The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 196 Jalayne Mitchell: Classical Wellness

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

In this episode, I'm joined by Jalayne Mitchell, founder of Classical Wellness, to discuss key issues surrounding mental health in the music industry. Our conversation covers a range of topics including: The impact of trauma on musicians. Holistic approaches to music careers. Managing self-doubt. The importance of setting healthy boundaries. Business insights and self-discovery in music.   Book your FREE Music Mastery Experience Discovery call with Renée HERE Download the transcript from this episode HERE     MORE ABOUT JALAYNE MITCHELL AND CLASSICAL WELLNESS Website: https://www.classical-wellness.com/ The Musicians' Wellness Symposium: https://www.classical-wellness.com/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classicalwellness/   Mind Over Finger Click www.mindoverfinger.com/coaching to book your free consultation with me. Visit MindOverFinger.com for my online courses as well as free resources on peak performance. Connect: https://www.youtube.com/@MindOverFinger https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfinger https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/     THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme:  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson.

You're listening to the Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 196. Welcome to the Mind Over Finger Podcast, where we dive into the world of mindful music making, peak performance, and crafting a purpose-driven life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide unlocking your full potential, Dr. Ranipo Gautier. Hi, everyone. I hope this episode finds you having a fantastic day. I'm very excited about today's guest. I bring you the brilliant mind and the thoughtful soul behind classical wellness, Delaine Mitchell. I've been wanting to speak with her for a long time, and we made it happen. So this is so fun for me,

and I think you're really going to resonate with what she shares and you're going to enjoy our conversation. Jelaine is a cellist from Seattle, currently pursuing a graduate degree at Rice University, and she's the founder of Classical Wellness, a brand that promotes mental health and wellness in the classical community. She created Classical Wellness to offer musicians a space where they can integrate more mental wellness into their lives

so they can do the work that is required of them without sacrificing their basic needs. We all need that, right? In our discussion, we talked about trauma and mental health in the music industry, a more holistic approach to a career in music, the concept of self-doubt and the importance of managing it, setting healthy boundaries for ourselves. Jelaine shared insights on business and self-discovery in music, and so much more. you're in for quite a treat and before I bring her in I'm curious are you feeling stuck as if

you're going through the motions without making real progress do you want to perhaps win an audition perform optimally time after time grow your career make more money experience confidence or maybe you want to unlock the secrets to have fun practicing and enjoy performing and you've put in all the efforts but you're not seeing the results maybe you've hit a career plateau and you're unsure how to advance towards your dream job and what about auditions have you experienced auditions where you thought you were well prepared but things fell apart do you struggle with performance anxiety negative thoughts and self-doubt that's hindering your ability to deliver your best? Well, let me tell you, I understand the challenges you face. It's frustrating

to invest so much effort without seeing the outcome that you seek. If you're searching for real solutions and guidance to elevate your musical journey, I invite you to join the Music Mastery Experience, my highly personalized transformative group coaching program. The Music Mastery Experience is the most comprehensive coaching program for musicians available. Together, we're going to identify and overcome the obstacles standing in your way, untangle them to create a tailored strategy for you that will empower you to deliver exceptional auditions in confident performance time and time again.

The Music Mastery Experience is a holistic approach to peak performance. Inside the program, we're going to cover everything you need. effective practicing techniques performance preparation and conditioning methods that are going to revolutionize your performances you're going to learn repertoire faster with greater precision using my deep practice model you're going to develop mindsets that will turbo charge your practice sessions and we go much much deeper you're going to receive powerful life coaching to support every aspect of your journey and help you achieve all your goals. No more wasted time or frustration. The Music Mastery Experience is going to equip you with the tools and guidance

you need to save time, energy, and effort while achieving the results you desire, both in your musical journey and in your life in general. So visit mindoverfinger.com slash mme now to learn all the details about the program and schedule a free conversation with me. On the call, we're going to sit together, we're going to take a look at what is happening in your life right now, what your goals are, and we're going to create a plan to turn your vision into your reality. The call is free and with no strings attached, so don't wait. Get ready to excel in your auditions and propel your musical career to new heights. Create real change in your life.

