The elephant in the room, the existential quandary as it were, is what to make of different meditative states. Mindfulness meditation prompts its practitioners to dwell in the continuous present, gently observing their thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations with curiosity, devoid of judgment or preconception. This is the state that most musicians aspire to when playing music. For both meditation and playing music, this means that the brain needs to deactivate circuits associated with self-consciousness and with judgment—the finger-wagging schoolteacher in your brain that is saying “that’s
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