Mindful Tuesdays for Musicians
Monthly online sessions
Calling all musicians! Come together on Mindful Tuesdays to relax and find calm, inspiration and new perspectives with mindfulness practice. Monthly online drop-in sessions include guided meditations, input on mindfulness, and time for musicians to connect and share their questions and experiences.
Would you like to
- learn more about mindfulness?
- explore how mindfulness can benefit your creativity, performing, practising, teaching and composing?
- get support for your meditation and deepen your practice?
- meet other mindful musicians from around the globe?
We’d love you to join us! Musicians with or without previous experience in mindfulness practice are welcome.
I’ve been back every time. I used to think of myself as not very creative, but through Susanne’s sessions I’ve started to see that I have everything I need inside me – there are methods through which you can bring out what’s inside you and share it. These sessions are nourishing, inspiring, educational.
S.S., San Francisco, USA
Dates & time: Second Tuesday of each month, 7.30-9pm UK time / 8.30-10pm European time / 11.30am-1pm US Pacific time / 2.30-4pm US Eastern time (please double check non UK time zones)
Fee: Donation – suggested contribution £5-10 (feel free to pay less, or feel free to pay more to help grow this work)
Booking & information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/166297043935
Music & Mindfulness
Connecting with the Earth
Monthly online sessions
With Susanne Olbrich and Joe Holtaway
“Breathing in, I come home to the Earth – breathing out, I’m in love with the Earth.” Thich Nhat Hanh
In these two sessions we explore and strengthen our connection with the Earth through sound, music and mindfulness. We are part of the Earth, and the Earth is part of us. As we deepen the awareness of our interbeing through the body, listening and creativity, there will be space to relax and be playful, to become grounded and present. Everyone is welcome to join, whether you have a musical background or not. Susanne and Joe will guide the sessions with songs and meditations, music-making and reflections.
Joanna Macy said: “If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear. People who can open to the earth that called us into being.”
Join us as we give voice to this love for life through words and music, exploring together what it means to be human in this time.
Everyone with or without musical background will be able to join in and benefit.
Bring the instruments you have, including drums, shakers and small percussion of any kind…
Facilitators: Susanne Olbrich and Joe Holtaway
Dates & time: Mondays 15 November & 6 December, 7-9pm (feel free to come for one or both sessions)
Fee: Four levels of pricing are available: £5 / 10 / 15 / 20 (plus Eventbrite booking fee) – please choose a price that’s right for you. Our wish for this session is to be accessible for everyone regardless of financial circumstances. If you need a further reduction in order to take part please contact us.
Booking & information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/189152910447
Mindfulness for Musicians
8-week online course
Spring 2022
Building simply and surely from week to week, Susanne wove a tapestry of community, authenticity and listening from the threads of our reflections, our musical offerings, and even our silence. I left the course kinder to myself, strengthened in my identity as a musician, slowed down in every good way, and deeply grateful for her skill, scholarship and honesty.
Jeannie P., North Haven, CT, USA
This course explores ways in which mindfulness can benefit your musical activities. It supports you in cultivating mental and emotional wellbeing and will equip you to deal more effectively with stress, anxiety and other challenges.
Mindfulness practice has plenty to offer musicians. If you engage with it regularly, mindfulness can help you to
- develop inner clarity, focus and presence,
- (re)connect with aliveness and creativity,
- deepen your emotional resilience to deal more effectively with stress, anxiety and other challenges, and
- prevent instrument-specific strains, support technical development and expression through deepening awareness of the body.
This is a course for musicians who are looking for an introduction to mindfulness practice, or who have practised mindfulness before and wish to take their next steps. You will learn key principles and a range of practices to help you bring mindfulness into your daily life.
Practices include Sound meditation, Body scan, Breathing meditation, Walking meditation and Mindful movements, among others. Themes to be covered include: Grounding Through Body and Breathing; Being Present in Life and Musical Activities; Being with Difficult Experiences; Acceptance and Self-Compassion; The Art of Living Mindfully.
Each week you will receive a section of the e-manual and a recorded meditation for your daily practice. You will need a minimum commitment of 15-30 minutes of your time on 6 days per week.
Dates & time: A new course will start in spring 2022. Please contact me to register your interest.
Cost: Three levels of pricing are available: £125 / £145 / £165 (plus Eventbrite booking fee) – please choose a price according to your circumstances. This includes a detailed e-manual, weekly recorded meditations and e-mail support as needed. I would like this course to be accessible to everyone. For payment options, or for a further reduction, please contact me to discuss.
Publication: Dare to Create!
Susanne’s chapter “Dare to Create! Meditation, Insight and Creative Practices in Music” is part of an inspiring collection of true stories – stories of journeys that changed lives. Taking inspiration from the mythical hero’s journey, the book presents applications of mindfulness practice in a broad range of settings. These include education, health care, business, sports, creative arts and communities. Authors link their personal journeys as mindfulness practitioners with the latest research, telling captivating stories of sharing mindfulness practice with people of all ages and walks of life.
For a free download of Susanne’s chapter, please contact her.
Price: eBook £9.75 (worldwide), paperback £24.75 including p&p (UK only). All proceeds go to the Everyone Project, helping fund mindfulness courses to groups who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them, for financial or other reasons.
Available here: Please email Vin Harris, .