Becoming The Instrument

When we hear music, we often experience how the physical flirts with the spiritual in profound and moving ways. But what we don’t realize is that this confluence is possible not just in music, but in life, and it’s easier than you think, says the founder and musical director of the Effortless Mastery Institute at the Berklee College of Music Kenny Werner in his new book, BECOMING THE INSTRUMENT: Lessons on Self-Mastery from Music to Life (Sweet Lo Press; January 2022).

Packed with profound insights and uplifting anecdotes from his 40 years of studying, performing and teaching music, BECOMING THE INSTRUMENT follows his landmark book that revolutionized how musicians approach their craft, Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, with a guide for accessing the spiritual in our everyday existence and applying it to the pursuits we love. Werner shows us how musicians, artists or even business people can allow their “master creator” within to lift their performance to its highest level, showing us how to be spontaneous, fearless, joyful and disciplined in our work and in our life.

Whatever you are trying to master, Werner says the key is learning how to slip into The Space, the place beyond the conscious mind that allows us to effortlessly embody whatever we are doing. Entering this sort of flow state may seem esoteric and difficult to achieve, but Werner has easy exercises that will allow you to access this and achieve mastery. As Werner points out: “Mastery is not perfection, or even virtuosity. It is giving oneself love, forgiving one’s mistakes, and not allowing earthly evidence to diminish one’s view of one’s self as a drop in the Ocean of Perfection,” Werner says. “And here is the good news: You don’t have to be a musician to have the experience!”