Steve Lyman – rhythmic genius and Instagram drumming sensation – joins Tanner Guss to discuss his 10 year journey with meditation, the relationship between meditation and therapy, how to honor tradition and yourself, sabotaging joy, and coffee.
“We tend to think of therapy as this negative thing, but actually the healthiest people I know regularly see a therapist.“
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Actionable Advice
- There are many forms of inner stillness and to say one is better than the other is probably a very unwise thing to say. I think everyone needs to find their own practice.
- If you’re not ready for a teacher don’t take a teacher. There is a time when someone needs to work on their own individual way, and then you’ll kind of know when you’re running in the same circles and not growing. If you haven’t been putting in daily work on meditation on your own for a long time you’re not ready for a teacher/student relationship. However, if you have had a consistent practice for a while and you’re no longer seeing growth it’s probably time to find a teacher.
- We tend to think of therapy as this negative thing, but actually the healthiest people I know regularly see a therapist. You can think of therapy as a tune up.
- Meditation helps you to become intimate with something on a nonlinguistic level, and therapy can help make analytical sense of something. The two are very different but they aid each other immensely.
- I knew I was a good drummer, but I also didn’t believe it. So I had a disowned quality of my own worth. By acknowledging that I have some skill on this instrument it actually allows my ego to go down a little bit. It’s easier to accept criticism and grow when you don’t have to prove to yourself that you’re good at music all the time. You’re not a bad musician.
- The more “you” you are the more clearly you’ll see the people that support you and the people that don’t.
Coda Questions
- What is your go to feel good album? Miles Davis Live at the Plugged Nickel, Aphex Twin, and Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie
- What advice would you give to young musicians? The most precious you can do is love the instrument each day a little more.
- What’s the best advice about happiness you’ve received? Invest in good coffee
- Who’s a musician in your life living a healthy, happy, and fulfilling life? Jimmy Chamberlin
- What is your purpose as a musician? To express and experience joy.