Add Inclusive Awareness To Your Practice Toolkit

We musicians can get so caught up in the pressures of learning notes that we often forget to pay attention to our bodies and our mental state. Unhelpful habits of attention, muscular tension, and body imbalance can detract from accomplishing your practice goals and allowing you to experience the joy of the music. I am helped in my own practice by using a technique we teach in Body Mapping called Inclusive Awareness.

Inclusive Awareness requires adopting the value that anything within us and around us is worthy of being included in our awareness. Often, we want to “concentrate” with the belief that we can block out distracting or unhelpful thoughts, as well as elements of our surroundings that do not directly have to do with the musical task we are trying to accomplish. But the act of trying to block these stimuli out can lead us to suffer from muscular tension that inhibits the movement we need to make our art. Rather, we teach that allowing all stimuli to enter into your larger awareness can promote freedom of movement and freedom in music making.

Here are some prompts to help you find inclusive awareness as you practice.

When I start practicing

Is my awareness open to all that is around me and within me?

Am I aware of the temperature of the air on my skin and the quality of light around me?

Am I aware of any sounds near and far?

Do I acknowledge my current emotions?

Am I bringing my instrument to my balanced body?

If I am standing as I practice

Can I feel my feet?

Does anything on my feet hurt?

Is my weight distributed evenly left and right?

Are my knees locked or unlocked?

Is there tension 

Am I bringing my instrument to my balanced body?

If I am sitting as I practice

Can I feel the weight of my upper body on my sitting bones?

Can I feel my head balanced on my spine?

Am I allowing the structure of my naturally curved spine to support my head, arms, and torso?

If I am a wind or vocal musician

Can I sense the parts of my body that need to move when I breathe?

Can I feel movement in my ribs, including all the way up to my collar bones and underneath my shoulder blades?

Do I feel an easy movement, in all directions, of the structures that surround my lungs?

Are the joints of my jaw feeling easy or tight?

If I use my arms to make music

Can I sense my arms as they are suspended over my torso?

Is there ease of movement in my arm and hand joints?

Do I include my collarbones and shoulder blades in my arm structures?

My musical awareness

Are my musical intentions clear?

Am I allowing my body to find the movements that will fulfill those intentions?

Do I feel free to experiment with my intentions?

Inclusive Awareness offers many benefits

I have found that practicing Inclusive Awareness as I practice allows me to move more freely and efficiently for a freer sound. With my attention open, I am able to pace and plan my practice better. It has also helped me with performance anxiety. Inclusive Awareness is a useful tool for all musicians.