Dear Kenny:
I just wanted to thank you for writing Effortless Mastery. The text and meditations have not only helped me with my drumming and composing but also in dealing with chronic pain.

Prior to using your materials things were so forced and stiff. I’m really understanding how feel, touch coupled with intent at my instrument opens up a whole other palette and landscape. I’ve included a link to a tune I composed and played drums/keys. I’m not trying to promote myself. I just think prior to implementing your book I could have never tackled something like this.

Thanks for the gorgeous music over years,
Very best,
Steve

Hi, Kenny,

I just finished your book “Effortless Mastery” and enjoyed it very much and learned a lot. I’m 56 and took up piano 5 years ago and am loving it.  My problem is I can get in “the zone” when I’m by myself with no problem – the music seems easy and plays itself, but put me in front of people and my heart pounds, my hands shake, and my fingers sweat and stick to the keys. Maybe as a performer, you can’t relate, but do you have any tips for getting over this fear of performing? I’d like to just feel comfortable and relaxed sharing my music with friends or nursing home residents. Even with my teacher, I’ll play a piece “in the space,” but right toward the end, my ego suddenly shouts “Oh my God – you’re playing this with no mistakes!” and then of course, I’ll make a big mistake.

By the way, your concepts apply to golf also – the harder you try and the more you “think,” the worse you play. You have to let your subconscious do the playing and you have to be unattached to the score.

Thanks so much!
Charlotte

Dear Mr. Werner,
I got my copy of “effortless mastery” 5 years ago, and at the first read-through, I put it away thinking that the new-age/spiritual concept was not for me.
But now, having read it 3 more times, I started effortlessly using the space for me, or better yet for music! And what changes has that brought!!

From the bottom of my heart: Thank you for opening my eyes and my mind!!!

Stefanos

Dear Mr Werner-

I am unsure if this is the best way for you to get my message, but I felt a strong need to write this, and I hope you get it.

I am 36 years old and I have played the clarinet since I was 8 and I just picked up the saxophone last year. I started to play jazz on my clarinet a few years ago and of course, I am also playing jazz on the sax.

I read your book, “Effortless Mastery” in its entirety while staying in the psych ward in Phoenix, Arizona for suicidal thoughts and thoughts of self harm. I was in a very, very dark place. I felt useless, talentless, unloved, unneeded, and unimportant. I told my husband how I felt and he did the right thing and checked me into a hospital to get the help I needed.

I started reading your book on the second day of treatment. In addition to the help that I received from the staff at the hospital your book really helped put me into perspective.

As of late, music no longer held joy for me. It was stress filled and I felt awful almost every time I played. I never was happy with a solo. I was paralyzed with anxiety when it came to practice. I never knew what to practice because there “was just so much to do” I was never happy with my sound.

My experience with music pretty much reflected my experience with life. I felt awful about myself, I was never happy with myself and I was so overwhelmed with life that I shut down.

A few lines in your book that particularly resonated with me were

“You will find yourself more free and powerful if you assume all the notes you play are the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard”

and

“Do not fear mistakes- there are none”

While in therapy I realized that I am a perfectionist….and there is no such thing as perfect. I also realized that I need to have a more positive view of myself- both as a human and a musician.

After reading your book, I came to “see the light” again, in music as well as in life in general.

I am home now and am beginning to play again…this time with a new attitude. It will be a work in progress for awhile I suspect. However, I know that I will be able to really adopt this new attitude permanently and I look forward to being happy with myself as a musician, just as I was when I was an 8 year old little girl, playing the clarinet and being thrilled when I could play “Mary had a Little Lamb”.

Thank you again!!

Laura

Dear Mr. Werner,

I’ve been in some form or another exposed to music my whole life, about 4 years ago I made the decision to make it my life and hopefully career. I have only recently come across your works through an online master class, it spoke to me so much i actually had to pull over to let your words sink in. Since then I’ve purchased effortless mastery and I love it. I love everything about it, it is The Bible for a young struggling musician or for any artist of any form I believe. I just wanted you to know how much it means to me to be reassured of all the things my subconscious has been telling me for years. Thank you so much for sharing the wisdom that has been instilled with you. And even if its helped no one else, which is highly unlikely, it has put a blanket of peace and new hope over one musician. And for that I thank you.

Cheers, Dan.

Dear Kenny:

I am a voice artist based in Portland, Oregon. A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a jazz guitarist pal of mine from Kansas City, about the fears that can arise before a practice or performance. He said, “Oh. You need to read ‘Effortless Mastery.'”

