Each can tell a Story. 
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Let’s look at what I mean:  

​Have you ever waited in an airport and noticed how certain people walked? You have the guy holding nothing but his jacket and casually walking along. There’s the family grouped together, kids walking faster to keep up, but also have a bounce in their steps. Or you catch the lady running quickly in one direction, in which she probably wants to catch her gate.

Imagine the airport scene and what words come to mind that the three characters are “saying”? 
Guy with coat = ?
Family & kids = ?
​Lady running past you = ? 

Guy with coat = relaxed and cool. 
Family & kids = excited and happy! 
Lady running past you = stressed and in a hurry! 

How you walk on stage and present yourself tells a lot to the audience. Body language is something to be aware of. I remind my students to walk with a purpose, to show to everyone they’re ready to share what they’ve learned. How you begin a piece also sends a message. Have you thought about the time between when you sit down at the piano to right before you play the first note? 

Here’s another scenario to consider. Which person seems like they’d give a good performance? 
1.) Student A who slowly shuffles on stage, plops down on the bench, and then suddenly starts playing, or 
2.) Student B who walks calmly to the piano, bows, adjusts the bench, waits a bit, then begins to play? 

In my experience, I’ve seen both types of students perform and they’ve each left an impression. 
To communicate a confident stage presence (and let the audience know you’re ready to play) give yourself time to focus. Greeting the audience with a bow and/or smile helps. When sitting down, you have the chance to breathe deeply, think about first line of music in your head, set the tempo, and start when you’re ready. Don’t let the silence make you uncomfortable. It’s beginning when you’re focused and not when the silence (or expecting listeners) “want” you to!  

Since this post is about being mindful of your body, I’d say Student B would give the audience time to think to themselves, “I wonder what s/he’s going to do and what we’ll hear…?!” Student A gives off a vibe of “I guess I’ll go ahead and play...and after sitting down, their body says “Quick! Let’s get this over with…!?”

During one audition while waiting to play, a violinist began her piece, along with her accompanist. Then she started to sway side to side, moving her weight from leg to leg. All of a sudden she burst into tears, crying, and said, “I can’t do this!!!” and quickly ran out of the room with her instrument in hand. 

Sadly, even though it’s so many years later, what do I remember most? It wasn’t what piece she played, missed notes, or that she was visibly nervous. What still makes me uncomfortable is remembering she abruptly stopped mid playing and her unhappiness caused her to leave the room in such a dramatic way.
 
Be mindful of how you present yourself to an audience, even if you know things aren’t going so well, because they will feel it too!

What do you look or feel like when you’re feeling confident? How do you play when you don’t feel well? What pieces or songs spark your imagination? What words, descriptions, or feelings come to mind when you think of “Mindfulness,” Mindset,” or “Imagination?”
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Leave comments below and let me know if you’ve found any of these posts useful!

Additional reading and resources:
Mental Imaging for musicians.
The Complete Guide to Visualization for Logical and Rational People by Melody Wilding
Body Awareness and Playing Technique: Musicians and the Alexander Technique
Body Mapping - How Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique Will Improve Your Playing by David Nesmith
Pianist’s Injuries: Movement Retraining is the Key to Recovery by Thomas Mark
The Taubman Approach-The Golandsky Institute

Mindfulness, Mindset & Imagination Series

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Usually, when someone new finds out I’m a musician/piano teacher, their initial reaction is surprise with a smile, “That’s so cool!” immediately followed by phrases like:

• “I wish I could play the piano [an instrument]! I could never do what you do!”
• “I don’t have any musical talent at all...”
• “I wish I didn’t quit piano as a kid” or “My parents made me take piano lessons and I didn’t like them...and now I wish I kept going”

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In lessons after a certain point, students eventually tell me:
“This piece looks hard!” or “I’m not so sure how to do this...”
The younger ones creatively express their uneasiness with a grunt, shaking their head, or a tongue stuck out in frustration while they play through new material..

When the idea of writing a blog came up, I had my own reservations, too. Stories I told myself:

• It seems lots of people have blogs, so who would want to read mine?
• If I were to write a blog, what would I write about? Would it be interesting enough?
• Seth Godin told me this was a good idea, so I guess I should give it a go…?
• It’s hard for me to condense my thoughts into something short. I wonder why people don’t like to read so much these days...
• I wonder who is going to read this...who’s my audience? What am I trying to say?
• Blogging takes time...this’ll be another thing to add to my schedule...

Those I spoke with already felt that learning piano is really difficult and they could “never” do what I do. Some still feel the sting of having ‘given up’ and believe it’s too late to even consider learning again. Some students have already decided the page looks “too hard” when they haven’t even played a note.  

For myself, I’ve accepted I’m an overthinker (more on that next time), so this process of mentally going back and forth about writing lasted almost a week. I’m great at thinking up all possibilities, imagining the good, “bad,” and “what-if’s” scenarios. However, while I’m a great “idea machine,” what I tend to overlook is: Actually doing the things that I keep thinking and talking to myself about?! With indecision nagging at my brain I finally changed my attitude from, “A Blog? Why? Who will care?” to “I’ll try this and see what happens...” leaving the outcome open rather than expecting failure before I start.

Be aware of what content and people you surround yourself with. From our phones, social media, 24/7 news, family, & friends, it’s likely your mind is pulled in different directions. Your health (get enough sleep?), the food you eat (how do you feel after having caffeine?), to media (are you done scrolling yet?) are only a few things that can help or hinder how you function. There’s a mix of everything, so I suggest focusing more on the good. Look to personal role models, musicians, motivational books, friends, other students going after similar goals, or advice to nudge you into a better head space. Realistically, we can't always choose who we're with or what obligations we must do every second of the day; so consider your environment and respectfully communicate your needs when working through an important  project.​
Two good friends and I agreed to have monthly check in’s to update each other about our lives and professional goals; this new accountability system has been both helpful and inspiring for me.