{"id":102830,"date":"2020-03-31T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=102830"},"modified":"2025-06-30T01:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:14:10","slug":"tq-bhagavad-gita-train-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/tq-bhagavad-gita-train-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bhagavad Gita on How to Train Your Musical Mind to Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here<\/a>. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The mind is restless\u2026 impetuous, self-willed, hard to train: to master the mind seems as difficult as to master the mighty winds.”<\/em><\/p>\n The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Is\nthere a difference between body and mind? They certainly influence\neach other. They are two sides of the same coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthe body can move without the minds attention. We can be distracted\nin practice, thinking of other things, and our fingers keep moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To play beautiful music, we need absolute attention and awareness. We need to both guide and observe. We need to maintain an ideal, while navigating the challenges<\/a> of the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nhow do we train this? How do we become more aware in practice? How\ncan we use our attention more effectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention, focus, concentration – these words are often used interchangably. Whatever the title, it\u2019s a muscle. And like other muscles, it must be exercised<\/a> and trained. Otherwise it atrophies and withers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walter Geiseking<\/a> was one of the greatest pianists of the early 20th century. He suggested that 20\u201330 minutes of highly-focused practice would exhaust most of us. So he would forbid his early-stage students from doing any more than this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because we learn fastest when we avoid mistakes<\/a>. The fewer mistakes, and the more correct repetitions, the faster we learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to go slow enough<\/a> to maintain strict attention and stay aware of every sound and movement? Isn\u2019t this difficult?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely.\nAnd that\u2019s why it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easy practice doesn\u2019t help us improve. We need challenge. Muscles (both mental and physical) need to work for it. When we struggle constructively, we grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\ntrain our minds – this is one of the hardest parts of becoming a\nmusician. But also one of the most rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nhow do we train? \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026We\npay attention to specific things. We set specific challenges for\nourselves and strive to meet them. We keep it slow. We hold the\nhighest standard and trust that the outcome will be positive. We do\nthe hard work of focusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nthis practice, we become better at noticing where and when our minds\nstray. And we get better and faster at bringing our minds back to the\ntask at hand. Like reps in the gym, each time our mind wanders and we\nbring it back, we grow stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here. Enjoy! “The mind is restless\u2026 impetuous, self-willed, hard to train: to master the mind seems as difficult as to master the mighty winds.” The Bhagavad Gita Is there a difference between body and mind? They certainly influence each other. They are … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2973,"featured_media":102832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bhagavad Gita on How to Train Your Musical Mind to Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bhagavad Gita on How to Train Your Musical Mind to Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Find more here. 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