I bought the book and it’s changed my life.

I have been doing voiceover work for 25 years, and have never read anything that so accurately describes my experience in the vocal booth. And although I’ve worked with a number of fabulous coaches, there’s nothing I’ve learned that’s been as helpful as your “Four Steps,” and the accompanying meditations. As a long time meditator, the practice of “entering the space” made total sense to me, and it’s transforming the way I look at my work.

So…I just wanted to say thank you for writing that amazing book. I’m surprised I hadn’t come across it before, but I’m so grateful that I’ve found it now! I hope I’ll have the chance to hear you live at some point in the future, so I can thank you in person.

Best regards,
Roberta S.

Hi Kenny,

Just finished watching your DVD on the four steps to effortless mastery. Just great. Too much to say in an email, but I love that you said music can be the vehicle to that state of mind that is transcendent. The present moment. Awareness watching Awareness. Also, Thich Nhat Hanh, when teaching mindful eating says to put down the fork or spoon between bites, as you teach with practicing the steps. Wonderful teaching Kenny.

Namaste
Carmen

Kenny,

I am a student at Berklee and have read your book Effortless Mastery along with attending a couple of your master classes. All that I want to say from the bottom of my heart is thank you. Your teachings have helped me realize that there is something greater in life then all the superficial stuff we get caught up in day by day. I am right now overcoming an addiction that I realized has not been making me feel great for a while; so I am in the transformation stage of my life, and am ready to let go of this habit. I have been practicing your meditation exercises each day this month, and have been reading some various reading materials about becoming our true self in life such as “the four agreements”, and “The five levels of attachments”. I also have started a new relationship with a beautiful young lady and have been watching her transform her life into something amazing. It made me realize that it is time to make a difference in which I am. I just want to thank you for opening my heart up to a world of possibilities through your teachings, and that they have been an invaluable guide for my experience so far. Whether you respond to this message is up to you. However, I felt it was right in my heart to thank you and I am starting to realize all the messages and the powerful meanings behind them. So once again thank you for sharing your practice with the world and I, and I wish you and your family a beautiful day, and a great summer.

Thanks,
Andrew

Hello Kenny

I read Effortless Mastery and and enjoyed it immensely. I a budding musician with a interesting story. About 8 years ago, I started drumming as a hobby, now I a a student in a small college studying Jazz percussion. It has not been easy for, few reasons. First, i am a retired Army Nurse with many memories that haunt my dreams at times. I did two in Iraq tours and cared for the sick and wounded until I couldn’t do,it any more. I retired from the military and took the GI Bill and was accepted to the great music school. I am a 53 year old College Junior with a Master’s Degree in Trauma and Critical Care Nursing.

It’s like being a gorilla housed in the penguin exhibit at the zoo. I am learning amazing things, I love school and it has gone a long way to restoring my humanity. My favorite thing that I have learned is to lose my ego, that fear is an illusion that can be defeated.

The reason I am writing tonight is that I have an ensemble audition tomorrow. We are going to play: Take the A Train. I just  finished listening to Meditation 1 and will listen to it again before the audition I want very much to sound good but when I care too much about how it sounds, I can fill up with fear in seconds. I want to change that. That is the part I want to nail

Thank you for writing this book, it spoke to me, stoked my curiosity. I saw lots of references to Eastern culture and Buddhism, and great music. I am a big fan of all of those things.

My bottom line is “thank you”, and I will repeat it until I believe it, “I am great. I am a master.”

Cheers,
John

Dear Mr. Werner:

You kindly responded to an email I sent after your fantastic performance at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival a couple of years back. That performance remains in my mind as one of the most engaging live sets I have ever heard——which includes a hell of a lot of live music in Tokyo, New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich,
Taipei, Hong Kong, and many of the very best jazz venues in the world during my 60+ years.

A new CD with the same trio (and a few of the same charts) immediately got my attention, so I ordered “The Melody” as soon as I saw it was available. It is rare that I find a studio album as alive and emotionally satisfying as a live set, but this is an exception to the rule. It is sublime music, and it brings tears.

From the first of your recordings I ever heard (Gu-Ru—introduced to me by a friend while I was working in South Africa), I have found your music to be an inspiration; a rare form of beauty in a brutal world.

Thank you for all that you do. It is important.

Cordially,

Jim S.
St. Paul, MN