Book your free call now at mindoverfinger.com slash MME. I can't wait to speak with you. And I'd like to share a message I received from one of the participants in the Music Mastery Experience. She says, I'm living my dream because of all the work I did in your program. I truly appreciate your guidance. The tools you introduced me to

have had a positive impact on all aspects of my life. I use your foundation every day and enthusiastically recommend your course to others. You helped me completely change my life. And I'm telling you, this kind of transformation is within your reach. This is what you can expect inside the Music Mastery experience. So let's connect and strategize to make it a reality for you. Visit mindoverfinger.com slash MME for more information and to book your free conversation with me. All the details in the link are also available in the show notes. I can't wait to talk with you. All right, let's dive into this week's conversation. Jelaine's wisdom is so powerful, and I know you're going to walk away inspired. And no need to take notes. Click the link in

the show notes to grab the summary and transcript of this episode. Let's go to the show. jillian mitchell it's so great to have you on the show oh it's so great to be here i've been listening for ages so it feels like a dream to actually be on the podcast now jillian you have grown over the last few years to be someone that i would describe as a source of light for so many musicians, such a great inspiration. And I would love to hear about your story in your own words. So please let us know how that unfolded for you. Well, mental health has always been very close to me, even before I became a musician, because my mom struggled with mental health issues. So I was in the middle of very intense

things from a very very young age and I started music pretty late compared to my peers my first lesson was at 16 and so I had this unique perspective because I wasn't you know I wasn't playing since I was four so I didn't really have the indoctrinations to for lack of a better term Um, so when I started, I could kind of see or sense what was wrong in a way, but it took many years for me to one, feel confident enough to address it internally and even longer for me to, you know, start classical wellness. But once COVID happened, I figured that there were a lot of things that I wanted to address that I didn't want to deal with personally in this field. And I thought that there wasn't a better way to do it than to use social media to like get people talking.

And I didn't even know if it would work. at the beginning, I was just doing it for myself because I felt, um, at a crossroads and I felt like I, I want to pursue music because I love it, but with the way things are right now, I can't pursue that. If, if things stay the way that they are, I can't pursue it. So I started this in hopes of, you know, fixing some internal battle. And also, of course I hoped people would listen, but, um, at the beginning I had no idea if, if anyone cared or if I was like gonna ruin my chances, a career or something, but, um, it felt worth it at the time. And, and I can't believe how worth it. It was, I still, I still am kind of in shock of how, how many people resonate with

what I was saying or what I am saying. And it's really, it gives me so much hope for music. Cause I loved music and I was really torn up about, you know, the way that things were so much so that I was willing to quit, but I'm so glad that I didn't because music is like the best not to be biased but you know I agree with you and you know I think the word that you use indoctrination is exactly the right word because there are so many things in various industries that are normalized because you step in and everyone is doing the same thing and you see it all around so if you start in an industry from a young age you are raised to adhere to these beliefs or adhere to these ways of doing things. So what you're talking about in terms of that

different perspective that you had when you came into the classical music spheres is exactly, I think, a perspective that was much needed. And you're not alone in sharing this, but I think that you gave voice to what so many people were already feeling and thinking without having sometimes the courage to speak up so I want to thank you for for really opening up all of these conversations on this topic and allowing for other musicians to to feel that it's normal to think those thoughts and that there is change that is needed in the industry that things don't have to be the way they are things don't have to keep being done the exact same way over and over again It's so true. I've seen more, more discussion across the board about mental health in music. And I think that that's, it's really, really wonderful. It's really good.

