I’m often asked about how to practice spiritual flute, how to incorporate Spiritual Flute practices into one’s routine. I do these routines to help me connect to myself, to the music, and to reach a fully expressive place in my playing. Here are a few suggestions from my own routine.
I’m an early riser so I start with a quick ride on the stationary bike with beautiful classical music playing, as I want to start my day focusing on something I love, which is music!!After the bike I do a 20-30 minute Yoga routine following my favorite online Yoga teacher Boho Beautiful. Her videos are always filmed in a very beautiful place and since I live in NYC I enjoy feasting my eyes on a beautiful scene as well as following the yoga routine to help focus my mind and maintain my strength and flexibility and be ready to play the flute!Meditation/prayers away from flute. Every morning I do a 10-20 minute meditation that clears my mind from the nights adventures in sleep. I do another meditation/prayer at the end of the day to help me process that day’s events, flute practice, upsets, and to ask for help and insight from the universe, from a power greater than myself. This activity helps me stay centered and focused and also keeps me from thinking that I control everything (especially my flute playing).I practice the flute before I do other work like teaching, administration for The Green Golly Project, writing for The Flute View, sales etc, since otherwise I wouldn’t get to practice at all!!I hope that my morning routine prepares me to be in the practice flow right from the beginning.
Sometimes I start with my sound/silence exercises as it helps to wake up my ear and muscles, and I really try and hear the sounds, to pay attention to them, and be in the present as much as I can. I know that I’m listening when I feel an emotional release when I hear the sounds. (I don’t always succeed in this!). My warm-up routine is set so that it feels like a meditation in itself.When I practice the music, I’m ready to delve deeply and to be present to what the composer is saying and what my response is, and I hope I am out of the way. When practicing, I have to use my intellect to direct the learning of a piece technically and musically, so being able to be objective and hear the music and how I am playing is something I strive to do. It sets me up to remain connected to flow right from the very beginning of learning a piece. It’s a goal of my practicing, not something that is there every time, as I always have to contend with mastering technical aspects of a piece, but it is something to work on. As with all aspects of getting into flow, the repetition, practice, and consciousness of the work makes that musical flow and connection easier and easier to achieve.
I hope my thoughts will inspire you to experiment with your own way of achieving connection to the music and spirit of your own defining and would love to hear your routines and processes as you approach the miracle of music.
And, if you’d like to explore spiritual flute this summer with me (and special guests) you can attend my Spiritual Flute Retreat! June 14-16th in Woodstock, NY.
Email: barbara@flutemastery.com, and I’ll give you more details.