How-To

Day 9
Somehow this Focused February gauntlet is actually causing me to do a better job at horn life.  I cannot lie, I am feeling quite run-down.  Might have something to do with the 2000+ school children I've interacted with over the last several weeks...Just a working theory there.  Practice hasn't been my first priority on most days, and it makes me miss those days of grad school when it was the ONLY priority, besides perfecting my lentil soup recipe.  (Gotta add those mushrooms)


Tonight's energy level was low and dropping, but I did manage to focus on two distinct concepts for an hour: breathing into my super tight and rigid low back, rather than just in my chest; and saying "how" on my inhale and "to" into the horn.  How, to, how-to, howto.  Sounds simple.  It is simple.  So why do I forgot "how to" play the horn?  Brilliant.  Stunningly easy to remember.  What, I ask myself, gets in the way?
I honestly don't know what gets in the way.  That's like asking me to estimate how many human beings I cross paths with in NYC every day.  All things get in the way of focusing on my breathing.  All things get in the way of "how to" do things with ease and reliability.  This is a joy of life, I suppose, re-discovering the way alongside all the things that impede it.  Frankly, though, I have to look elsewhere for joys right at this moment, like frozen Thin Mints and 8 hours of sleep.