I think that's what we need because there's a lot of good things about music and the classical music world does have a lot of redeeming qualities, but I think what we need is some type of transformation so everyone feels welcome and feels like they have a healthy, you know, environment to grow in a way that actually matters. Yeah. And I think we have to think about the behaviors that we have in our roles as teachers, our roles as colleagues, so that the industry as a whole, I mean, the community as a whole, is healthier for everyone. Yeah, I think we're on the way there. We still got a ways to go, but we are definitely on the right track. Yeah, I agree, I think. And for me, I see my journey started with wanting to help my students practicing. And I realized that, well, quickly, I realized that, you know, it's a human being practicing. And sometimes the problem with not practicing something is not that they don't want to, they're incapable of, it's that they're hurting in some way. and that's what we need to address so that's why mind over finger became so much more about this idea that it's the human that's playing music that needs to be nurtured and heard and and cared for i really resonate with that i think some of the best teaching that i've had over the years are from people who, who have this philosophy, like the person comes first and then the music

follows. And I think it's, there's a lot of ways that, you know, old school teachers, it's like, that's so separate, like the music's over here and you leave your personal problems at the door. That's the kind of attitude I can sense, especially being at, at the school I'm at right now, but I think I've grown at least, at least I think my growth has been the biggest when I'm under people who, who care about the human first and, you know, the music comes, it does come after like, for sure. Like when you take care of the human, of course, things are going to work better. Of course, you're going to practice better. Of course, you're going to feel better performing. So yeah, I totally resonate with that. Jolene, you have so many followers,

you have built such a beautiful, strong community, and you're very, very much in touch with them, very much in conversation with them. What do you hear from them that they need? Where are they hurting? What do you see as needed in the community? I think it's changed over, you know, a few years I've been doing it, but right now it seems like people are in a crossroads. It's, they have, they know that mental health is important. They, they believe it's important, but they still don't have, you know, the, the environment, the, the sculpture or something to hold that, those habits that they know that they need to build. So a lot of people aren't motivated to practice. People aren't having consistent practice. That seems to be the biggest thing

right now. I just did a poll on my stories, like maybe last week or a few days ago. And I'm like, what's up guys? What are you guys, what's going on in your life? Overwhelmingly people responded that they didn't want to practice, that they couldn't find the motivation. They want to do these things, but it's just like, they don't have the right setup. So I've been thinking people are probably burnt out or overwhelmed with all the information that they're getting. Like they still want to be musicians. They still want to do this work, but they know that they have to, you know, kind of veer away from the, the classic, you know, routines that classical musician space. And I don't think people have solved that problem yet. I, I, and I kind of feel

like classical music as a whole is not, you know, moving as fast as we are. I feel like we, we've made a lot of, you know, progress in terms of the way we think about music, At least I, and I could be biased because I have this page and you could be biased because you have your, you know, you have mind over finger, but I feel like we're, we're making big strides to more healthy, you know, living and practicing. But, um, I think there's a lot of things that need to be done quickly, quicker to support the change that's happening in, in musicians philosophies, because, um, it requires us to take more initiative to take care of ourselves. And I think before, there was no initiative to take care of ourselves. The initiative was to practice, no matter what. By any means necessary, you get your butt in the practice room. So I think that's changing. But I think we're going to nudge the classical music world a little bit more. I agree. Yeah. And I'm working on a workshop right now that will have taken place by the time this episode comes out called Mastering the Stage. And what I think people would find surprising about this, and if they listen to the episode, they can go back and watch the replay, is that mastering the stage is not only about practicing. It's so much deeper than that. So when you're talking about motivation, it cannot come from an outside source. That's not sustainable.

It can, in some ways, be inspired. Maybe there's a spark of inspiration from an inside, outside source rather, but it's the connection to our why, to our deep purpose inside. That's what really ignites a fire that keeps, you know, the fire going with all of the ups and downs. I don't think motivation is a straight line. It goes up and down all the time. And what you're talking about, yes, we are nudging it.

