Happy, Healthy and Harmonious 2019 to all!

Year review

The end of the year / beginning of the new year is a good moment to take some time for your personal review. What did you achieve this year? What are you aiming at for the coming year?
You can do it for your personal life (there are videos on YouTube about this topic), but also, if you are a shakuhachi player, you can do it as well for your shakuhachi journey. What did you learn last year? What technics, music pieces, insights, experiences, skills, personal growth? Can you remember how you were playing one year ago? What did shakuhachi bring to your life in 2018? And what are your goals for 2019?

Sometimes, we are so focussed about what we cannot do (yet) that we forget to look at what we have achieved (so far). So take a look back, and don’t hesitate to be proud of yourself! Be compassionate if you didn’t achieve as much as you wanted. Do you journal and/or record your practice and experiences? It’s a good way to keep track of your journey.

In the shakuhachi learning process, the journey is the goal. So continuing your shakuhachi journey in 2019 is already a goal! Which path would you like to follow or explore this year?
Defining your goal will help you to actually go in the direction you want and not become overwhelmed by all kinds of other things that will definitively come in your way in the coming months, with as consequences ending up the year with the feeling that you didn’t quite do what your good resolutions were. But keep an open heart and mind, new things coming along your road can open new areas of investigations!
So better not to plan too many things at the beginning of the year, in order to keep some space for the unexpected.  And  keep on regularly reflecting on your resolutions, checking your inner compass, and making some adjustments if necessary . This way is my good resolution for 2019!

Don’t hesitate to share your experience in the comments below.

My personal year review and goals voor 2019

Highlights 2018

The greatest highlight in 2018 was the performing and teaching of Fukuda Teruhisa, first in France and then in Holland. It was very very special and strong, and has been giving me inspiration since then, month after month.

Somehow, the experience of the WSF 2018 in London turns out to be one of the highlights of last year too. Teaching and performing with my former teacher Daniel Seisoku Lifermann was a rich experience that I am grateful for. It was also inspiring to listen to so many different performers and styles, and I grew in knowledge about the international shakuhachi community. Some contacts were established or reinforced there, which gives to this shakuhachi marathon more perspectives than that I first expected from this event.

One other strong moment of this year was the concert I gave in France in memory of my mother, for the 30th anniversary of her death. It marked the end of a long period of mourning, and I was very touched that so many family and friends traveled to share this moment with me, in the village where she grew up.

Goals 2019: Essentialism

My main resolution for 2019 remains quite the same as in 2018. Exploring relationship between shakuhachi and meditation, finding balance between teaching and performing, giving space to creativity, playing for people with dementia and listening to myself. Doing less but better, and being in harmony with my core values.

I will be working on a few exciting shakuhachi projects I will write about in the coming months, as they arise and develop.

In the meantime, Happy Blowing to all!