would a dear friend.

Here are some suggestions for beginning and sustaining a meditation practice:

Start Small: Set a timer for 2-3 minutes. If the time goes very quickly, next time you might try 5-10. Commit to a consistent practice of shorter duration as you establish your routine. Just like musical practice, consistency and presence are more valuable than duration.

Experiment: Experiment with different practices, times of day, and postures (seated, standing, walking, laying down). Meditation takes getting used to. Try something several times and give yourself the opportunity to acclimate and learn before making a change. Discerning how and when to adjust your practice takes time and experience. You can use the trajectory of your own music education to inform how you practice meditation.

Meditate before Music: Try a brief meditation before musical practice or rehearsal. Observe how it feels to make music with meditative preparation. How is your coordination, your creativity, and your self-talk influenced by centering practice? Notice how you relate to your fellow musicians after taking the time to connect inward.

Seek Support: There are countless resources in the form of books, podcasts, recorded teaching, and apps like Calm, Insight Timer, and 10% Happier. Guided meditations are a wonderful way to support your practice and experience different styles.

Be Open: Meditation is about learning to be open to and present with what is. While meditation may have desirable outcomes, try to simply engage in the practice, rather than focusing on a goal like being more relaxed or more focused. Know that while meditative practices have the potential to be calming, we are opening ourselves up to all manner of thoughts and emotions. When the challenging ones arise, it’s an opportunity to learn and grow, even in discomfort.

Assess Where it Matters: After a period of consistent practice, you will naturally want to assess the value of meditation in your life. Celebrated meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg often reminds her students to assess growth from meditation by looking at how you show up in your life. Are you more patient, less reactive, more generous with yourself and others? We don’t meditate to become a “better” meditator; we meditate to become a more authentic and connected human being.

Meditation practices are intentionally simple. Simple, but not easy. As we well know, simple scales and arpeggios are often the most revealing about our musical abilities. Meditation reveals the true nature of our mind. When we can be connected and curious in every moment of meditation or music-making, we discover our present capacities and our path to growth.

Footnotes:

[1] Thorpe, Matthew. “12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation.” Healthline, 2017, accessed 8 June 2020. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation

[2] Neuroskeptic. “The 70,000 Thoughts Per Day Myth.” Discover Magazine Online, 2012, accessed 8 June 2020. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-70-000-thoughts-per-day-myth

BIO:

Classical new music specialist and voice teacher Shauna Fallihee loves all things teaching! Shauna has had the pleasure of serving on numerous San Francisco Bay Area college and high school voice faculties, leading workshops, and maintaining a private voice studio. Her own wellness journey led her to become an instructor and teacher trainer of The Dailey Method, an alignment-focused Barre and Indoor Cycling program. In addition to her M.M. in Vocal Pedagogy, Shauna holds certifications in Yoga (RYT-200), Myofascial Release, and has pursued deep meditation studies in the Theravada tradition. She has synthesized these modalities with traditional voice teaching into her own program Embodied Singer, available in the form of Embodied Online which features over 100 videos of voice instruction, movement, myofascial, meditation, and breath practices. www.embodiedsinger.com

Practicing Presence: A Guide to Meditation for Musicians

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