And I want to encourage everyone to start by trusting themselves, their inner voice so much more. I think that's something I'm seeing so much around me from either people who get in touch with me or my clients is how we have a tendency, because we were indoctrinated this way, to look for answers from our teachers, our mentors, the masters. And I think that, yes, we need that information and listening to the inner voice, to this intuition that we have. So if we hear something from inside to listen to that voice. And I think that all of the little nudges that we can give are going to be helpful. And then at the same time, everybody, we all need to listen,

listen to ourselves, really develop the self-trust. I think that it's, I totally agree. I'm so glad we're on the same wavelength about this because I think that the inner voice, something that I'm learning now being at Rice is that this inner voice comes out in the most, how do I say here? I I'm very busy. I'm very like, there's, there's deadlines to the max. There's always something to be doing. And I found that the times that I'm super busy thinking about or stressing about, you know, all these extra performances or, or whatever I have to do, my inner voice is kind of dampened a little bit, or I can't access this inner knowing because the stress of everything is clouding something. And when I feel calm and when I feel like I can

actually relax and, you know, work on my, my practice or work on something that, or classical wellness or something in my own, without any outside stressors, I feel like I get a lot better work done too. So I think that the trust comes from a place of calm. I actually don't know. This is just my experience, but my, when I feel most confident and when I feel like I know what to do it's when I have you know peace around me and not so much things to get through you know what I mean yes or or advice yeah yeah exactly exactly yeah you did a post a while ago this was a story and I think you were you took a Sunday off and you were talking about how you went for a drive and I was like yes these are the moments when we can get back in touch with the source

yes exactly exactly and it feels hard to do I I never had a problem doing that because I love taking breaks I mean I I've always said taking breaks will help you be better like I I still believe that and now I'm starting to understand more and more when you have when you're in a rigorous program, it feels like you cannot take time off. It feels like you don't have the permission to take time off. And I've never felt that even if, even though my program in undergrad felt rigorous to me, my teacher was so supportive. And so she, she had this same philosophy that, that we have. And so I never felt like I was going against the grain. I felt like, yes, it's hard, but I know that this is right to do. I felt that like inner confidence. And

now that I'm here, I feel it's very old school here. And I do, I do appreciate, you know, obviously I'm here, so it's not totally bad, but, um, it feels a little less like human centered and more results centered. Like they want you to be on top of it and they want you to be producing And you can figure out what you need to do that. But we have this mold that we want you to follow. And that's basically your only option. So figure out what to do, but do the thing that we want you to do. You know what I mean? Yes, absolutely. I remember getting a piece of advice years ago. This was before my own grad school. And it really completely, it was a huge paradigm shift. And I'm so glad that person said that one sentence because I was questioning going there because I was in the summer camp and the teacher kept yelling at me in the lessons. so i was questioning going to study with him for a couple years and i i love him dearly but there was a lot of yelling and um so i was talking to someone and she was asking well do you like him as a teacher and i was like hey he's great he's very different than my previous teacher so i feel

like i could learn a lot and then she said well go there and just do what he says for two years and then after you never have to do that again like you never have to just take it in and and and play along and then after that you can do whatever you want and for me that shook me to my core because I realized oh I can go there and do the thing but I don't have to buy buy the philosophy yeah so I know that okay if I go there I know he's gonna yell so I can take the advice about my bow hold and and you and I were talking about this right right before we started recording But so I can take the advice about the bohol and I can leave the personal yelling in the room. And after two years, I mean, for me, that was a brand new idea that I could do whatever I wanted.

It's very interesting to have that idea. And I think I've. I think I've someone has told me that, too, before, but it's good to hear you say it, because it feels like when you said it, I felt like, OK, yeah, I feel that. too. Like it's not and I feel the same. My teacher is wonderful in in a lot of ways. I feel like I will learn a lot from him, but we have our differences and I feel like I feel calm knowing that I don't have to, you know, become him, you know, because he's him and, you know, so I can take everything that I can from him. And there's a lot he has to give. So I'm happy to be under his tutelage, but it's good to know that we are always our own person first and we don't have to mold ourselves into be someone else. I think more and more people are starting to get that.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. What about some of the, I mean, we've talked about, but are there other important takeaways that you've taken from this adventure with classical wellness? I think the most important, let me think I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot about business too. And that's something that I didn't really know that I'd learn about, which I'm, I'm seeing now that I'm, I'm getting closer to starting my career. I, I realized that many musicians aren't set up to start a career. They're set up to win an orchestra audition or go to DMA and start. Yeah. Like that's it. Like, but there are so many things we could do. We are artists and we are creatives and we can, you know, do anything we want. So that's like more of a

