“Arriving at the ranch, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have worked with Giorgia in the past — without horses — and was excited to see what new process she would take me through to help me open up and specifically tackle the stresses of performance. Since I had worked with her before, and I had a competition coming up, she agreed to “fast-track” our first session.

We started the main paddock inside which there were at least 7 rescued horses. Each large in stature and presence. We entered, and Giorgia led me through a series of challenges designed to focus on projecting your energy. Once they (the horses) accept you as a non-threat, they show what they feel remarkably well.

I could already sense the path Giorgia was leading me down; helping me refocus nervous energy and direct it in a productive way towards calmness and a sense of security.

Then, we walked by a one-horse-pen with my clarinet, and Giorgia asked me to play. We gradually made our way closer to where the horse was. The second she heard the instrument, you could tell that she was interested. Giorgia first had me start with some improv and at her signal, I switched to some prepared music that I had somewhat memorized. As we approached, and after I had switched to my prepared music, which admittedly I didn’t have all memorized, the horse apparently lost interest and turned to walk away (min. 1.14 in the video).

Giorgia coached me through it, and I switched again, this time to music that I was more comfortable with, where the music flowed much more organically. The horse then stopped in her tracks, turned and immediately came right up to the clarinet and placed her head as close as she could to the instrument.

Seeing this physical response after releasing all of the preparedness and perfection of the notes and focusing purely on the music was truly a shift of thought in my part. I have always practiced getting in the zone when preparing for stressful performance experiences, but visually seeing the horse’s reflection of the mood that I portrayed is something unique and unlike any other performance practice experience.

Taking this on stage with me is an interesting process. The comfort I have when I improvise is now easier to access, knowing the effect it had during my session  with the horses

Taking this on stage with me is an interesting process. The comfort I have when I improvise is now easier to access, knowing the effect it had during my session  with the horses”.

— Professional Clarinetist, San Francisco, CA

Cellist Gautier Capucon has been a standard of excellence in the music industry for over a decade. Success can often be a fleeting thing, but in Gautier’s case, his success has only grown since his rise to fame.

As Peak Performance is The Creative Way Around’s main focus, Gautier has definitely been on my interviewees list for a while. I seized the chance during his Dvorak tour in San Francisco to pick his brain about the thoughts, tricks and strategies that lead him — and keep him — at the top of the game.

Giorgia: What do you do to get yourself into a Peak Performance state when you are on stage?

Gautier: In my experience, the two most important factors in achieving a Peak Performance state are my mind and body.

If I am to perform at my best, I need to be physically well — which to me means rested and as healthy as possible. For instance, on concert days I won’t drink coffee, tea, wine or eat anything that can distract my body or mind.

As for my mind, I need to be completely focused on the concert, and in order to be focused my mind needs to be relaxed. Before I go on stage I make sure I give myself plenty of time to free myself from distracting thoughts. As the concert approaches, I’m always hit with adrenaline, which is only natural. If I have been able to prepare myself — both my body and mind — and I feel balanced, then I can tame the adrenaline, ride it, and use it as the extra kick, the extra fire to make a concert truly special. That is me in my optimal state.

If I wasn’t able to achieve this balance, if I was tired, or if during that day I drank, say 10 cups of coffee, I would head to the stage stressed. My arms would most likely be shaky and less responsive. My body and mind would be working against me, rather than for me, and I wouldn’t be able to enter that peaceful place where concerts can become magical.

Giorgia: Are there any specific disciplines or strategies you rely on, to get your mind to that optimal peaceful place?

Gautier: Being well rested is key.  Before an evening show, I’ll usually sleep for an hour, maybe two. It’s like a new day when I wake up, and my energy is recharged and at the level I need it to be.

Meditation is a big part of the process as well. It’s a fantastic tool for relaxing, focusing, learning to let go. It’s helped me learn a lot about myself.

Sports are also very important to me. I run. It helps me let things out, and it releases endorphins. When I run, there’s nothing to distract me — no phone, no emails, and that’s a very regenerating space to be.

