Soulbow

What is your go to way to reach a higher state of consciousness: some find it via intense training, some via meditation, or it could simply be a walk in nature?   Are there any meditation techniques or breathing techniques you like to perform regularly, or any energetic practice that you found work well with you? 

For the last 2 winters, with my partner Nellie, I have swum regularly in an icy waterfall.  We stay in the water between 5 and 10 minutes.  It's usually 5 to 8 degrees C. There are massive health benefits if the water is below 12 C.  The coldest was 6 minutes at 2.9 degrees!  After swimming I feel remarkably present, elated and my vision improves - depth perception, heightened sense of colour saturation.  When I can’t do this, I take cold showers. 

I have periods of meditating regularly, I've done that since I was 16.  Sometimes I do breathing techniques to raise Kundalini energy.  An incredible teacher who was inclined towards Zen Buddhism taught me violin. I was shown how to focus on the sound like one focuses on the breath in meditation.  Every lesson and every practice session would begin with this.  The exercise is called “Tonalization". 

Music & sound are a great way to change your energy - I love playing my instruments tuned to 432 Hz.  I feel more relaxed, centred and present, it makes my upper chakras come alive.  I tuned to 432 Hz in my teaching studio for a whole term. It seemed to make my students calmer and more present. I now record everything in my studio at this frequency. 

I also create my own binaural beats which can very quickly shift you into another state of consciousness. I also have some Buddhist bells.  You don’t have to be an instrumentalist to strike a bell and listen to the sound, then the memory of the sound… leaving you feeling more present, more alive.

Do you have a vision board or a notebook or something to help you materialize your vision? 

This is the first year I haven’t done a vision board.  I usually do one on the first or second day of the year. For the most part it really helps bring things into physical existence. But my values are changing and the way I manifest is changing too.  I used to express things on my board in the present tense and infuse them with emotion:  eg “I’m so happy & grateful that XYZ”  This is effective, but now I internalise it more, feeling gratitude as if the thing has already happened. 

I have a few events that are triggers for this - like when the neighbour’s dog, Bandit, chases the car.  It’s a sudden flurry of excitement. I slap the dashboard and yell out my affirmation:  “I love it when I... (as if it always happens and I’m in rapturous gratitude)…. And you know what?  It works!

“The cessation of thought is the awakening of intelligence” - Do you find yourself overthinking about your playing or your music? 

That phrase really encapsulates the ideal creative process and way of being. 

I love being able to often engage the flow state with playing and composing.  I’m more likely to overthink with mixing and production.  I can really agonise over something that could be quick and simple.