practical thing I've learned about business and about that us as musicians, we have to, you know, take the initiative to start learning about business. Cause unfortunately that's not what, that's not the primary focus of our learning or to become a performer, which I think is wrong, but that's a whole different discussion. The main thing that the main takeaway I have from classical wellness is that we have to listen to our inner voice and we have to look for it. That's what we should do by any means necessary. I said earlier, like the old school way is like get in the practice room by any means necessary, but I think it should be find yourself by any means necessary, find your voice by any means necessary. And if that means you have to veer

away from like, you know, the regular, uh, status quo, then so be it. And you shouldn't feel guilty or embarrassed or shameful about that. And I think it's something I'm, I'm learning more and more, you know, it's not like you hear something or learn something and suddenly you're, you know, a different person, but it's changed my, my, the word you said earlier, I can't think of it now, but it changed my view on a lot of things. And a paradigm. Paradigm shift. Exactly. It was a huge paradigm shift to know that I, I must do this. I have to find myself by any means necessary. I have to commit to this and I can't let it go for the sake of, you know, checking boxes. So I think that's one of the main consistent lessons that I've learned and I'm learning by doing classical

wellness. It's that it's worth it, this kind of work. It's worth it, even though it might feel bad in a way, because, you know, we're taught to not care about this stuff. We're taught to not, we're taught to ignore this type of stuff so at first it felt bad but I soon learned no I you have to do it everyone should feel encouraged to do it yeah so yeah I totally agree it's you know what the saying what you resist persist I think it's it's so true I had a one coach was talking about how you know life can be 50 50 there's great things and sometimes more difficult things and if things are going well we feel like oh this is right and if things are not pleasant or they're challenging or difficult painful we feel like this means it's it's wrong i shouldn't feel

this way and then and then we try to avoid this at all costs to use your expression and so in finding ourselves at all costs mean that we actually have to spend time with these emotions and and think why am i feeling this way what is happening and then when we when we start to do this and we can sit with all of these feelings and not fear them because if we fear our feelings then we're caught in a huge negative cycle so if we can actually sit with these feelings and welcome them and get curious and and give them space then we can get access to that inner voice and then we learn to coexist with all of our feelings. I mean, it's not coexist, they're inside of us.

That's not the term I'm looking for, but we learn to exist with all of these feelings and then we're not escaping. We're not, I mean, then we be, sorry, now I'm like getting all excited. But when we're not afraid of any feeling, then we're not afraid of trying things. We're not afraid of speaking up.

We're not afraid of going forward with something because we know we have this capacity to handle all of these feelings. So I completely agree with you in terms of how sometimes we don't go there because we want to avoid these sensations, these negative feelings, but it's when we give them space that we can move forward. Yeah, it's scary. those things. Cause that becomes totally unrelated to music. A lot of times, I mean, sometimes it is, but when you're going deep into like why you feel certain things, you go back

to your childhood, to a traumatic experience. And that's, that's hard. So I get why people avoid it. I get why, but it feels so much better once you're on the other side. So I'm trying to find ways to, you know, encourage nudge people to, you know, do, do this work because it's so worth it in the end. Yeah. The only way is through it, right? Yes. Jelena, I know you're very busy, so I want to make sure that there's plenty of time for practicing and all the school assignments, but I do have some questions for you from the rapid fire question, if that works. Perfect. Yes. Let's go. What are some doubts and resistance, internal or external that you had to face on that journey

