Inspirational Reminders

I will be adding PDF texts that I have felt to be helpful as reminders of the information and approaches or tactics that actually stand the test of time.

To avoid the “Pushing Breath” and start the practice/warmup session with the feeling of blowing through the instrument, do this every day:
Breathe in fully, short pause, then take in a little more air.

To begin the note, just relax and let the air and a little upward pressure of the teeth through the bottom lip do the work.

DO NOT PUSH THE AIR

Excessive internal air pressure distorts your perception of loudness. The tone sounds and feels wrong.

Do not blame yourself when you feel slow of mind, depressed or uninspired. These are indicators of dopamine depletion in the chemistry of the brain. See them as such.

Instead of blaming yourself, labelling yourself with something negative and letting the bad feeling self talk run rampant, accept instead, that the brain chemistry can be altered by deep rest.

Do not deplete dopamine further by allowing social media and blind curiosity to take over. They will cause you to slip further. Instead, take a break, sleep or meditate. Use yoga Nidra to rebalance the brain chemistry. You are not your bad feelings or your good feelings. You are simply the observer of these feelings. You are the experiencer of your brain chemistry.

To change your mental state of alertness, use your ability to control the speed and depth of your breathing.
Do you know your “state of mind”? Are you relaxed and alert, tired, agitated, flooded with thoughts? Are you fighting sleep? Are you bored? Are you uninspired?
You can’t change your inner mental landscape with more thoughts or gems of wisdom. You can influence your brain (and body) chemistry with altered breathing patterns.

To attain a relaxed and focused state, do a double breath intake to completely fill your lungs and then let the air out slowly. (Also very helpful for playing wind instruments)

To attain an alert state, do many short and quick in breaths followed by a quick exhale. Feel your diaphragm move.