101 Ideas for Piano Teacher Self-Care

When you’re busy teaching piano & juggling schedules, sometimes you neglect to take care of yourself and just need some good, solid piano teacher self-care ideas to get you started.

Yes, you need self-care as a piano teacher

Maybe you are well aware of your physical, mental, and emotional needs and have obtained the perfect life/work/rest balance. If so, I congratulate you (come do a guest post and teach us all!).

But maybe you’re in a season where you feel like you’re burned out. You can’t breathe. You feel like you’re drowning. You end each teaching day wanting to cry.

If so, I urge you to do a HUGE favor for yourself. Try out some self-care ideas. You are worth it. Your family is worth it. Your piano students are worth it.

Why piano teachers avoid self-care

One of the biggest misconceptions about self-care is that it takes too much time. 

Time is a precious commodity. It’s something you can never get back once spent. And time is something all of us feel like we need more of.

So of course, when we think of adding anything to our schedule, it adds stress, because we don’t have that kind of room in our piano teaching schedule. 

Piano teacher self-care doesn’t have to be time-consuming

Self-care does not require loads of extra time. Self-care can be just five minutes to actually sit and enjoy coffee. Taking a deep breath. Turning off your phone–completely–for ten minutes.

It is a simple reallocation of time. Instead of skimming social media for ten minutes, intentionally use that time for something that is mentally refreshing & rewarding (and if you don’t realize you’re spending time scrolling social media, set your phone to have app time limits).

Another misconception is that self-care means forcing yourself to do something you don’t like because “it’s good for you.” 

On the contrary, you need to do something that appeals to you and feels rewarding and rejuvenating. If an idea doesn’t resonate with you, try something else.

To practice self-care, you do not have to make drastic changes.

You don’t have to completely revamp your life in order to rest & recharge.

You just have to be intentional.

Questions to consider for piano teacher self-care

I’m about to give you a whopping list of 101 self-care ideas for piano teachers. It’s an exciting list!

But here are some questions you can ask as you go through the list to help you land on the self-care ideas that fit your life.

• What makes your life easier?
• What eases your stress?
• What brings you joy?
• What helps you to rest?

Different people recharge in different ways.

Not all of these ideas bring joy & rest to everyone. For instance, going to the mall would not be a recharge for me! However, turning off my phone and music and reading a fictional book totally gives me rest and relieves stress.

You might be a mall-goer (no judgment here!). You might be a coffee drinker. A runner. A spa-day fanatic.

My goal in collecting this list is to give you tons of specific self-care ideas that fit into a piano teacher’s schedule so you can grab a handful to try out.

I’m positive there’s at least one thing on this list you can do today to help you rest & recharge, even if you’re in the middle of a busy season.

And get ready, because when you reach the end of the list, I definitely want to hear which one(s) you’re planning to try out!

101 Ideas for Piano Teacher Self-Care

These self-care ideas are divided into categories to make it easier for you to skim through multiple times if needed.

Special thanks to the Piano Teacher Central group for sharing how they intentionally practice self-care. So many of the ideas they shared made it into this list!

Music-related self-care ideas

1. Play a piece you love (play for yourself)
2. Learn a different instrument just for fun (not professionally)
3. Jam with friends
4. Turn on your favorite playlist
5. Listen to different genres of music
6. Compose original music
7. Arrange a favorite song
8. Take music lessons again
9. Improv (jazz, anyone?)
10. Attend concerts
11. Perform where it brings others joy (e.g. nursing home, assisted living, hospital, church)
12. Attend workshops
13. Join a community choir

Non-musical self-care ideas

14. Copy a poem by hand
15. Copy a Scripture verse by hand
16. Adult coloring
17. Write down 7 things you’re thankful for
18. Craft (knit, crochet, bead)
19. Draw
20. Creative writing (poetry, fiction)
21. Take art lessons
22. Take cooking classes
23. Collect something (vinyls, books, vases, comic books, snow globes)
24. Write a letter or postcard
25. Scrapbook
26. Cook/bake
27. Create visual art
28. Read/watch history
29. Play Wordle
30. Listen to inspirational books or podcasts
31. Play video games
32. Listen to a non-teaching podcast
33. Listen to a fictional audiobook
34. Watch a movie
35. Read a book for entertainment

Sensory self-care ideas

36. Turn off all noise/enjoy silence
37. Light and enjoy the ambience of a candle
38. Turn off your phone
39. Delete social media apps for one day
40. Meditate/pray
41. Turn off all devices by 8:00

Physical self-care ideas

42. Coffee (stop to enjoy it)
43. Tea
44. Pedi/mani
45. Spa day
46. Massage
47. Chiropractic care
48. Sleep (aim for 7-8 hours)
49. Eat well
50. Exercise
51. Bath (add essential oils or bath salts if desired)
52. Walk
53. Run
54. Breathing techniques (box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc)
55. Garden
56. Swim
57. Time in nature
58. Ride horses
59. Yoga
60. Drink water
61. Bike
62. Jiu Jitsu
63. Tennis
64. Therapy
65. Soccer
66. Lift weights
67. Kickboxing
68. Facial
69. Pilates
70. Hot shower
71. Sauna
72. Ride bike
73. Take a drive

Traveling self-care

74. Park
75. Theater
76. Zoo
77. Historical site
78. Mall
79. Nature site
80. Picnic

Schedule & Systems self-care

81. Schedule breaks throughout the day
82. Take the weekend off
83. Automate something (e.g. autopay, auto messaging)
84. Set clear boundaries
85. Stay organized
86. Establish systems
87. Use templates
88. Reserve one morning for self
89. Schedule admin time
90. Have designated workspace/play space/chill space
91. Vacation time
92. Quiet time before/after teaching
93. Spend first five minutes of morning doing something you love
94. “Fire” difficult students
95. Teach 4 days instead of 5
96. Get a second phone for business only

Community self-care

97. Pets
98. Friends
99. Family
100. Connect with other music teachers (join local group/association)
101. Connect with non-musicians

Now that you’ve got a list to work from, you have no excuse to keep you from caring for yourself.

How to incorporate piano teacher self-care ideas

At the writing of this blog post, I’m reading Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. It is a book I highly recommend for developing good habits with self-care.

One simple method Clear uses is the “2 minute rule,” which is: “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”

Start small with self-care.

If you’re planning to try walking for self-care, just walk for two minutes (it sounds ridiculous, but it’s possible; I just did it this morning). 

If you want to enjoy your coffee, set your timer for two minutes and do nothing else but enjoy coffee.

In addition to starting small, the “2 minute rule” also encourages “that nearly any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version.” 

What is the very first step you need to take to develop a self-care habit? Before you go out to play tennis, you need to find your tennis racket. Or put on your tennis shoes. 

Before you listen to an audiobook, you need to decide which audiobook you’ll listen to.

Before you get a pedicure, chiropractic care, massage, or cooking class, you need to make an appointment.

Once you do the first, 2-minute step, the following steps become easier.

If you need the extra boost, write down an appointment with yourself to make the choices you need to make self-care possible for you as a piano teacher.

Your turn!

What self-care ideas would you add to this list?

And, for the big question, what are you planning to do TODAY for some intentional self-care? What is your 2-minute step to be sure you do it? (if you absolutely cannot start today, then find a time on your calendar and schedule it right now)