I heard many times that stopping to play didgeridoo for a while will benefit your playing later. I was really an investigator for two months to find out how and why is this true. I came to realization for my own mind/body and I would like to pass on the experience to others, who might benefit from it.
For the first time since I started to play, I had a break of playing didgeridoo for about two months. This was due to the heavy HOLP building schedule. These two months revealed to me what is behind the saying that no playing will benefit playing.
Didgeridoo playing is a thing of body and beyond
Simply put my body missed playing. I believe it refers to any body that has been exposed to more or even more of didgeridoo playing. The body missed the exercises, the walkabout, the fresh air and fantastic landscapes regular practice was giving to it. Beyond that, I was not really allowing myself to think. I am not prone to missing, but I would miss a lot more if I thought about it.
Didgeridoo playing is a gift we can be so grateful for
In those long days I yearned for any kind of playing. Instrument wasn’t important, technique, gear… I just wanted to be alone with the tube, see if the “old memories” were true…
Didgeridoo no-playing after long time asks for soft start
My body simply couldn’t cope with the old exercises, nor could even my mind. I wanted to enter slowly and carefully. Entering a home that has been empty for a long time asks for gentleness to awake the ghosts in a good way. So I started with really basic basics.
Didgeridoo playing for fun
Soon after we start we can stop if we put too many tasks in front of us. So I just continued to play whatever came to be played. Basically, I was allowing myself to have fun and to have fun was the highest priority expectation.
No skills without attention, intention and structure
The more I played for fun the more I started to realize that I will never reach my former level of playing just by having fun. Now I could decide not to go beyond, but the feeling was different. During playing, especially songs, I realized things don’t sound outside as I hear them from the inside, which was not the case before. So it is like a road trip I know. But instead of my usual car I got a prototype model of something like it, but 20 years older. And the mechanic bastards didn’t fill my tank, left me with half flat tires, the speed meter I dare not to look as it misses the second half, and I must close my eyes a little bit when I enter the curves…. So yes… I can enjoy the ride, as I do enjoy the ride, but with memory of the old rides, I want that! I resonate like that!
Didgeridoo no-playing conclusions
I don’t want that. Give me playing. It just helped me realize I don’t want to be without didgeridoo playing ever.
Very important appendix
The appendix hides a really big secret that is not a secret at all: the answer is again in this moment. I can start to play now, not in the future. I can put my attention to breathing now. Putting it into the moment when it happens improves my (or anybody’s) breathing deeply and drastically. Putting attention to my possible future breathing doesn’t change anything at all. So to be able to walk the longest way, the attention must be put to just this one step, just this one move of the foot that is happening at this moment. This way we can go on forever.