On practice - the art & science of yoga and jazz

The nature of practice

Some of you know my husband Geoff, the Maitri IT guy, and on the surface we might seem to be very different – me with yoga, swimming & camping, extrovert; him music, role-playing games, linguistics & science nerdery on youtube, introvert. But we speak the same language about how we approach life. 

This interview with brilliant jazz pianist Aaron Parks had us both absorbed. I recommend the first twenty minutes at least (and keep watching if you’re in any way interested in music – incredible musicianship). 

There were three main aspects with which we particularly gelled. 

In a response to a question about timing, Aaron talks about both (i) the feeling of it – to get the music dancing, not worrying about whether you’re “doing it right” AND (ii) setting constraints, like metronome exercises, which keep you honest. 

These are two ways to approach physical yoga practice that I work with. BOTH moving, experimenting and feeling into the poses AND setting constraints (props, a more fixed idea of pose shape) and then being creative within that. It’s never a binary choice, a zero sum game as social media posts would have it, people shouting their “it’s not this, it’s that” opinions at you. 

Patanjali yoga sutra II.46 ~ sthira sukham āsanam 

Asanas are firm, steady and grounded as well as pleasant, clear and spacious, and you can move between them with ease. 

There is room for, and a balance to be found with, both of those approaches. 

Later Aaron talks about the goal not being perfection, but practising until something Is just out of reach so there’s a motivation to go further. I think that’s something we experience in asana practice also - what is perfect ever going to look like anyway? What, in this moment, can we work on? Is there somewhere to breathe or let go? Or can we be with whatever shape it is and live in it? And then to know this and trust yourself. 

Finally, there is a discussion (about 13.40 minutes in) about the flow state, and to be really ‘in’ what you’re doing. He talks about the need not to aim for the flow state – as in, you can’t really! To me, that equates to not grasping, identified as aparigraha, one of the yamas (social ethical restraints) and to the sutra to practise without attachment to the outcome:

Patanjali yoga sutra I.12 ~ abhyāsa vairagya ābhyāṁ tan nirodhaḥ 

By consistent practice while renouncing the attachment to specific outcomes, the restless mind quietens.

Aaron, like many musicians I’m sure, uses mindfulness techniques right from the yoga playbook to bring himself back into his body and breath. Pay attention to the way the keys feel under your fingers, your left foot on the floor, and the inbreath / outbreath to pull you out of the mental traps and chatter. And importantly he talks about caring a little less about his individual performance i.e. letting go of the ego. Releasing the attachment to what you’re doing creates an opportunity for you to drop into the music as a whole – “remembering that playing solo is not playing into a vacuum but that you’re joining the silence – everything was fine before I started playing as well – I’m joining this party, whether or not there’s music happening!” 

Things are as they are and it’s already OK. Yoga is the practice of dropping into the true nature of being, releasing the ego and being part of the whole, incredible aliveness of the world. 

Does this speak to you? Do you have other parallels? I’d love to hear them.