Sunday 15 January 2012

Running, cricket, playing piano and relaxation


Was running down a hill once and noted that I could relax more and let gravity take me to the bottom – then thought about how when you run, there’s a point at the top of your stride where theoretically you could be completely relaxed, even if only for a moment, and if you can do this, you’ll be able to run for longer…
Was watching the cricket once and one of the commentators mentioned how hard it must be to concentrate for a long innings, which may last for hours – another commentator stated that you only have to concentrate for the few seconds at a time as the bowler is bowling the ball, and the rest of the time you’re clearing your head, relaxing yourself and preparing for the next ball…
When I was taking piano lessons, my teacher said once that I need to relax my hand and wrist after I have played the note – it doesn’t take much muscle to hold the key down once it has been pressed – this is something that I’ve become increasingly aware of the more I play – I teach my students that they only need enough tension in their hands to press the key at the required dynamic (volume)…
All of these examples are about controlled tension – we need tension in our lives, but we need to control it – in the same way that a jogger only needs enough tension for each stride, and the cricket batsman only needs enough concentration for each ball as it happens, and the piano player only needs enough muscle tension for each note, we only need enough tension or stress for each moment in our lives – if we worry about what might happen tomorrow or regret what happened (or didn’t happen) yesterday, then we are using too much stress – it is unnecessary.
Our challenge in life is to control our tension and only use the amount that we need for each moment as it arrives – no more, no less…

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