This post has brought more attention than we thought possible.
We think it is because this shows healing and Alex describes music with such passion, he has found a way to enter into that space with mindfulness. We all can see how the music envelopes his whole body and soul now, without his attachments from childhood to cloud his view.
Alex illustrates someone like us, who was trapped in disassociation about performance, character and perfection from childhood. His ambition and passion were always out there and not close enough to see clearly or be able to be mindful. We can see, he has succeeded and this is what a small shift of not being capable of failure can do for you.
We do not know what day or what hour a shift occurs. That is why leaving goals alone and concentrating on mindfulness daily heals us.
This is a friend of mine, Alex, who until recently worried about his performance on the piano. Music begins at 2:48.
Childhood events formed his attitude – much like the rest of us. He always used to play filled with tension and fearful of a mistake. He was scared of not being perfect which in turn caused pain. He became tortured by the instrument he so passionately loved.
He recently realized trying to play flawlessly, like Chopin, was trying to be someone else. He accepted that his effort was enough. This was the first shift. He then began to practice the inability to fail for a half of an hour a day.
He would slow down his hands and pay close attention to the feel of what he was doing.
Discoveries of things like this heal us also. What are you drawn to?
Explore it. Please.
PTSD - A Way Out.com 
Posted by alex on April 23, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Thanks, Marty for posting this video – you and your Blog has definitly have helped me face and enjoy the act of performing…10/4 Alex
Posted by Marty on April 24, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Thanks Alex. Thank you letting all see you are real and healing happens when we take one pointed action everyday.
Please try and see how much better you can be.
Posted by fikadax on April 25, 2011 at 6:07 am
I like your question in the end of the post, a nice invitation!
Posted by butterflysblog on April 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm
The music that your friend Alex is playing is so beautiful. May I ask what the name of that piece is?
Thank you,
Butterfly
(www.reasonsyoushouldntfuckkids.wordpress.com)
Posted by Marty on April 25, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Hey Marty, I honesty am filled with the deepest sense of Gratitude, almost disbelieve about the simplicity that evolves out of Silence. When it becomes a conscience and important part of one’s daily life – just staying with the sensations in my lower back over the last several mornings, say between 2:30-5:30, was like experiencing a self-healing which actually turned into a Miraculous Wonder of Life – so I Thank You, Marty for the opportunity of sharing – it all seems to be the simplicity yet profound process (very Mozart an), the experience can develop into a way of living or a way of Surrendering in which all one really has to do is practice their sitting, work at what they need to work and then just allow let it ALL unfold…
Posted by Marty on April 25, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Actually Alex used my computer to answer that question. Butterfly Alex will answer your question about this piece much more passionately and knowledgeable than me.
Great sharing.
Posted by alex on April 26, 2011 at 8:10 am
How interesting Sam – Chopin loved the water and he wrote a piece soon after the one I played called the Barcarole Op 60, song of Venetain gondoliers. Both pieces are felt in a rolling pulse of two which could be the rocking of a cradle in the Berceuse and the rocking of the waves in the Barcarole. Anyway, this music does seem to enbrace one in a warm, tender, soothing and mother like manner and set you Free – how cool is that 🙂 You may also enjoy the two Noctures Chopin wrote Op 27(short for Opus = work number) Thanks for ALL of your fine work with Marty – Sat Nam (in the name of Truth) Alex
Posted by alex on April 26, 2011 at 8:15 am
Would be interested learn if the invitation happened to evoke a certain response in you – always interested in how music moves people – Thanks for your note, Alex
Posted by alex on April 26, 2011 at 8:32 am
Hi Butterfly – yes Chopin named this piece the Berceuse which translates from French into English as Cradle Song or Lullaby because of its ostinato left hand accompaniment, which is felt in a pulse of two beats per measure – it was written just four years before his un-timely death at the age of 39 (1810-1849), I believe while traveling in England, and it seems to evoke an echo of a sound he captured some ten years before – so very glad you find it pleasing THANKS, Alex
Posted by fikadax on April 27, 2011 at 7:53 am
Your question feels warm and open. As written above -He would slow down his hands and pay close attention to the feel of what he was doing. I need to slow down a lot, and I am only in the beginning, I have lived the most of my life in my brain, neglected my body and my feelings, don´t knowing my self, so I had a lot to drawn. I don´t like to play instrument because I only felt I had to perform, some one else had to valuate. I don´t want to be evaluated, I will only use instruments and tones for investigation, mirrowing my spiritual me, life and being. I love music finding my world of happiness, magic, mystery, no predictable but surprising – this is my world and music are important for being there. I also love to be painting, using color, form and symbols for my spiritual being. I strive for the combination of music, symbols (paintings and photos), text – activating as much sense and energies (body as kundalini yoga) as possible. Thanks for your asking and putting the music in focus. 🙂 🙂
Posted by fikadax on April 27, 2011 at 7:56 am
Hi, a tip, I use spotify, searching for Lullaby whit and without chopin and found lovely music, as I feel now, not sentimentally in a way of sadness instead filled with hope and freedom.