I spend as much time as I can in contact with nature. It is the basis of everything; it is where everything comes from. The connection with animals — and horses in particular — is really extraordinary and cleansing for me.

All these things contribute to shaping the state of mind I’ll be in before a concert, a show or a big interview.

Giorgia: How much do the space and the environment influence your mood or state on stage?

Gautier: The environment affects me a lot, for better or worse. I am traveling all the time, and wherever I go there are some things I have a hard time living without.  A quiet hotel is definitely at the top of my list.

People make a difference, too. Sometimes I get to a venue and there are people from the orchestra welcoming me; sometimes there’s nobody. I’ve found that the difference is in the small things. A greeting, a smile. And sometimes there are things we can’t put words to: we might not know why, but we might not feel comfortable or at ease in a certain space, a certain room, or even a certain city.  

Maybe in 40 years the environment won’t make a difference at all for me. For the time being, I often find myself making a concerted effort to be comfortable wherever I am.

The life of a soloist can be very lonely. At the same time, as challenging as it is, it pushes me to get to know myself better every day.

Giorgia: Where do you find the strength to handle this life?

Gautier: I have to find it inside — nobody and nothing else can give it to me. It’s easy to point a finger at myself and say: “Hey, now you have to be happy because you have this, you accomplished that and you got here”. Sure, accomplishments, reaching goals and compliments can make it easier and brighter. But it’s easy to fall into a vicious circle in which your happiness depends on things or other people.

Strength and happiness don’t come from things — they come from within. Finding that strength and that happiness is practice for life itself. You don’t become a monk in a day; it takes an entire lifetime to get to know yourself. It’s very valuable to understand your own emotions, to know how and why they get triggered, and how to either embrace them, or move past them.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that when I feel something intensely, whatever or whoever triggered it is not what matters.  If it stays with me and if it affects me, then it’s my problem and nobody else’s. We are all so full of fears and they get triggered so easily!

Giorgia: So how do you handle the fear when it hits you backstage?

Gautier: I simply sit comfortably, breathe, and let it pass through me. It’s like meditation: you shouldn’t fight it — you can’t anyway, it’s impossible — but embrace it. You can’t decide that you won’t be stressed and that you won’t have a reaction, because you’ll have it anyway. So just let it come and let it go, and be at peace in knowing that’s all you can do.

When you’re on stage and suddenly your mind sets off an alarm, you can try to have a talk with the brain in the lines of a: “Hey man, I get it: this is difficult…but you got this!”. Many times it works, though there will be times when you’ll be up on stage, slip up and play a wrong note.  

Giorgia: And when that happens, how do you deal with it? What’s your relationship with mistakes and perfection?

Gautier: It’s one of my biggest struggles. I’m too demanding of myself and it’s only increasing. I’m trying to constantly improve, which is great, yet the risk is that I’ll do that at the expense of my happiness.

There are two competing voices within me: the artist, and the perfectionist. The artist in me shifted his definition of perfection long ago: if I go to someone else’s concert, I’m the first person to forgive and forget a wrong note–I want a story, I want a connection; that’s what I’m there for. But at my own concerts or practice it’s a different story. Even the tiniest of errors will bring out rage from the perfectionist within me. I’m always working on balancing those two voices.

Giorgia: Your life is full of rehearsals, interviews, performances, networking and traveling. Energetically speaking, are all of those things draining for you, or is there a giving-receiving balance?

Gautier: It is true that on stage while I play, I give. There is a lot of energy flowing outwards. But it’s not only giving — it’s sharing.

In fact, the most incredible magic happens when the energy is circulating between the soloist, the orchestra, the conductor and the audience. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does I cherish it, because I’ll never get tired of that incredible energy that I give and receive at the same time.

Giorgia: So is this your personal definition of Peak Performance? Meaning, how does a concert have to look, sound or feel so that you can be proud?

Gautier: “Good” as a descriptive adjective for a concert almost doesn’t mean anything to me.

