Dear Deana,
I can fully appreciate and agree with your assessment of the connection
between shak and pranayama. It's wonderful, isn't it! That is one of
the factors that drew me to shakuhachi. As a kriyban (kriya yoga) I was
already familiar with the connection between the breath and prana (chi
for the zen/chan oriented). And my initial extended efforts to blow shak
proved that fact to me. After several hours of deep, inner focused
blowing, my PVC shak finally broke forth into a deep vibrant tone as
simultaneously a jolt of prana shot up my spine.
The flute may be one of the most "spiritualized" musical instruments as
a result of this breath/prana connection. When one plays the shak he is
literaly pouring his soul into the sound. Lord Krishna, in Hindu
mythology, is often shown playing the bamboo flute (transverse - not a
shak). On this flute he plays an eternal song of divine joy that all who
hear may be awakened from their sleep of material delusion.
Cheers,
Brian
Deana Dearry wrote:
>
> I am so pleased to learn about this workshop! Thank you to those
> of you who included the information here. Since there haven't
> been many replies to the topic - and I don't remember reading
> anything about this before - I would like to take this opportunity
> to ask some of you to weigh in on the subject. You see, Mary
> Lu's articles "The Bamboo Way" and "Playing Honkyoku, Praying
> Honkyoku" have been a very important part of my experience. I
> have not been on the Shakuhachi path very long and I also do
> not live in an area where there is a teacher to accompany me
> on my way. To complicate things even further, when the flute
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