I’ve explored many contercultural approaches to worklife.

One point life.
Minimalism.
Deep work.
Residencey.

They’ve lead me to a modality of work I’m exploring this semester. It is called Seasonality.

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Mediation is like practicing the violin, without the violin.

Suzuki Method is like practicing the violin, without the violin, with the violin.

Adapted from ‘Sparrow’s Guide to Meditation.’

In learning–mental, physical, spiritual, or otherwise– we have three levers to pull.

Environment.
Repetition.
Mental modeling.

For example, if I’m learning to surf I can learn by practicing surfing every day (repetitions), hanging out with surfers (environment), and studying the fundamental concepts of surfing (mental models).

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I feel hesitant talking about meditation. I’m glad self care, mindfulness, and mental health have entered our cultural consciousness. But I struggle to discuss meditation when it as seen in our culture only as a tool.

Meditation, for me, is tonalization.

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The effective student thinks of themselves as a teacher.
The effective teacher thinks of themselves as a teacher trainer.
The effective teacher trainer thinks of themselves as a thought leader.
The effective thought leader doesn’t think of themselves.

Since I built the studio I’ve experimented with the way students and I enter and exit.

At first, transitions were sluggish.

I needed to wash my hands but was getting jammed at the door.

Students were confused about when the lesson really began and parents would try to chit chat to fill the awkward silence before the bow.
At the end of the day I felt exhausted.

The teacher, especially in their own space, draws energy and has a magnetism of sorts. Parent and student defer their energy to the teacher.

If I stay in my teaching from one lesson to the next, and then the next my body never differentiates on/off. Furthermore, the student and parent don’t know what to do when they enter. Finally, they resist leaving because I remain inside.

I wondered what would happen if I directed the energy with my presence. This has yielded a beautiful result.

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During the Ithaca Suzuki Institute this year I had my second opportunity to present a parent talk on the philosophy and mechanics of listening.

One of my biggest frustrations today, in this era of technology and digital overwhelm, is that listening is easy or straightforward. The trouble is that most parents think it will be easy, so it is therefore given less attention and is actually challenging.

I named a couple reasons for our resistance to listening in this era.

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I wrapped up the Ithaca Suzuki Institute on Friday with a grand concert and a lovely faculty party that evening. Hosted by ITE and Ithaca College, the faculty and directors of the institute feel like family and friends. That being said, I want to enumerate some of the reasons I think any opportunity to teach at any institute is a healthy move for Suzuki teachers.

Before I go on, though, I should make it clear that I had little hope I would teach at an institute within the decade. It has been an absolute, if unexpected, privilege to join this faculty. I offer some suggestions below for cultivating your own institute experience if you have yet to receive an invitation to one.

With a circle of Suzuki teacher friends at the aforementioned party I made the following comparison. Week to week studio teaching feels like big wall rock climbing, like El Cap or Half Dome. In order to ascend a 2,000+ ft wall you put together a series of pitches, one after the other. Some people take hours to ascend, but others take days. Special hanging tents are manufactured so that rock climbers may camp out on the wall during multiple-day ascents. The objective is to get all the way to the top.

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I did not go to school for photography or videography– it’s just a side passion of mine.

Everything I learned you can learn, too. I would reccommend diving into the channels of the following video creators…

Workflow
Thomas Frank Video Production

Equipment
DSLR Video Shooter

Videography/Editing Technique
Peter McKinnon
Daniel Schiffer

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“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said, or did, they’ll remember how you made them feel.”

Amplify feeling.
Supercharge feeling.
Stretch the environment.
Untwist us.
Pull us apart.
Push us to places we didn’t know were possible.
We’re going beyond entertainment.
Beyond boredome.
Beyond.

How does it feel?