Is a good concert one in which you didn’t play any wrong notes? Is a good concert one in which the audience loved you and you played three encores? Maybe a concert which received rave reviews? Of course all these things are great, but they’re not what makes a great concert.

A great concert is one in which something special is happening. And that’s why I make music: to communicate, to move others inside. And I get moved in return when someone comes to me after the concert and says: “You know, this is the first time I’ve been to a concert and you made me fall in love with music: I’m gonna come again!”. Or if someone tells me: “I’m going through a difficult period in my life, and for whatever reason your music tonight helped me”. That’s a great compliment.

Sound is undeniably important, but it’s the personal and emotional dimension that I’m afraid is being ignored in the classical music industry today..

Giorgia: I hope your multi-dimensional perspective, which I share, gets contagious!

Gautier: Me too. And that’s why I teach it to my students of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle de la Fondation Louis Vuitton. We still talk about technique and music theory of course, but on top of that I am developing a curriculum which includes the things that never get discussed.

Health, for instance. I had an outstanding hand surgeon come out and talk to the students about how important it is to listen to our body. If one little thing goes wrong, it’s over, and it’s incredible how little attention musicians pay to pain signals from their body.

I had managers and promoters come to the academy and talk about the commercial aspects of a career in music: how to perform well in an interview. How to speak on the radio. How to find a manager and talk to a promoter.

What music schools are doing is fantastic, and I didn’t start my Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle to compete with them, but rather to add my voice to what they are already doing.

Giorgia: It sounds like you learned about all these extra layers from personal experience, not from someone who guided you through them or warned you in advance about risks and challenges of the life of a soloist. In this sense, it seems like you guys have it particularly rough compared to, say, professional athletes from the major sports leagues. Just as intense physically, mentally and emotionally, but without the support of a coach, of a physiotherapist and of close team-mates.

Gautier: That’s a huge problem.  When I become a professional musician, I wasn’t given a coach who walked me through the ups and downs that come with the life. In general, it is up to us touring artists to figure that out.

Even in areas that are the most crucial to our long term success, like our health.  What we do is extremely physical. Between traveling, playing the cello, the plane, the suitcases, sleeping jetlag off in cars, this life can be rough on the body. But there’s no physiotherapist who follows us around constantly checking up on us. Again, it’s up to us to figure that out. I make sure I visit a physiotherapist at least three times a month, because if I don’t, I run the risk of waking up one morning and not being able to move my head.

Professional athletes have a big team around them, while we have to take care of these things on our own. I don’t know if it’s possible to fix this in the short term, but what we can do is create a platform for these conversations to come to the surface, so that the new generation is warned in advance and can really have a clear picture of what they are buying into. Which is why I think the work you are doing with The Creative Way Around is extremely important.

Giorgia: Any last word of advice to your young soloist colleagues, who are just starting their career?

Gautier: If you hear stories of injuries, burnouts, or great musicians quitting, it can be a bit scary.  But instead of ignoring these stories, consider looking deeper into them and finding out why they happened. It might be something you relate to, and you might be able to set yourself up to avoid something similar on your own path.

We are lucky to live in a sharing culture and time, so take advantage of the advice and support of professionals in the industry and of the experience of those who have been at this for a while!

Follow Gautier at:
Facebook @GautierCapucon.OfficialPage
Twitter @gautiercapucon
Instagram @gautiercapucon
www.gautiercapucon.com

A peak into the physiology and electromagnetism side of horses

On top of being an outstanding equestrian, Lisa Walters is also an author and Equine Assisted Learning professional. Lisa has initiated academic research projects regarding the energy that flows among horses in a herd and between horses and humans when they connect. She kindly accepted an interview with me about her findings.

Lisa, the subtitle to your book ‘In the Field with Horses’ is the phrase ‘Awaken to the Energetics of Horses.’ What does ‘energetics of horses’ mean?

