Lately I have been focusing on keeping a general or light awareness of subtle sensations in most of the body whenever I remember to, and seeing how much it helps me cognitively and physically and act wiser in regards to emotions and reactions. Pretty much it keeps my practice benefiting my well being day-to-day. I have tried to keep some sort of mindful awareness throughout the day in the past, and have read from several posts here that some people like to try and note throughout the day. Before I just gave up because it seemed impossible and not incredibly helpful, but now that my concentration has improved a bit, I find that I can keep a body awareness during a lot of the day, especially during passive activities like driving, walking, eating, or the listening part of the converstion as opposed to when I respond. I can see how walking/yoga practices would be helpful for transitioning practice from on the cushion to off as well. How successful can someone be at bringing awareness from sits into daily life, even during active activities?

One reason I am asking is that as a musician, I have been trying to keep a full body awareness while playing an instrument or singing to see if there could be any benefit. I believe that there is at least some type of access concentration going on when that awareness is constant, so it seems like an initial benefit would be improved concentration. I'm not sure, because at first it takes a bit more work because it's like doing two things at once. Also, keeping an attitude of equanimity during any activity, but here as applied to playing an instrument, seems helpful because it might diminish the amount of attachment and "I-ness" placed on the activity, and help someone be more sensitive to emotional reactions taking place during the activity. Any thoughts? Has anyone tried this out, not necessarily with music, but with other activities? As far as this second question goes, it is definitely more of a side benefit of practice, so I'm not sure if anything directly carries over.

You have a good perspective on this.  I think it will apply well in a framework of gradually training mindfulness to become automatic all the time, rather than a nana or stage based framework.  

John:

Yeah, the sensation of effort will go away.  At first it is 'practice,'  then it is 'performance' when it becomes automatic, then the distinction between the two disappears and everything becomes 'play.'  Credit to my teacher Dhammarato for this metaphor.  Its supposedly a Louis Armstrong quote.

Yes, these things will open up at deeper levels when the equanimity becomes wired in.  

Just keep going.  I would guess that the Buddha's original prescription was continuous off-cushion mindfulness, including for householders in daily life, and not sectioned of to special retreat periods.  Everyone I know who's succeeded in meditation has done intensive off cushion practice yet they mostly emphasize on cushion when they talk.

Hi John,

You are talking about "zen art". I've studied this for years, both in traditional and modern forms. Some years ago I published a free e-booklet on this called "Zen of Steve Vai", which as the name suggests, drew points between awareness-training and expressive art in this case, the guitar virtuosity of a god of electric guitar It's not difficult to hear from Steve's playing that he has meditated for over 3 decades, and yet his fans consistently keep missing this point of him and his music.

So yeah. Doing art, like playing an instrument is a wonderful and valid way to access the truly creative space which always is I-less. All great athletes, artists, race car drivers etc. describe this, even if they don't have exact vocabulary for it.

If you are interested there is a group at Facebook called "Zen art and Zen calligraphy" where I've posted all kinds of stuff related to this topic.

Thanks Noah, I appreciate the encouragement. I'm looking forward to having equanimity be more automatic as well as continuous awareness throughout the day. It's amazing how fast improvement can happen now when putting the effort in. That type of continuous awareness seems obtainable.

Hi Kim, thanks for the info! I'm looking forward to checking out your e-book and joining the facebook group. Is zen and the art of tennis along the lines of what you're talking about? As a musician I'm not sure if I tap into any special states except access concentration, even as a jazz improviser, although I know musicians who possibly do. Regardless, creative expression might be another significant side benefit and something worth checking out. I know for myself I think my meditation practice has helped with focus and cognitive flexibility and how they contribute to creativity, probably because I view creativity, at least in music, in a very structured way. It's nice to know there is info already out there that I can check out.

My pleasure. I don't know the book you mention. An old acquaintant of mine called Soryu, who was a tennis pro and a zen monk, also wrote a book on zen/meditation and tennis. I don't know if it was ever published but he did.

I forgot to mention that I used to be a musician, as well, mostly jazz guitar. In those days I hadn't done meditation training but I've reflected back on it, along with practiting zen calligraphy, yoga, dance, walking, running etc. The greatest musicians, regardless of style, have the ability to transcend themselves, their limited I-based being. And when they don't, they know it, the crowd knows it and the critics know it.

My observation is that the I-less awareness in art is not as uncommon as it may seem at first. It is glimpsed often by artists in general. But whether they can "deliver" on a regular basis is another matter because so few artists meditate.

I meant to go back and change the title of the book when I realized it's actually called The Inner Game of Tennis. It's interesting to hear you explain a little bit more about how removing a sense of "I-ness" creates some quality in the experience that artists/observers notice, but isn't related to some specific characteristic in the art itself.