Needless to say we sometimes forget how much our physical condition allows us to successfully pursue the musical journey we embark upon. Seldom are we really cognizant to the importance of our good health to accomplish the monumental tasks we set for ourselves. A normal European tour for me is 60 to 70 gigs in 90 days and 16,000 Kilometers in an economy car! A lot is taken for granted until some necessary ingredient stops functioning! The health and conditioning we rely on should be maintained for optimal results. Our common goal as musicians is to mine the wealth of our emotional experience and to play forever.
Well, we are asking a lot from our physical capabilities. We are asking our backs to hold heavy objects for long periods of time. We ask our shoulders to support every kind of instrument. Our arms are positioned in uncanny poses for long periods of time. We ask our backs and legs to sit through long performances. We hammer our fingers into keys, valves, and strings.
Musicians endure every kind of physical abuse in order to practice their craft. Ignoring blisters, back pain, rashes, chronic rheumatism, arthritis, and bursitis. Ignoring calluses, cramps, charlie horses, sciatic nerve pain, headaches, and earaches. It is impossible to exaggerate the adverse physical conditions and stresses musicians live and work with! I do not intend to ignore them either.
How can I, after 40 plus years of unencumbered playing and reaching for physical peak performing levels, not have encountered the reality of my body’s limitations? This Olympic marathon of performing, practice as well as travel and survival on the road has demanded the price of instant physical retaliation. Pain in the form of cramps and throbbing pulses, followed by numbness, cramps and discomfort in my fingers and lower arms. Elbows aching and hurting, Back aches leading to sciatica. Necks stiffness, leg cramps, weakness in muscles leading to stiff joints. In numerable ways my body revolted to the Herculean tasks set for it. How many of my fellow brothers and sisters of music have experienced some form of this in varying degrees or extremes? How many friends have faced the physical limits of their musical existence?
This is certainly what I was facing when I suddenly recalled a seemingly small experience from my past. In my early 20’s I had taken 6 months of YMCA Yoga. In the past thirty years I had dabbled in exercising in small spurts but I had never done a serious daily routine.
So I began a long and rewarding journey of blending standard yoga and common sense movements into a program that brought me back into a level of health and mobility I needed to continue my musical craft. I had entered the Ashran to be reborn…the String Surfer!
Even the simplest of Hatha Yoga Asanas prove beneficial to alleviate discomfort and build resilience and reserves. Breathing and stretching one’s body bring immediate benefits by oxygenating the blood flow, cleansing toxins from muscles, and clearing brain activity. And so recovering one’s health and mobility. Not too mention immediate clarity of mind to help make the right lifestyle decisions for optimal energy. Almost miraculously but hardly magically since you are giving your body the time and a chance to rejuvenate and revitalize. Your mind has moments of rest to refresh your creative inspiration. You actually get in touch with your inner voice and find the peace to think through life’s complications. Opening avenues for artistic spark and sensible planning, calming mind and body is a great place to start to rethink much of modern life’s traps and dead ends.
Through a new system of exercising as well as Yoga and a much healthier lifestyle,every problem area in my upper torso could now be addressed with a specific counter exercise designed to alleviate chronic carpel tunnel damage. Repetitive muscular overuse could be reversed through finding the opposite movement beneficial in relaxing stressed muscle groups. At the same time building strength and resilience to have a firm power base to work from.
Each of these new exercises was designed to prohibit problems from arising and realigning troubled areas.
For optimal results please consider these guidelines:
The slower you make your first steps into this program the better you can access what is good for you specifically. Get to know and understand your own body and access what it responds to.
Listen to your body and how it reacts, it will lead you to the areas you need to work on.
Slow and deliberate movements help you take a complete inventory of your own needs.
Do not overdo these exercises and expect immediate super results, this may back fire on you and slow down your progress, requiring that you actually rest and recuperate before continuing. You need to slowly work out your own routine that works best for you and this is best attained by deliberate and conscientious exercising.
Use these 10 basic String Surfer Asanas as your building blocks to a completely healthy lifestyle goal. Share your success with fellow musicians.
Develop your own variations, tailored to your specific needs and become a String Surfer in your own image!
I use these exercises as a whole or just as a part of my daily routines to stay in a painless, mobile space!
Thoughtful, deliberate, relaxed enjoyment of this program will bring incredible joy into your musicianship and longevity into your career. Make this your first step into a lifelong commitment to excellence and health!