In my last post, we looked at the brain’s response to stress and the importance of understanding stress not only as a “feeling” thing but also, a “thinking” thing. The effects of stress can negatively impact our short-term memory and our ability to manage the details of our professional and personal worlds and can have […]
Self Care
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Uncomfortable Update
“An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.” George Bernard Shaw WARNING: Could be a trigger for some. I met Sarah* a few years ago at a choral conference. She was a regular Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics reader and knew I would be at this conference. She wanted to meet me in person […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Why Choral Ethics?
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” Voltaire I became a regular blogger here at ChoralNet in the Fall of 2015, so it’s a few weeks more than seven years I’ve been writing this blog. Before that, I contributed about ten blog posts in 2014/early 2015 as a Guest Blogger […]
The Conductor as Yogi: This Is Your Brain on Stress
One of the most common reasons people come to a yoga class is to de-stress. Stress is at the center of our modern lifestyles, so engaging in the physical practice of yoga, as well as the meditation, mindfulness, and breathing that are built into the eight-limbed yoga practice, go a long way to helping us […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Overwhelmed
“Sometimes when you’re overwhelmed by a situation – when you’re in the darkest of darkness – that’s when your priorities are reordered.” Phoebe Snow Sometimes I search for the epigraph for my ChoralEthics blogs before I write them and other times, after. I usually know exactly what, or whose, quote I want but many times […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Letting Go
“Letting go” is hardly a surprising topic for a yoga blog. But for the conductor? Now there’s an interesting exploration. Letting go is central to yoga and other wisdom practices. We sit on the mat and focus on our breathing, letting go with each exhale. We consider the words of poets and sages, of scripture […]