Tuning

Catching up on some tasks after a long day at the office, I see the time is 7:45pm.  Thinking that I better get practicing,  I wash my hands.  I notice I'm rushing, my breath is shallow, my body tired, and my back has a little ache.  Slow down I hear myself thinking.  If I want the results like I have had a few nights this week, I need to bring my body and mind into the same space.  Not rushing in my thought nor my body, but as one being.  An Alexander Technique lie down seems to be the way to begin tonight.  Tune my primary instrument, my body.  Let go of the stress and strains of this day and begin again.

When my back contacted the floor there was a bit of a surge of ache in a familiar spot. This passed quickly as the muscles began to relax.  Then the noise of my mind increased, or perhaps I was just able to hear it better.  My mind, or my body, or both wanted me to get up from the lie down.  Too much to do, what about this, and tomorrow, oh I forgot - mindless yammering going on and on.  Slowly as my back began to relax , the roar of my mind lessened, and as the chatter slowed, the muscles lengthened and the mind slowed and ...  My chest appeared to let go of something and my feelings began to calm.  Slowly my being was becoming integrated once again; rather than this overdriven mish-mash of twitching muscles and beguiling thoughts.  Slowly flowing towards harmony, I became content with the process, though the occasional thought to get up and begin playing did arrive.  I simply ignored these thoughts and continued to allow my body to relax, lengthen, and widen and for my thoughts to slow down. 

As I rose from the floor I was tempted to resume this blog post, but instead a simply moved a bit in a playful manner and then picked up my guitar.  Improvising a simple melody, while I enjoyed the sound of my Godin guitar.  "On a journey to nowhere" as the song goes, I was enjoying this simple act.  I recalled an intention I formulated earlier today and smiled.  I may have arrived at the form to support and explore my practice for the coming days.  Playing around with improvisation,  I was happy that I did not move directly into playing a piece.  No need to trigger potential habitual responses in my self as I begin to play.

Pausing to reconnect, I then moved onto playing Here We Are, which always brings joy to me as it was inspired by my granddaughter.  From here I played through Gathered Hearts, Dancin' Free, and Stepping Stones.  An hour had passed, one in which through the simple technique of an AT lie down, and doing what I loved, had changed my day for the better.