Horses are continuously responding to and interacting with what they sense and feel around them.  The horse’s ability to sense subtle energy and their ability to stay present, enables them to tune in to a more heightened and expanded awareness.This is a skill they likely developed to survive in the wild as relatively defenseless animals.

The energy between members of a herd moves like a ripple in a pond. Imagine a herd relaxed and grazing in a field. At some point one horse senses a change in the energy field — maybe foreign waves he can’t place, or an unfamiliar sound. Since horses don’t have language like we do, their way is to demonstrate what they’re feeling, to act it out. It’s a bit like charades. Their energy and subsequent actions will reflect how concerned they are, based on what they are sensing in the “field.” The concerned horse will not only look in the direction of what it’s concerned about, it will send an energetic shockwave of fear through the herd, like large ripples in a pond.

When the others “feel the fear” of their herd mate, they won’t ask themselves whether it’s their own fear or someone else’s. They’ll feel it and act accordingly.

How can you be sure that they read the energy field, and they don’t simply react to hearing sounds, sensing smells and seeing moving objects?

Apart from hundreds of years of anecdotal accounts in the equestrian world, my colleague Dr. Ann Baldwin and I have studied the interconnectedness between horses and humans by looking at “coherence markers” in both the horse and the human during specific interactions commonly used in EAL sessions. What has been revealed is proof that the electromagnetic energy fields (that emit from every beating heart) have effects in relationships between horses and humans.

Scientist all over the world, and in particular at the HeartMath Institute in Boulder Creek CA, have discovered that the electromagnetic energy fields being emitted by our heart organs are influencing each other all the time.  These electromagnetic signals are 5,000 times stronger than those emitted by the brain. Their research has shown that the heart’s electromagnetic field can also affect the brainwave frequencies of another person.

Before you go more in depth, let me take a step back to my research question about performers on stage. These electromagnetic signals are potentially a revolutionary revelation for performers. It sounds like not only they can share sounds, colors, symbols (and to a deeper extent, smells, flavors and tactile elements) with their audiences, but they are already — be they aware of it or not — sharing and receiving strong electromagnetic waves with the power of affecting brainwave frequencies of others!

Exactly. They have found that when the beat-to-beat changes between heartbeats smooth out, we enter a psycho-physiological balance between brainwaves and heart rate variability state called Coherence. When we are in a state of coherence, our brain waves come in phase with our heart, our sympathetic nervous system settles down and our parasympathetic system comes online, causing us to be in a peak performance state.  

To the left, incoherent waves; to the right, coherent ones.

So how do horses fit in the picture?

Our studies have shown that horses stay in a coherent state most of the time. When they spook or run, they go out of coherence, but they’re quick to go back into it once the perceived danger is no longer a threat.

What we’ve also seen in the data is that when we engage with the horses in a mindful way, their heart-field influences humans by increasing the VLFs (Very Low Frequency range on the coherence spectrum). An increase in VLFs are associated with healing PTSD and other stress and hormone disorders. This may be why many of the EAP and EAT (Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Therapy) programs are seeing such positive results.

In our research, we saw the most synchronized energetic resonance between horse and human when the human directed feelings of appreciation (different from thinking about appreciation) to the horse.We used a HeartMath technique called the “heart lock-in” to do this. Each time the person in the same arena with a loose horse began sending thoughts and feelings of appreciation to the horse, the horse looked directly at that person. This happened even when the horse was 20 or more feet away. The corresponding data showed the humans coherence increase during this process. And we saw the most synchronization between the horse’s and the human’s heart rate variability.

In my everyday interactions with horses at liberty, I have found that when people approach the horse in a state of greater presence (with open mind and heart), the horse is more interested and willing to connect and cooperate with them. Conversely, if the person is present in a physical sense, but inside is agitated or afraid, the horse will not want to engage and may even move away. Working with horses at liberty calls for us to be congruent in body, mind and spirit. If a person can add coherence to the mix – it’s all the better.

It sounds like the horses would acknowledge the human as a safe or interesting being to connect with, only when the human was coherent. So we’ve seen how a horse’s energy field has an influence on a human, but it can work the other way around as well?

