Re: Simple loop-based meditation for children

[Douglas Baldwin <coyotelk@optonline.net>]

> Douglas:
>
> You kept the tempo in your mind and watched the LED. What was the reason
> that you did that? Seems like it would have been easier to wait till the
> meditation was to begin and then start.  Wouldn't you be in danger of
losing
> tempo?

Thanks for your inquiry. The Headrush LED flashes only once per loop/delay
(no subdivisions thereof, and no clicks or other subdivisional cues). In my
instance, I was prepared to play a pattern that lasted 16 beats, one beat
per second, for a total delay length of 16 seconds. The musical pattern
consisted of clearly defined note attacks, initially of half- and
quarter-note values. One LED flash every 16 seconds is pretty tough to just
start into and subdivide into 16 one-second beats by feel, and I did NOT
want a loud footswitch click after 16 beats into the meditation, nor did I
want any unintentional speeding-up to occur in that 16-beat cycle, so I was
not about to just begin playing and define the loop/delay length in one
16-beat cycle. And to set the mood and minimize attention to myself, I
wanted no playing or audio of any kind in the fifteen minutes or so prior 
to
the meditation proper. During this 15 minute interval, my wife was talking
with the class of children about their personal anxieties, how those
anxieties feel in their bodies, and how they can create a safe internal
space to deal with those anxieties. I wished to sit quietly as she gave 
this
talk.
    Just before her talk began, I repetitively "audio-ized" the music in my
mind, then tapped the "length" footswitch to create one complete cycle of
the sixteen-beat pattern. My guitar was in tune and the volume was set to
zero. My "meditation," as it were, was to watch the LED flashing once every
16 seconds, and hold within myself the 60 beat-per-second tempo, 
continually
fine-tuning the feel of my internal rhythm to match the LED flashes. I was
repetitively counting "ONE-two-three-four, Two-two-three-four,
Three-two-three-four, Four-two-three-four," being sure that the next ONE I
counted in my mind would be in sync with the flash of the LED. When the
meditation proper began, I was totally settled into the groove, able to 
play
the canonic music in strict tempo without any other external reference.
    Again, thanks for the inquiry. I hadn't verbalized this process before,
and now I have.
Douglas Baldwin, coyote-at-large
coyotelk@optonline.net