Research Lab: "12-week mindfulness program for musicians“

Musicians are exposed to enormous pressure to perform, which can lead to failure and burnout. This is often responded with even more pressure, stress while practicing, etc., in order to deliver the desired "performance". However, it is not the performance that is relevant, but how one deals with his or her own stress patterns.

The goal of this course is to build a stable mindfulness practice through specific instruction. Through daily practice, meditation, and integration into daily life, students train the "mindfulness muscle" in their brain. Long-term changes in perception of nervousness and performance pressure, body awareness, presence and focus, emotional depth and social interaction during music making are examined. In particular, gaining self-compassion has been shown to impact areas such as emotional and social safety, resilience, and self-confidence, leading to greater freedom, joy, and expressiveness in performance.

The 12-week program was developed based on well-known mindfulness-based methods such as MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and MSC (Mindful Self Compassion) by Peter Gabis and is medically evaluated by the "Institute Autonom Health" https://www.autonomhealth.com using heart rate variability measurement.

Peter Gabis, in addition to his work as a musician and educator, has been active for more than 15 years in the areas of consciousness and mindfulness education and the teaching of various relaxation methods. He is an MBSR teacher in training and is completing the master's program "Mindfulness in Education, Counseling and Health Care" at the KPH in Vienna.