I love India, and I love being here at the ashram, where everyone (thousands of people from all over the world!) is interested in personal development, on some level or another.

There are constant lessons to absorb and work on… and everything applies to both life and music, since everything is connected.

Even “simple” things take longer here, and have unexpected complications, which can make a task take days (or weeks!) instead of hours.

For example, I arrived on January 6th and I'm still working on making sure my internet connection is up to speed to teach my zoom classes in a couple weeks. This is now the third week I'm working on this, and I'm not sure the issue is solved yet…

In addition to my T-Mobile hotspot, I now have a dongle (a little portable router-thingamajig), and an eSIM on my iPad. None of these is stellar, but I'm running a test class on zoom with some of my students this evening, to see if it will work.

It also took me three days to be able to access funds through my credit card to pay for an Ayurvedic treatment I'm starting this week (thank goodness one of my cards finally worked – this was quite stressful)!

And my little room is on the fifth floor, without an elevator, and no furniture beyond a bunk bed.

Today, I bought a little wooden table (quite heavy) and lugged it all the way up. No matter how well I plan my outings, I end up doing multiple trips up and down those stairs, and it is HOT and HUMID, so I'm taking multiple cold showers (there's no hot water – not that I'd want it anyway, except in the morning)… and getting LOTS of enforced exercise!!

What does this have to do with music? Well, everything.

For starters…. if you need things to happen, and you need them to happen the way you want them to NOW, you're in trouble. Your practicing will suffer, you'll get frustrated when things don't work immediately the way you want them to, and you'll rush.

One more thing that is required here: knowing how to relax and muster the courage and confidence to move forward and deal with things, one thing at a time. What an important lesson for human beings and musicians!

I'm one of thousands in a sea of faces here. I know just a few people that I see occasionally, but so many of the people here are smiling and helpful, just because.

And when things don't work for days and you're hot, it requires lots of humility, patience, and COURAGE to smile and choose to be happy, no matter what!

I am so lucky to be here. So incredibly fortunate. And so grateful!

More reflections to come, as I find the time! (And as my internet is working well enough for posting, thankfully!)

Picture: This is from across the river. Photos aren't allowed within the ashram.