I know there's more but I the one that just came to mind is I've I've had a problem with doubting my place here being someone who starts so late um and everyone around you has you know baby pictures of them playing with a cardboard instrument and stuff I have doubted whether or not I'm cut out for this and that's been hard, but most of the time I can get out of it, out of those thoughts, but I still have them. And they're still like, you know, sort of, how do I, how do I explain this? Like, uh, it's daunting a little bit to feel, do I belong here? I'm with a lot of like the big dogs now. So now I really have to step up my game. And I already have, I already am behind them from, you know, 10 years, they have 10 years on

me. So do I belong here? And I'm sure I say this because I'm sure everyone has had thoughts like that on some level, like, do, am I cut out for this? Do I belong? Am I really meant to be a musician. And, um, I, I kind of had, I've just had to turn off that voice and it's been hard to do. It's literally taken years to, to like, uh, go from not being aware of it at all of these unhelpful thoughts at all to, you know, training myself to not give, you know, a bunch of attention to these thoughts, but there is a way to, um, ignore these thoughts, you know, and I, I say ignore, but really it's process them and accept them and let them go. It's like, okay, these thoughts are here. You have them obviously. So are you going to let it screw up your mojo? Are

you going to like allow it to be there and, you know, figure it out, but not give it so much power. So that's the biggest doubt I've had. But even that, you know, we have these motivational places we can look to feel better about ourselves. So, you know, it's a work in progress, but I definitely feel like that is the biggest doubt I've had. And I've thankfully been able to make it a little bit smaller it's not totally gone of course but it's manageable yeah yeah thank you for sharing this because I think so many of the listeners as they hear you say this probably feel the same way I think it doesn't matter what level you're at what profession you're in I think all of us probably have these thoughts do I belong and and you just voiced it out so beautifully so I

think that a lot of people can find a source of encouragement from what you were saying what's interesting is we we give different weight to different thoughts so when we we just adhere and we don't take the time to question the thought like you know that's how you're thinking i don't know if i belong and we just take that as a fact without questioning it as if we were asking the same question, the reverse question, like, what if I did belong? And we realized that there's actually a lot of evidence for this as well. So there's evidence. We can find whatever evidence we're looking for, but somehow we always look for the evidence of our insecurities and our limitations. When, if we just nudge to use that term again, nudge ourselves in the other direction,

but yeah, but there's also plenty of evidence that I do belong. Right. And I wonder that's, you know, I was long ago, I was researching, you know, burnout and stuff. And one of the things I learned is that we have this caveman level, like desire to be accepted because we would die if we weren't accepted back way back when. So I wonder if it has anything to do with that wiring, like we're looking for potential threats or potential, you know, things that make us not accepted. I want, I just thought about that. I wonder if that has anything. I wonder if those two things are related because it's definitely possible to nudge yourself to the positive side, but it's true that a lot of people automatically go to the negatives and you have to

like deliberately go to the positive in order to, you know, change the way that you're automatically thinking yeah it's i think you're right and i i totally i totally agree with you and that's something that i talk about too i think we are wired for self-protection so the first is always assessing risk so there's a constant risk assessment happening so i think we you said it we're we are wired for self-protection and it makes so much sense so then knowing that we can be like all right thanks brain for keeping me safe now let's see if there's an alternative i love that i always joke these rapid fire questions are never rapid but we'll try we'll try what skills do you think young musicians studying today should acquire

in addition to play their instruments skills okay upholding boundaries i don't know if that's a skill. I think it is figure out your boundaries and protect them at all costs. That will get you way farther than just tricking yourself into thinking you can do it all, or you can spend more energy than you have. That's a lesson that I learn over and over and over. But every time I uphold a boundary, especially when it's hard to uphold that boundary. For example, if you're saying no to something that would look really good on your resume, but you just don't have the time for it, you would literally be sleeping four hours a night. I've always felt more calm and I've always done better work after I have said no to something that I know is not right for me