Posted by Pocket Perspectives on August 27, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Oh, that is so beautiful…if I could fly, the way that Alex played that music would be the way it would feel…actually, I did have the sense of flying for a few minutes… : ) Alex, thank you so much. And about that shift…..ohhhhhhhhhh, I would so love to be able to make a shift like that…what a sweet and wonderful change that would be.
Posted by Marty on August 28, 2011 at 2:35 am
Understanding from sitting everyday touches our true self. When the brain and the ego are at rest, the possibility of the vastness of the mind appears. When you learn in your body from sitting with your breath a calm easiness begins to take hold.
Soon, you can test emotions and thoughts observing them through the focus on the breath. Comparisons, judgments are seen as impermanent gyrations of the ego and left brain.
When failure exited my day, life exploded. My obligation was only to be here totally aware. Then opportunity thrives in every corner. I had only to be here and try. What a burden of a life lived under the weight of my father and own mind.
Alex, had a rigid stance of performing and his obligation to composer, audience and himself was firm. He has such passion he desired to be great and hence gripped at his desire. We do not perform well when we grip. We are at our best when we are empty of thought or in observer role. Alex amazed me when he had the strength to change at his age. It is not easy when you care about music like he does.
He will say he went to a recital and he was just there. Then he would say it was just flowing through him. He realized just trying his best and relaxing was perfection. It warms my heart to see him touch others this way. We all have our masterpiece that only we know.
Posted by alex on August 28, 2011 at 8:21 pm
Thank You so much for the kind comments, indeed they are an Inspiration – the basic key to a inner shift, i believe, is dependent on ones ability harmonize with sitting in Silence, watching the Breath and just allow one’s Being to Rest in a Field of Emptiness – out of that continued experience and linked to a posture of non judgement a certain crystalization begins to form, then the ability to comfortably slow down time presents itself and then, with a Grace, an expanding opportunity to see and act with a New Consciousness appears which is all a part of the step by step uncovering of Clearity or the Shift that’s mentioned above – it’s nothing we can really control but the ability to Try and “Keep Up” is what will allow us to possibily experience the Beauty of simply Being in the Moment.
Marty’s understanding and compassionate Blog offers one a daily remeinder of how to Keep Present and is a Beautiful Gift to all of those who read and participate in It’s important Growth – Sat Nam and in Simplicity, Alex 🙂
Posted by kaitlots on December 12, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Wow. This video gave me goosebumps. This is actually how I feel when I am racing. I feel completely engulfed, at peace, calm, satisfied, passionate. It never fades. Sometimes I try to go there in my mind.
Posted by Marty on December 12, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Use your racing as your strength, adapt all things to your strengths.
draw on this capacity and ability to focus. So you have experience with focus and visualization to draw on.
Alex and I have this visual when we sit sometimes. It is like a drag racer but with wings. An F-16 we are flying but the trick is we have to refuel in air. We have a jet capable of mach what 5 or 6 and now we need to hold it so steady. Tis powwerful machine now has to hover behind a slow fueling plane.
It takes an extremely nimble hands and skill to steady this speed demon.
We use our breath to steady this powerhouse. Following the breath with our breathing track lets us have the finesse and skill to power our recovery.
Athletes call this flow. You enter a space that is all reactionary no thought. Practiced skills happen effortlessly because our relexes are 1000s of times faster than thought. Thought is a handy cap when we compete or want peak performance.