Just one week of sewing and sitting zazen (meditating), as well as participating in mindful cleaning, walking and cooking caused a major shift in my perspective. Shortly after I received Jukai, I noticed that my teaching style changed for the better. It’s likely that music teachers experience similar levels of anxiety, so any tools we can use to combat tension will help us grow as educators and creatives. According to the study, 66% of musicians and college music students experience anxiety. Chang, Elizabeth Midlarsky and Peter Lin found that mediation reduced performance anxiety in musicians. Science has made a lot of headway in mindfulness research since the early 2000s. Meditating Altered my Teaching Style Reverend Shokai pulling in energy like a bow and arrow. The flute isn’t something to be studied and polished, but rather, a paint brush for musical expression. Now, my experience is more emotive and natural. Before, my flute playing felt academic and distanced. The process of undertaking jukai changed the way I relate to my instrument, the flute, as well as how I teach it to others. So what does this have to do with music and teaching music? Then we sew a miniature Buddha robe the material representation of the vows we take, in each handmade stitch. Zen practitioners spend weeks writing their own personal interpretations of these precepts, such as vowing not to kill - whether it be animals or the energy of a room. Jukai is the process of undergoing an empowerment ceremony in which one takes the three refuges, three pure precepts and the 10 grave precepts. “Ju” translates to granting, and “kai” means precepts. Last spring, in the midst of the pandemic, we began the process of jukai, an initiation into the Zen Buddhist community. I could not have written this article without all of you! I also want to give a big shout out to talented photographer Luna (Shōsō) Kasior Bitner for doing a last-minute photoshoot. I would like to thank Reverend Rinsen and Reverend Do’on (pictured above with me) as well as Reverend Shokai for helping me through my jukai journey.
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