after I've thought about it. Once I listen to myself and I trust my inner voice, that's saying like, you're not going to be okay. If you take on this extra project, I've always felt calmer and not so chaotic, which meant that I could practice better, you know, do better work, give more attentive energy to whatever projects I do have so I don't know if upholding boundaries is a skill but I'm making it a skill and and definitely that's something that is really really important I suggest everyone students or not figure out your boundaries and uphold them yeah I agree with that so much and what you're saying is making me think too in terms of how right sometimes there's an opportunity that comes up and you're like yes yeah I don't care if I only

sleep two hours a night I really want to do it I'm just going to squeeze it in but there are times when we say yes when we don't want to do it because we think we should oh that would look good on a resume and I think that going back to our conversation about listening to the instinct It's like, if it's a yes, if it's a desire, then we know that, all right, I'll be tired for a week. It's okay. But so many times we say yes, when we don't want to. And so what you're saying is so important.

I totally think holding boundaries is a great skill to acquire. Yeah. I, yeah, you, you're right on the money. It's got to feel fun. that's that's how I determine what I want to do will it feel fun because of course it might look good on a resume but who cares to put it simply who like who cares if you're if you're injured if you're burnt out if you're miserable why do it so that's kind of how I I justify saying no, it's not, it's just, sometimes it's not worth the pain. Sometimes it is when it's, you know,

when you want to do it, when you feel, okay, this is the best thing I can see on my horizon right now. So I'm doing it period. Yeah. Those times feel good. And when you say no to certain things, you leave space for more of these full yeses. Yeah. And like they say, it's either a hell yes or hell no yeah exactly exactly you were talking about how busy you are so how do you maintain the that balance that you were talking about what the and you know balance is that even possible I don't even know if it is but so let's talk about how like how are you negotiating things right now with how busy you are right now I since I started this year I've promised okay one day a week off. I don't care what I'm doing. I don't care if, I don't know even an example to give,

but I just don't care. I'm taking a day off because I, I have to do it for my, for my sanity. Like I have to have time to go for a drive or go to Ross dress for less or something like something fun. You know, I have to have time for that. As time goes on, you realize I've realized that I work well when I have a day off, but I can also work well when I have, you know, an evening off and a morning off. And before I would never do that because always one day, one day off, period.

No ifs, ands, or buts. I'm taking one day off. But I figured, first of all, it's not possible to, sometimes it's literally not possible to take one day off a week. Like you have something every single day. So I kind of had to, at first I'm like, no, well then I'm skipping that one thing on that one day.

That's how, that's my mentality. But you don't really want to do that because you want to do good work while you're, you know, in school, you want to do the things you're assigned and you want to do them well. So I've been picking one or two afternoons or mornings where I just have a slow morning. It's not even that I do, I strictly do an activity outside of music, but having a morning where I can just relax and be for a while and get ready really slow and like really think about what I want my day to be like, things like that have actually helped me a lot. So I feel like I'm finding a balance between work and play because that type of stuff feels like play. Like when I'm, and these days that I take off, I find that I want to play music. Like I want to get my cello

out and just, you know, have fun. Don't, don't have to do two hours of scales, but sometimes I feel like it. Like when I take this time off, I feel, oh, that would be fun. If I tried to do the whole circle of fifths in such and such rhythm or anything like it, it starts to feel fun. So taking those little time, little, you know, blocks of time off is proving to be really, really helpful when I can't take a full day off. I still want a full day. Sorry to have rambled. I guess I had a lot to say no I love that and how you

experiment and give some flexibility around that and how you seem to be really paying attention to what helps you I like Greg McKeon's expression nurturing the asset and you are your own

biggest asset so the way that you do that is an example I think I like that quote a lot. I might have to write it down after this. It's a great book. It's Essentialism by Greg McKeon. And he talks about nurturing the asset.