Yes. If we are with horses and one of them gets excited, we can learn to act energetically like a lead horse and not buy into the excited horse’s agitation. Eventually, the agitated horse will calm down and follow suit.  As horse professionals, we learn to do this on a regular basis.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Baldanza (www.cimarronography.com)

Our own nervous system is not designed to be at the high stress levels that we tend to operate at these days. Humans will naturally move in and out of coherence throughout the day and night. We can be taught to generate more coherence with simple techniques and practice. Learning to connect with horses, in order to practice alignment between our head and heart, with intention, is a powerful and effective way to hone these skills.

In addition to providing a non-judgmental platform for us to practice these skills, horses beat the drum of coherence for us to resonate with. The more we mindfully connect with them, the more we see their presence affecting our nervous systems. I believe this holds true with everyone and all forms of life.

So what I’m getting here is that horses can help any person in their self-development, awareness development and emotional management in two main ways:

1. They can help tune us to a calmer state (direct influence)
2. They are unfailing mirrors of our emotional state (indirect influence).

Yes and no. It’s not quite black and white. Let me use music as a metaphor. The horses are hitting the note of coherence pretty much all the time. It would be like one violinist playing the D string. All other string instruments in the room that are sitting quiet, would have detectable levels of their own D string vibrate. If all the players of those instruments also “hear” the D note and decide to play it at the same time, one could say, they have allowed themselves to be influenced and tuned to D.

So as far as the direct influence is concerned, you will not see horses influence people who are not open-minded and intending to connect with them. Or in many cases, the respondents won’t be aware enough to recognize that the influence is happening.

The main point here is that it’s not only about being in the presence of horses, but also about learning to connect at the energetic level. With a properly facilitated EAL session, people can learn to do this. You can learn coherence and presence without a horse, but the opportunity provided in working with a horse is learning how to maintain these states in relationship.

Which in the case of performers, we can translate into the following: you can learn to reach your peak performance state in a number of ways, and a good way to practice maintaining it in a dynamic situation involving other beings (such as a performance), is to practice with horses.

When you are in a state of coherence, you will be more resilient. Your subtle awareness expands, you feel more, you are able to move more effortlessly, without overthinking. Interactions seem to flow more effortlessly into spontaneous right action. When we are able to recover quickly from stress states, we call this resilience. With more resilience, we are able to have less attachment, because we have a broader perspective. This enables us to be more present.

When spending time with horses, it’s clear we can never be in complete control of most things. However, we can  learn to develop resilience and to be able to take command of what’s happening right now. We can respond to what is happening in a way that directs it more in alignment with our intention.

So in a way, with the help of horses, we can learn to become more responsible, empowered and effective in what we project – a skill which will certainly turn helpful in the concert hall.

Yes I would think so. 

Lisa Walters and one of her equine colleagues, Ophalo

I started realizing the extent of this energetic communication with my own horse Diora. In our time together, Diora and I had settled into a deep level of connectedness and presence. When I verbalized requests to her (e.g. “trot,” “canter,” etc.), she would respond accordingly, directly after my verbal requests. When I tried to direct ‘thought requests’ coupled with distinct feelings to her, I noticed she’d also respond correctly, without my verbal cues. For instance, when I intended to start a trot, I’d “be” the trot and send the feeling of it to her, much like we sent feelings of appreciation to the horses in our study. From a place of alignment of thoughts, feelings and intentions, I could direct her walk, trot, canter, stop and reverse all at liberty with no halter or line on her. This was a powerful revelation in how connected we all are.

Quite the horse whisperer, to put it in commercial terms.

Whether we are aware of it or not, our presence, awareness and intention have the power to influence our perceptions and relationships. Horses are particularly sensitive and responsive to this type of mindful interaction. Learning to take responsibility at this level is very self-empowering. And that’s the helpful part of working with horses.

Cover photo courtesy of Jamie Baldanza (www.cimarronography.com)