A Mozart of Consciousness

There are tiers of practice at Mindful Boston.
There are classrooms at Mindful Boston.
There is a community of fellow students, peers to practice with, within each tier.

But why? Who needs any of that?! Plenty of people just jump into meditation and do it on their own without any guidelines. Why would anyone need a studio?

Well…
I’ll go with a music metaphor for my first example. I’ll brainstorm some other examples for future Sunday News articles. But as a starting point for this installment, let’s do music.

Plenty of people sit down at a piano, bang on a few keys and then give up on music because it’s not easy to be an expert immediately.

Other people sit down at a piano, bang on a few keys and believe themselves to be an instant Mozart, but they are mistaken. They get delusional and think that what they hear from their own piano is music when it’s actually some banging mixed with a lot of… (yikes) egotism.

Mozart, and a few famous others have made it look easy. But most people, especially professional musicians, take years of practice to achieve being able to make it look that easy. People who advance at a normal pace practice for years with teachers, follow a format such as tier-levels of guidance, and become normal, skilled, musicians.

Yes, it is possible to go off the rails and become the next Mozart. But, it’s good to recognize that most of us are not that. (Humility is cool too.) Everyone has talents in some areas, but no one is an instant genius in every single area immediately.

Another good thing to recognize is that many famous artists that have gone off the rails in extreme ways or have taken risks with pushing the boundaries of their nervous systems.

One of the reasons why I like meditation is that it allows me to dive into expanded consciousness. I do see it as its own artform, but I also see it to be an underpinning of any other artforms I do. With meditation, I can jump into expanding my consciousness without the artistic medium of a piano.

But artistic mediums like piano music or painting give a structure and form. And even metaphorical “seatbelts.”

When using an externalized form, one’s fellow artists can view where you are going with your art, and give you hints and feedback on your skill level. Are you lost in your egotism, or have you actually created a new genre of music? Your fellow musicians can tell you if what they see in you is your genius or if you actually do need some more practice.

A studio for music and learning piano exists for a reason. Mindful Boston exists for similar reasons. We collaborate and help each other to grow.

Let me know what you think!

-Gena Bean
Lead Teacher at Mindful Boston