Weird Week

This week has been pretty hectic, and practicing has been hard. However, I got a little present on Saturday that might provide some more playing time. I sprained my big toe pretty badly at Aikido. I can't walk in a normal stride and I need to keep it elevated as much as possible while it heals. It will definitely slow me down, but it is a good motivation to practice more (both zazen and shakuhachi), plus I might get a bit caught up on some my computer based projects.

Here are some of the major things I have been trying to work on this week...

-meri notes
-scales using meri notes
-playing Hinomaru the moment I pick up the shakuhachi
-repeats, trills and flex drill in Kan
-meri notes in kan
-fingering scales smoothly ro Ro Otsu to Hi
-clapping out the rhythm and saying note names with songs

Sometimes I just tackles these things right away, since they are my biggest challenges at the moment. Other times I just follow my planned practice regime and address these things as they come up. Much of it has to do with time.

Also I am preparing to start working on playing shakuhachi as art practice for my Zen practice. This July I am going to be staying at Zen Mountain Monastery for a month, and I plan on using the shakuhachi as my art practice. I am limited in what I can do as a beginner, but in terms of art practice this is just more that I can work with.

Since Lent starts this Wednesday, I am going to use that as my platform for this. I like to do extra in Lent, rather than just giving things up (I do that too). If my reality resembles my plan even a little bit, I will be doing art practice at least 2 times a week.