Health Report 98662

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good I thought.
Sat quietly, only a little coughing no trace of fever.

Than I read over the blog comments.
Thought I would pick up the flute and I had an end in mind.
I wanted to play "Kyorie" as a dedication of merit to one of the commenters.
That may seem like a silly thing to some but I think it is important.
As I write this I have not gotten past warming up.

To warm up I practice robuki or just blowing Ro.
A few breathes into it and my head was spinning.
I pressed and did more as I am want to do, something about training and conditioning and attacking through the objective.
This works really well sometimes when you are pushing for a breakthrough. In this case I just got more and more dizzy and am still spinning. And you know what? When I get my bearings back I think I am going to have another go at it.

New Batch of Pipes (6)

Took my time here with the rasp then the file than polished it off with some medium grit sand paper.
The Shakuhachi would work well as a drone (or no hole shakuhachi) at this point.

a New batch of pipes (5)

The "utaguchi" or song mouth it the challenging part. If I cut too much I have to get creative to save the tube. I go with a 25 degree angle. From the utaguchi on I work the flutes individually as time permits. I would really like to work with bamboo one day. The tools to work on bamboo are pretty prohibitively expensive though.


When ever I get a chance the next part I work on will be the chin rest. Some people cut off a bit for this but I am more inclined to use a rasp and then polish it off with a standard file.

a New batch of pipes (3)

A New batch of pipes (2)

A New batch of pipes (1)

Dust mask

Totally not blowing Zen is totally blowing Zen

I have been neglecting my Shakuhachi for a while. I played a bit after a funeral two weeks ago but other than that I seemed to have fallen into that winter Shakuhachi lull that seems to happen every year that I usually don't break out of until spring.

Today I made an exception, may be I am just inspired by the book I am reading called Blowing Zen by Ray Brooks.

At any rate I managed to do get in a few moments of RoBuki before I was attacked by the wife and kids wanting to know "What to do today?"

During those precious moments I was so very aware of how important just blowing Ro is. I also saw why ZaZen is so much easier for me than Robuki. There are soooooooooooo many things going on in RoBuki that require both attention and non-attention at the same time that today I found myself kind of just blown away by the observation. For example if I am thinking of my neck my back tenses up, If I am thinking of my pitch my pitch is to low. I noticed my unhelpful habits like using the fingertips instead of the finger pads etc, etc. RELAX! Just be Ro!!!

All of this and so much more from just ten minuets of Ro. What an important practice. I wonder if I will do that again?

NEXT REVOLUTION, JUST LIKE LAST REVOLUTION

No, not "Just Like" but there are similarities.

Only this time it is three years of sobriety!

My intentions from last year:

For this revolution around the sun I intend to be credit debt free.
Failed! I was credit debit free for a couple of months, but I have taken on a new car payment. I am still able to pay off the cards month to month, so that is doing better, but it is tenuous at best.
This year? It is not realistic to think I will pay off the minivan this year, or for the next few years, but I intend to not to let the cards gain interest.
I've also begun an additional rainy day account for retirement with the intention of having funds set aside enough to cover two mortgage payments after retirement, not enough to survive off of right now, but I am diverting the balance of the annual Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) cost of living adjustment(about 3% of the BAH) to go to this account, and intend to do that for the rest of this career. It still wont be "Enough", but is it ever?

Return to regular shakuhachi practice.
Fail! I did well for a while then dropped off in the fall about the same time as last year.
This year? I will make this resolution again.

Get in a few more Shakuhachi lessons.
This did not happen.
This year? It is a luxury that is out of reach right now.

Cling less and let go more.
I am clinging less to clinging less and have let go of letting go more.
For this year I will seek to inhibit the negative chatter that can foul my brain housing unit from time to time by way of analysis and contemplation.


May this next revolution find you all well and happy
Jordan

Struggling

This flute tells me how
I reject these winter days
Keep your head up, Breathe.

Some Thing From "Samurai Dave""

Original Face

Not mine, but still pretty cool.

More on sound

Hear that?
Out of practice.
Note to self, more ロ.

Ro Buki

Watazumi Dozo Roshi said something like

"He who practices ten minuets of blowing Ro a day will become a master."

It is a practice I have not engaged in for a while. Until just a few minuets ago.
I quickly remembered why I neglected it for so long. It is not as pleasant as just staring at the wall.
I am thinking that I will be adding it to my practice regimen again though.
If nothing else it seems to be a useful cardio exercise. And it looks like I may be able to resume lessons again in a few months so I feel a need to step up my practice.

Anyway, I got dizzy doing it today. I think it is a good work out.

Hot Bamboo Breath

Here is a non Koan: If it is hot out do I still need to warm up? YES!

First three songs

Some of you may recognise these from waaaaaaay back.
Ok not that way back, it has been just shy of 2 years that I first learned to play Hinomaru.
Hannah was still shorter than a doorknob then!

Be well, be happy!
Jordan

Ode to de Zafu

Is that me or is there a mouse in my flute?

Ok, I should probably go back to some basics.
Next post may be a fingering exercise for the basic five notes, Sure to bore!

Paces

I think I am in love... she is a little finicky on breath control, and keeps telling me to bring my chin up for pitch (just like my teacher...). But thats ok!

KyoSuzu?

Suizen