Horse Stance
You’ll need to find a playing position where you can maintain the relaxed, grounded sensation you achieved with the progressive relaxation and focused awareness exercises. The first step is to get a solid stance that will allow your upper body to relax. This stance is called ‘horse stance’ because it resembles the position you take when riding a horse. The aim is to create a posture in which your legs take the weight of your upper body, allowing it to relax:
- Stand comfortably with your feet shoulder-width apart and the outside of each foot parallel with the other.
- Unlock your knees by bending them slightly only until you feel that you’re taking all of your weight with your legs.
- Straighten your lumbar spine a little so that you tilt the top of your pelvis up and the bottom of your pelvis forward.
- Now be aware of the top of your sternum, the bone in the middle of your chest that your upper ribs connect to,and lift it. This will pull your shoulders and head back while keeping your chest relaxed.
- Allow your arms to hang loosely at your side and be aware of your whole upper body being lifted, as if a string was attached to the top of your head pulling you up.
This is the basic stance in tai chi practice and and also work well when you're playing your guitar. It typically takes some time to become comfortable with, short hamstrings tend to fatigue and lock the knees up every now and then. Hamstring stretches will help as will keeping the hip muscles relaxed and maintaining tone in the core hip flexor and abdominal muscles.