Since my good resolutions 2016 (which remain in 2017), I try to make a routine out of my practice. My ideal session consists of a part dedicated to meditation, a part dedicated to music, and a final relaxation. It goes like this:

• Meditation (good resolutions #1-2-3-5-6-7-8)
  • meditation breathing exercises, breathing in and out through the mouth
  • ten minutes or more “ro-buki” meditation
  • other meditation exercises / preludes
• Practice
  • sound and technical exercises
  • pieces practice: in preparation to a lesson, a concert, to learn new pieces or review old ones.
• Relaxation
  • a few minutes of silent meditation, breathing quietly through the nose, feeling and relaxing the tensions in the body, listening back to the last sound I played and remembering my first sound at the beginning of the session.

The last part is quite new, and because it’s new, it’s difficult. It is a new ritual to develop (good resolution #6), but I think it’s physically and mentally important. We musicians tend to care not enough about our body. Music is much physical that people think.
When I go for a session of more than an hour, I do this relaxation part as a break after maximum one hour of practice, to relax the body and refresh the mind.

When I manage to do the entire session following these rules, I have the feeling of something complete.

 “The music begins in the silence before and ends in the silence after.”

I’d be happy to hear how you practice?