Mindfullness and mixing. I have been undertaking a mindfulness practice for the last year or so - following Sam Harris, listening to his many talks and using the app for a 10 minute session each...
Mindfullness and mixing. I have been undertaking a mindfulness practice for the last year or so - following Sam Harris, listening to his many talks and using the app for a 10 minute session each morning.
This isn't the first time I have had a 'meditation' practice. As a young man, I trained in Yang Tsin Su and Tai Chi fairly intensively for a few years. By intensively, I mean I was up at 4:30 to head into town for an hour of training, then an hour of meditation. After work, there was an hour odd at the gym. Most days, except Sunday. Interestingly, at this time, I was also eating as a Vegan.
This, as my memory serves was a time of extreme mental clarity, if not constant physical tiredness and I still remember being able to 'observe' my mind literally slowing down in front of me as I headed away from the practice. During that time, I experienced a few things that I would still struggle to explain logically, potentially resulting from a mind and body and intent all perfectly in line with each other.
Mixing, specifically beatmatching, now that I am getting back into it, has reminded me of what a mindful practice it can be. The act requires you to follow two separate beats and actively keep them in line with each other. This is a practice that requires constant attention and attentiveness. It requires you to certainly, be, here, now.
Like life, you occasionally falter - and interestingly, it's often when you doubt yourself that the mix goes out - was that track getting ahead or behind? That self-questioning leads to nudging or pulling the wrong way, overcorrection and eventually settling back into the groove.
However, that's not to say the mind can't actually wander a bit. Once things are locked in, or maybe because it does, I occasionally find myself dropping into a space between those tracks, in the mix - and there is actually a bit of room to wander around in there. Interestingly now, coming back to mixing, I do seem to be a little less self-critical of those moments slipping out of the mix - I understand them, I enjoy them, I find myself listening back and cheering myself on during the little bumps.
Something I hope I also get better at doing in my real life.
Christmas Day 2020. My little girls are off with their mother now for a couple of days, and I do find myself already missing them. I also found that the mother of some old friends passed away yesterday.
So much like the rest of the year, things are moving on with a bit of a strange undertone to them.
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