The TuneUp Program

Stress

Some stress we need and some we don't. The tensile stress in your guitar strings is a good thing. When muscles shorten they generate a tensile stress in the tendons and the contractile forces are converted into movement, that's a good thing.
If you have heavy strings on a guitar made for lights the tensile load will be too large and the neck will be damaged. In the same way excessive myofascial contraction will change our shape and that's not such a good thing. Not a lot is known about what makes connective tissue tense although common experience reminds us that when we're mentally or emotionally stressed we react physically. Whether these are changes to facial expression, posture or "gut reactions" they all involve the interaction of the nervous and muscular systems and the connective tissue bed.

Why tai chi?

Physical relaxation skills, such as those you'll find here, aim to counter the physical affects of ongoing stress, regardless of it's cause. Tai chi teaches us, amongst other things, to move with as little physical stress as possible, effortlessly moving in and out of sometimes very awkward positions. This takes practice and the mastering of some very elementary skills, some of which are equally applicable to musicians.

The exercises are graded to increase your skill levels as you progress through them. You will not get to the end and know tai chi, you need to find a teacher for that, but you will have been presented with some of the most useful life skills that you could ever have.