And I feel I resonate with this for sure. Jalene, how about a quick actionable tip that the listeners could implement today in their musical lives? How about go into your calendar and plan at least one, you know, block of time where you're going to take off. It can be a whole day. It can be two hours, but just some time that you're going to take off just to do something that you want to do, nothing that you should do, or you have to do, but something that you want to do.

go do that you'll you'll you have so much you have so many practicing lists and you know extracurriculars but a lot of us don't think about the time off we just kind of hope we get some and when we do it's maybe it's spent you know repairing or resting or you know recovering from the busy time but when we actually plan it and have something to look forward to it's just life is better that way i might be biased but it's that's great advice and also when we don't plan for it it comes a time where we need it anyway so we have to take it and then we feel guilty about it so we're somewhat resting and at the same time struggling with feeling like we should be busy so all in all it's very stressful to rest under those circumstances

So might as well plan for it. And then you can rest physically, mentally, emotionally, all of it. Yep. We're on the same wavelength. I agree. Jolene, tell us about all the beautiful offerings that you have. I know you have an event coming up. You also have a practice journal. So many great things that you're offering. So the event, the Musicians Wellness Symposium, that's happening June 3rd to June 7th. And it's an online event. It's five days long. And basically I've hired or I've invited five, they're experts, five experts in important topics that classical musicians need to be educated on, but aren't given, you know, proper resources. Um, so there are five topics, performance, anxiety, um, practice, health, body, uh, injury prevention, um, project management. So I call, I think of that as burnout prevention and it's a bonus, um, workshop on entrepreneurship. So I, cause you know, we need to know how to make money.

So, and the host of this podcast is going to be one of the guest speakers, um, on performance anxiety. So I, I'm very, very excited for this. I feel like we have the best of the best, you know, coming for this event. So that's happening on June 3rd to June 7th. Um, registration closes on May 1st. So you have lots of time to think and, you know, figure out what's, what your summer is going to look like. And I hope that as many people can join as possible, because I feel like this is very important stuff. Um, I also have a few, you know, digital guides for iPad users, or I mean, a lot of people print them out. I have a practice journal that aims to focus that aims for, uh, organized and healthier practice. I, so it goes into a lot of planning and organizing in a way

that is helpful for the musician and there are some you know journaling prompts in there to help us become more aware of what we're doing i'm also going to come out with a a burnout guide it'll be a guided journal so it's still in the works but that's going to be something brand new that i think a lot of people will like i already like it and i have yeah be sure to check out my website definitely check out the symposium that's the biggest thing that I think will help as many musicians as possible I I really believe in that so yeah everyone check that out yes I'm going to put all of these links in the show notes Jelaine I really want to thank you for coming on the show but I also want to publicly thank you

for what you're doing for the community. At the beginning of the interview, I talked about like normalized behavior. And I think that you, as I said, gave voice to people who had those feelings. And I think I cannot think of a single musician who has not experienced fear or doubt or exhaustion, burnout, but it was normalized not to talk about it. It was normalized to project strength at all times. And what we need is a place where we can normalize talking about it and being real so that yes, then we can show up really strong from a place of feeling strong. So I really want to thank you for, for the work that you're doing and for, for being this guiding light in our community. That means so much. I might have to take a little snippet and, you know,

put it in my phone to just listen to when I'm feeling sad. Thank you so much. I feel very lucky and I try to avoid using this word, but I feel very privileged to, you know, be able to do this and be alongside people like you. And I think we're doing good work. I think we're like changing, low key, we're changing the classical music world. So, well, we're transforming it. We're, we're not changing it, but we're improving it. We're making it better. So I'm really happy about that. Thank you, Jelaine. There you have it. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Jelaine Mitchell from Classical Wellness. You can find more information about Jelaine via her Instagram profile, classicalwellness, or by going to classical-wellness.com.

Of course, I'm going to have all these links for you in the show notes. If you found our discussion valuable, share this episode with friends and fellow musicians. Grab a screenshot of the episode, share on social, and with anyone you think might benefit from this conversation. And don't forget to book your call for the Music Mastery Experience. Real transformation is ahead for you. All right, that's what I have for you this week. Until next time, much love going your way and à bientôt.