Before I started Taiji I worked as an improvising musician for a few years. What I could never understand at the time was that my best performances inevitably came when I felt wretched, and my worst performances came when I felt great. I had to admit that creativity – moving people with spirit – has nothing to do with how one feels, and everything to do with how well connected one is with spirit at large. This connexion we call authenticity, and it requires a raw vulnerability, painful to experience and difficult to sustain.