Mindfulness is a practice dating as far back as the ancient traditions of Buddhist meditation. In its essence, mindfulness is awareness. It is being aware of our thoughts and feelings, our environment and the physical sensations around us.
“Being mindful means that we suspend judgment for a time, set aside our immediate goals for the future, and take in the present moment as it is rather than as we would like it to be.”
~ Mark Williams |
Why is being in the present important? Half of the time while we’re doing something, our minds are somewhere else. If you’re mopping the floors in the kitchen, that’s fine, but how many times have you had a conversation and realized afterward that you weren’t even listening to the person talking to you? The goal of mindfulness isn’t to never think about the past or the future again, it’s more about having the ability to choose which thoughts we want to focus on, and which ones we want to let go.
To practice mindfulness meditation, you should select a location that is quiet and make yourself comfortable, whether that means the traditional meditation pose or something that suits you more. Then, close your eyes and follow your breath, hold it in and then exhale slowly. When your mind has wandered off, label it as ‘thought’ and just pull the attention back to yourself.
To help you incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine, you can also try with a mindfulness app that offers a wide array of guided meditations, nature and ambient sounds, and positive affirmations.
Music has the same ability to shift our state of mind like mindfulness, starting with mood enhancement and relaxation. They both can help us break our negative thinking patterns by providing us with the opportunity to live in the present moment and not think about the future or dwell on the past. Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers and pianists of all time, once said that music is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit.
Several studies have shown that mindfulness can be useful for regulating emotion, more specifically the practice has proven to be helpful in reducing stress, anxiety, depression and somatic distress. Although this may not seem relevant to musicians, thinking pessimistically about your work can take a real toll on your actual progress. Therefore, the next logical question is: How does mindfulness improve your music skills?
You Will Be Calm and Peaceful
Meditation gives a sense of clarity and control, which causes less rumination about ambitions and career goals.Astudy was conducted where the participants were actually a group of US marines preparing for deployment. They spent two hours each week, for eight weeks, practicing mindfulness meditation. The Marines showed great improvements in mood and when going into a highly stressful situation it helped them stay calm and in the moment.
You Can Work Efficiently
Mindfulness can be a key element in getting the most efficiency out of your practice session. When you practice and get stuck on something, the mind gets frustrated and you start worrying. What’s worse, you will probably think of this memory again in the future. Instead of having
negative thoughts and getting stuck in that pattern, mindfulness helps you by giving you the attention needed to make the next moment as good as it can be.
You Will Be More Creative
How creative you are depends on two factors: are you coming up with lots of ideas, which is called divergent thinking, and are you solidifying those ideas into one brilliant concept, or convergent thinking. A study at the Leiden University done by Lorenza Colzato, a cognitive psychologist, studied the effect of meditation in divergent and convergent thinking and found that it significantly improved both.
It Will Improve Your Focus and Productivity Skills
People’s ability to focus and their hold attention even on the most boring things improves drastically with mindfulness. It liberates the mind from distraction and helps a person stay alert.
Patience Will Help You to Achieve the Music You Want
In order to be a good musician you need to have the patience and confidence that you indeed are a good musician. When you make a mistake, it’s easy for your mind to run away with that. Mindfulness allows you to get rid of the barriers and help you fulfill the goals you have as a musician.
You Will Have Control Over Your Mind
Research done by UCLA stated that people who are long-time meditators have a larger amount of folding of the brain’s cortex than people who don’t meditate, which allows them to process information faster than others and better their decision-making process.
You Will Never Lose Hope
The biggest problem that we’re faced with is we have certain expectations of ourselves, so we set up goals and feel disappointed when we don’t achieve them. Meditation clears your mind and liberates you from pressure, and in that way contributes to not losing hope.
Marquis Matson
Marketing Team, Jinglow.com
marquis@jinglow.com