Guidelines for practicing loving bliss vis-à-vis practicing a musical instrument
Articulating
12
Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument (by
Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma) with developing how to practice loving
bliss
Friends,
Here are some practices to elicit loving bliss with which I'm beginning to articulate these 12 'how-to' guidelines below:). And here are what I think is love in some of its best senses. In the following ideas and explorations of how we might 'practice' loving bliss, as we would practice a musical instrument, I assume our bodyminds are like musical instruments. {Feel free to print, below, and add to this}. As I'm presently thinking about this, I'd love your thoughts about this ~ scott@scottmacleod.com.
INSPIRATION
~ Keep the vision of making {loving bliss} 'music' in mind
~ Make eliciting loving bliss, as practice, enjoyable (e.g. omega-3 fatty acids, 1000 mg flax seed oil with food, 3 times per day, plus a multivitamin, may be helpful biologically)
1 Seek out private instruction.
>
... for modeling and teaching qualities of loving bliss
> With whom?
>
Might interactive media via the internet help give shape to this, without
private instruction?
2 Write out a schedule,
a plan with goals. (Choose pieces you enjoy playing –
S.M.).
Yo-yo Ma says, never make a sound without hearing it first;
hear it in your mind.
>
Are there 'loving bliss' musical pieces?
> What are the skills of loving bliss?
> Develop techniques of loving bliss, such as 'tuning' {e.g. via the relaxation response}, expressiveness/performativity,
breathing, relaxing, eliciting, remembering
>
Questions vis-a-vis 'flow: the psychology of optimal experience' - choose
learning situations for this
> Reading and engaging 'loving
bliss in its best senses'
3 Set goals to chart development.
>
These qualities of brain neurophysiology, then those qualities of brain
neurophysiology?
> Engage a teacher for this goal charting
> Use a technology (what machines exist now that measure, or provide
biofeedback about, loving bliss?)
>
Use language, as a kind of technology
> Use your own inner sense of loving bliss 'response,' and then build
on this
> Synthesize arts like Watsu {water shiatsu} with loving bliss, to
develop ways to chart development
4 Concentrate when you practice.
Yo-yo says join feelings into your music when you feel
bad, to integrate your feelings with your mind and body.
>
Use feelings to integrate you as a musical instrument when you feel bad,
then ~>
> Relax into the relaxation response
>
Elicit the 'bubbling up' biology (bodymind releasing and welcoming) of loving bliss neurophysiology
> While listening to music
> While dancing
> While exploring positive emotions
> While eliciting loving bliss with a friend
5 Relax and practice slowly.
>
Relaxation response, breathing, eliciting, 'practices to elicit loving
bliss,' with your bodymind releasing
> Find pools of warm water (like at Harbin Hot Springs, or your
bathtub) in which to practice eliciting loving bliss, with ease and
focus
> Find a friend to do this with
6 Practice hard parts longer.
>
Go into, or release richly into, loving bliss?
> For transcendent & heightened experiences of loving bliss, focus
on these often, and with depth
7 Practice expressively.
Be serious – invest yourself expressively.
>
Let go into loving bliss fulsomely, imaginatively, exploratorily, performatively
> Bring emotion and 'verve' to this practice
> Engage music (especially favorite - for me the Grateful Dead, Raga
and Mozart all take me there) as reference experiences
8 Don’t be too hard on yourself.
Learn from your mistakes.
> Focus, after not concentrating, - and care for yourself, while generating loving bliss
9 Don’t show off.
>
A kind of Taoist approach {mask the brightness - (Feng and English 1975:
#56)}?
> Don't put your loving bliss on display
> And also let your loving bliss shine out, especially when regenerative,
and with friends who are also exploring this
10 Think for yourself.
Don’t become a robot, but don’t dismiss what
you’re taught.
>
Innovate vis-à-vis eliciting loving bliss
> Learn loving bliss techniques, as if learning Watsu (water shiatsu},
and with focus
> Don't repeat loving bliss 'techniques' by rote (e.g. by listening
to Mozart's "Magic Flute" or dancing to elicit loving bliss
~> cultivate loving bliss with relaxed intention)
> I think all of the above have quite explicit biochemical, neurophysiological
correlates, that, when known, we might begin to orchestrate profoundly,
- keep thinking
11 Be optimistic.
Nothing sounds worse than pessimism coming through a horn.
> Cultivate optimism with loving bliss - it might be difficult not to
12 Look for connections. (Make the social aspect of practicing
regenerative - S.M.)
Music washes away the dust of everyday life from your feet.
> Orient your mind to connecting with
- your own neurophysiology of loving bliss
- to other people~friends who are exploring this
- to innovating vis-à-vis generating loving bliss
>
Explore doing this in multiple networks in your life (including playing
musical instruments together:)
> Let's create a remarkable & profound language and socioculture for
this
Warm regards,
Scott
Wiki for sharing ideas about eliciting loving bliss neurophysiology (at World University and School): http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Loving_Bliss_(eliciting_this_neurophysiology)
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Guidelines
for practicing loving bliss vis-à-vis practicing a musical instrument
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