Tag Archives: Blowing zen meditation

Shakuhachi practice

From the Heart

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On March 2, 2025, I’ll be giving a free online workshop organised by the European Shakuhachi Society. Click here for information and registration.

If you are interested, please register even if you cannot attend the event live. You’ll get the teaching material and a link to watch it back afterwards.

From the Heart

The theme of the workshop is From the Heart. I’ll be teaching Nyoi Chōshi, which is a short prelude to a longer piece, Nyoi, composed by Miyakawa Nyozan at the end of the 19th century.

The level is beginner/elementary but the workshop will also be interesting for more advanced students. Going back to the basics is always good!

Playing a simple piece allows for more precision to pitch, ornementation, phrasing, tone quality, etc. The beginners’ version will allow participants to learn the main line and enjoy its simplicity (simple doesn’t mean easy!).

We will also work to embody the piece so that you can make it your own.

You learn honkyoku from notation but you play it from the heart.

Continue reading From the Heart →
Meditation, Shakuhachi inspiration, Spirituality

“Why the Shakuhachi matters in a divided World”

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Happy and Healthy 2025!

I’m glad to share another inspiring post about shakuhachi written by the “Komuso Khronicles“: “The Shakuhachi: A tool for Interconnectedness Beyond Words, part 2” (see the original post down below).

A few reflections after reading the post

We cannot be reminded enough to stay connected to the essence of the shakuhachi. Whether it is during a public performance or a lesson with your teacher, what does really matter?
Your competitive mind, your ego, wants you to prove yourself. To prove yourself to yourself. To impress others and get external validation. To be good enough. To be the best.

The technical control on the flute is the way to express yourself the more accurately possible. It is a tool, not a goal.
Your sincere shakuhachi playing, the sounds you dare to share with the world, this is what matters. Breathe.

“Its sound bypasses the intellect and speaks directly to the heart, creating a space where differences dissolve, and unity prevails.”

What if you saw the shakuhachi as a bridge?

“A bridge between individuals, between the self and the universe, and between the personal and the universal. “

What if you saw the shakuhachi as a manifestation of impermanence?

Each note arises, resonates, and fades away, reflecting the impermanence of all things.

What if you saw what you’re experiencing while playing, performing, learning, practicing, breathing, as a tool to grow in your life?

The shakuhachi aligns with the personal dharma (duty or path) of self-discipline and growth. Learning to play it requires patience, focus, and humility, cultivating virtues that bring harmony to one’s life. Additionally, sharing its music can foster connections and peace within a community.

What if you saw the shakuhachi, however humble its international influence, as a profound and universal tool of interconnection?

Playing or listening to it can evoke a sense of unity with the cosmos, serving as a meditative practice that transcends individual ego and dualistic thinking.

“Why the Shakuhachi matters in a divided World?” Continue reading!

Continue reading “Why the Shakuhachi matters in a divided World” →
Meditation, Spirituality

Shoshikan meditation practice and Shakuhachi

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I’m reposting here an inspiring blogpost about the Shoshikan meditation practice from the blog “Komuso Khronicles” written by the Komuso monk Fuu. As mentioned at the beginning of the post:

Shoshikan (初心観), also known as “observation of the beginner’s mind,” is a Zen meditation practice that emphasizes maintaining a sense of curiosity, openness, and acceptance, free from preconceived notions or biases.

At every stage of your shakuhachi journey, it is essential to stay in touch with your beginner’s mind (curiosity, openness, acceptance, creativity, wonder, etc.). I sometimes see in my students the beginner’s enthusiasm fade when faced with the technical difficulties of the flute. Developing a non-judgemental attitude based on self-observation helps you navigate the ups and downs of the journey.

The article covers several important aspects of shakuhachi playing: Breath and Awareness, Tone Quality, Physical and Mental Posture, Unity of Breath-Body-Instrument, Self-Discovery and Connection to Nature, as well as a comparison between Shoshikan 照思観 and Suizen (吹禅 – Blowing zen)

Happy reading! Feel free to leave a comment and to subscribe to the Komuso Khronicles!

Beyond Blowing…
Shakuhachi inspiration

Shakuhachi Pilgrimage in Japan – Part 2 – Nature

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It was very important to me to play in nature during my trip to Japan. There is so much inspiration from nature in traditional honkyoku (solo music for shakuhachi) and in general in Japanese arts and culture, that reading about it was not enough, I wanted to experience it.

I had selected a few places I absolutely wanted to go to: mountains, bamboo forests, waterfalls. I practiced several pieces I wanted to play there. Playing in nature means obviously playing by heart.

Improvisation was not my goal, as I wanted to experience the connection between specific honkyoku and its environment.

And May was a fantastic month to listen to birds as well!

