Be Like Miles

There I was again.  I was attempting to learn how to play a Miles Davis solo on my guitar and it happened.  Everything was moving along nicely and then he played a line that I just couldn't figure out, let alone play. This happened just about every time a tried to transcribe someone's solo. Miles was in fact pretty good learn from because he tended to play very few notes and he played them slowly. I found this incredibly frustrating. I was beginning to think that I wasn't cut out for this type of activity or that I had a 'bad ear.'

I must have played that particular line in the solo 100 times. I'd hit rewind endlessly to no avail. I started from the beginning of the solo and reviewed the pieces I knew and then a new idea hit me. I thought that I should go through as many solos of miles that I could find and just learn the easy bits. If I could only get a few notes from each that was fine. I started doing this and within a few weeks I was astounded by the results. Suddenly I could hear all kinds of things that I hadn't been able to decipher a few weeks earlier. My ears had seemingly grown.

Here are a few ideas that make this work.

Slow down:
Whether you're learning a piece of music or practicing a martial art, from time to time, slowing down the tempo at which you take in information, or practice something will help you learn more smoothly than stumbling at a quick tempo.

Practice small, easy pieces:
Focus your efforts on very short discreet pieces that are very easy for you. Practicing something that is too difficult can prove to be counterproductive. Furthermore, it's an indication that you haven't really mastered the skill that lead up to that.

Practice pieces that you like:
Practicing pieces that you like will build greater and greater motivation to keep practicing versus building frustration.

By applying these guidelines, I've found that  I'm able to make progress at a good pace in places where I had previously been stuck. Although you may not end up sounding like Miles or your favorite musician, I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Plan To Fail!!

It's the start of the new year and many people set off with resolutions in hand ready to take on the world. For many people, a few weeks into January is when cracks in the well laid plans begin to show up. Perhaps it's not following through and going to the gym, or not eating just a little bit more sensibly.

Although you may not have done exactly what you set out to do, this isn't the end of the world unless you decide that's the case. Richard Bandler, one of the founders of NLP mentioned something really interesting years ago. To paraphrase, he said that people should incorporate some failing along the way to reaching their goals. Most people can count on falling off their plans at some point, so you may as well plan on it. If you do, you can also plan to get back on track.

When people fall off of their plan, many define this as failure and stop. Instead, if you define it as a setback, or part of the overall process, you can pick it up again the next day and get moving again.

I love this shot of Andy Murray. Andy had come unbeliveably close to winning a major in tennis again and again. He had 4 runner ups before finally winning his first major. He was the first playing from the UK to win a major in 76 years. Not bad.

Finding Center

There are many ways to center oneself. In this piece I’ll mention several ways to center your self. First and foremost, I hope you can begin to notice the many places where you already do this in your life. Also, perhaps you can find some new things to explore. As they say, all roads lead to Rome and certainly many roads lead back to one's center.

There are many practices that explore different methods of centering. Aikido, yoga, mediation, dance, self-hypnosis and tai chi are just a few modalities that explore this topic in depth and with their own subtleties.

For myself, being centered means being in a calm and alert state of mind and body where I’m able to respond well to whatever comes up in my life at the moment. My breathing is calm and my posture, whether seated or standing is fairly straight. I’m not leaning forward or backward or to either side.

At first glance, centering may not seem particularly interesting or useful. In time I’ve come to find it an incredibly useful resource state from which to respond to life and various challenges that may arise from time to time.

Here are a few things to try out if you’re new to the idea of centering or meditation. Take a moment to center your posture as I mentioned above. Allow your spine to be upright and relaxed as opposed to stiff. Notice your breathing and allow yourself to breath fully in and out in a relaxed way. I recommend keeping your eyes open and lightly focused in front of you. Take a moment to notice what’s in front of you and in your peripheral vision.

Notice if you’re leaning forward, back or to one side and bring yourself back to the middle. I like to imagine grass and how it’s able to sway in the wind and then find it’s way back to a nice resting place. Notice if you’re standing on your heals or the balls of your feet. Take a moment to try out both of these and then find a place in the middle.

If you notice yourself thinking about anything in particular, simply watch the thought as opposed to getting caught up in the particular thought itself. Is your thinking fast, slow, calm or turbulent. Take a moment to come back to the sensations in your body and in your breath.

If this is all new to you, you may want to take 5 or so minutes a day to play with this until you begin to get used to the process of slowing down and becoming centered. In other posts I’ll discuss many ways you can explore this in the context of change work. Also, feel free to contact me if you’d like other suggestion about how to play with this or other resources for exploring this.

Charlie Badenhop-Seishindo

Whenever I visit Japan I have the privilege of visiting with my good friend Charlie Badenhop. Charlie has a background in NLP, Hypnosis and years of studying and being an instructor of Aikido. Charlie is one of the most skilled change work practitioners I know. His work, Seishindo is a wonderful combination and expansion of these various modalities. What I've observed in seeing Charlie work with individuals and working with me is that he interacts with the person both verbally with great skill and by responding to and working with the person's physical presence. One thing that I've taken from my experience of Charlie's work is the belief that centering the body and the thinking mind has a tremendous capacity to heal the overall system and bring new solutions and insights to whatever challenges a person is facing.

I highly recommend visiting Charlie's site http://seishindo.org/ which is also in my link list. The site has pages of wonderful material and many practices that you can try out for yourself. Charlie also has a great newsletter where he shares insights and exercises on a regular basis.