The Strange Case of Mrs. G

I was concerned as I regarded the person whom I thought would be the most problematic student of my five-day Harmonica-Based Mindfulness workshop: Ms. G., a seventy-something woman with a British accent. It was Sunday night, halfway through our first session. I’d already introduced myself, and described what I might call my “lineage” (Stephen and Ondrea Levine for compassion work, Jack Kornfield for Vipassana instruction and Kalyana Mitra/Buddhist Psychotherapy sessions; Sonny Terry, his nephew J.C. Burris, and Big Walter Horton for harmonica instruction; and the late, great Paul Butterfield for instruction in how not to be a bluesman).

Then, after each member of the group introduced themselves, discussed their individual goals and issues, and a few minutes of basic instruction, I had the entire group disperse widely throughout the large room and practice doing a breath-synchronized super simple “HarMantra™” (a relaxing, repetitive sequence of in and out breaths on certain chords of the harmonica) along with some rhythm n’ blues background music.

Since everyone was now playing the same thing at the same time—and physically separate from each other—I could approach each student closely to watch, listen, and begin to assess their individual capabilities: mental, physical, respirational, emotional. Watching someone do something that is new and strange is a great way to learn about them, on many different levels.



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