My short trip of 16 days was way too short to cover all that I wanted to discover, but the experience was very strong and I took back lots of inspiration.

Whenever, wherever, I play those pieces now, there is some of the memory of the Japanese nature in them.

Here are the highlights of my trip.

Continue reading Shakuhachi Pilgrimage in Japan – Part 2 – Nature →
Shakuhachi inspiration

Shakuhachi Pilgrimage in Japan 2023 – PART 1

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Inspiration

I’d been preparing this trip for months, almost for years. I had dreamt it, imagined, looked up, planed, prepared, organised, booked…

As a result, it went beyond expectations.

The three main aspects of this shakuhachi trip were:
1. Study: studying with my master Fukuda Teruhisa in Tokyo and getting my Dai Shihan diploma (Grand Master)
2. Nature: walking and playing in nature on my own
3. Spirituality: going to different important places for Buddhism and meeting Komuso monks in Nara.

There is so much to say about it that I don’t know where to start!

By the beginning I guess, which is INSPIRATION.

So let’s take a deep breath in together…

Continue reading Shakuhachi Pilgrimage in Japan 2023 – PART 1 →
Daily life

The Benefits of Shakuhachi on Stress

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Stress and Shakuhachi – Part 4

Deep breathing

Whenever I give live online meditation sessions on the meditation app Insight Timer, I invite the participants to practice deep breathing meditation with me. I often tell them that if they practice regularly in a safe situation like at home or during the sessions, they will create a habit, a power they can tap in whenever they find themselves in a more challenging situation.
The day after my last live session in February and the following weeks, I could experience how right I was!

How can shakuhachi help to go through stressful situations?

Continue reading The Benefits of Shakuhachi on Stress →
Shakuhachi inspiration

A Shakuhachi Trip to Japan!

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Happy 2023 and Happy New Year of the Rabbit!

Hope you’re having a good start of the New Year. Did you make good resolutions? Do you have a new motto?

My motto for this year is one I took from the online yoga teacher Kassandra Reinhardt, whose videos I’m practicing daily.

🎶 I’m worthy of good things 🎉

Joy, Shakuhachi music in tree pose.

So what is my big project for 2023?

Continue reading A Shakuhachi Trip to Japan! →
Shakuhachi inspiration, Shakuhachi practice

Shakuhachi Blog – 6 years!!

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Since I started this blog 6 years ago, I’ve published more than 150 posts and pages … only about the Japanese Bamboo flute shakuhachi! Which is not really a popular topic according to Google trends, algorithms and all the bunch of digital numbers rating our lives. But this is my life journey with my shakuhachi flute and I’m happy to share it. I’m even more happy if it inspires others – shakuhachi players, flutists, musicians, non-musicians, anyone.

So what happened on my blog in 2022, according to the analytics? What did you, readers, read and like most? Which of my posts written in 2022 became the most popular?

Continue reading Shakuhachi Blog – 6 years!! →
Shakuhachi Performance

Online Shakuhachi Performances

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The Covid-19 pandemic has initiated new activities in my life as a professional shakuhachi player, which is to perform online. I had some resistance at the beginning of the pandemic and it took me time to surrender to the situation… and start performing online.

And now, I’m really liking it. It is very different from physical performances of course and I do miss the direct interaction with the audience, but it feels special to be connected at the same time to people sitting in different places in the world. And there is sometimes even a more personal interaction with the audience through the chat than during a real concert.

This keeps me going. I’m not waiting anymore for the “old situation” to come back, I don’t believe it ever will. So I’m building up with what is possible for me here and now.

So I’m very happy to announce my next online performances!

Continue reading Online Shakuhachi Performances →
Meditation, Spirituality

Online Meditations 2022

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Did you know that my weekly online meditations, which I started in May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic with the purpose of staying connected and blowing together for better health in the world, are still going on?

Every week on Wednesday, we blow shakuhachi and meditate together for 20 to 30 minutes on Zoom (10 to 15 minutes Chakra Meditation and 10 minutes RO-buki.).

During the sessions, the focus goes inwards. You connect to your body, to your inner peace through your breathing and blow with full awareness what your heart tells you (solidarity with the world’s sufferings, healing, compassion, love, emptiness, silence,…), uniting your sounds and efforts with those of the other participants. 

“A group of people coming together in a state of presence generate a collective energy field of great intensity.”
(Eckhart Tolle)

UPDATE JUNE 2023

After more than three years, the Online Meditations have reached their end. It is no longer possible to join.

If you are interested to meditate with me, please join my Virtual Shakuhachi Dojo on Patreon or follow me on Insight Timer.

Support to the blog is still welcome!

I SUPPORT SHAKUHACHI MEDITATION
Continue reading Online Meditations 2022 →