the secret key: a safe and effective method for any exercise - stay within your pain free range of motion - never move into the pain. even if your movements are small and somewhat restrictive at the start. so on a scale of 1- 10 (10 being the worst pain you ever felt in your life), stay within 3 or less, think ‘shave away restrictions’ little by little. after a few weeks of regular practice of any of above methods, you won’t believe the difference. nothing happens overnight. happytooting!
I think of practicing as a treat/ energizer/therapy. However there days when you just have to give it a rest. I try to stick to the same practice time each day because at this point in my life my days are tightly scheduled. I agree with “something is better than nothing”!
Same thing happens to me. I find that if I pick it up, mess around for 2-5 minutes (as others have described above) a couple of things might happen. I might start to practice. Or I might put it down and turn on the tube. That 2-5 minutes makes a difference the next night when I have more time to play. If I haven’t touched it in 2-3 days I notice to drop off immendiately.
I can’t really contribute a lot, other than to say that since I tend to wake up pretty early, I leave home well in advance of my start time at work and take either my flute or double bass with me and practice parts or scales before too many people show up (I just go into an out-of-the-way meeting room).
Then I play a bit after I get home after dinner (my wife is very understanding that way).
If I were more disciplined, I’d practice better, but this at least keeps me reasonably up on my game.
Shifting gears by doing something novel or at least not work may energize a person after work as may a nap, a light snack or cup of green tea. Physical exertion is a change in routine for much of industrialized society and will likely be restorative unless taken to an extreme. Even then it may prompt alertness, feelings later of well-earned rest and a mental boost. Such outcomes can lead to ITM…so be careful.
Trying going to sleep one hour earlier instead of doing the abovementioned mindless activities, wake up one hour earlier and do your practice the first thing in the day.
It’s wonderful to hear about those of your that play at work. I’ve been thinking about it, but it’s tough to find the time. Right now I practice just before cooking dinner, throughout cooking dinner, and for the 15-30 minutes after dinner where my family and I just chat. My son likes to dance while I play, or tries to give the flute a toot himself. Of course, I don’t play that entire time, but rather intermittently play. My wife likes to have conversations, so that always gets in the way
Umm, is the banana hammock absolutely necessary for the routine to be effective? Just wondering if I need to run out and buy a speedo in order to get the full benefit.
the secret key> : a safe and effective method for any exercise - stay within your pain free range of motion - never move into the pain. even if your movements are small and somewhat restrictive at the start. so on a scale of 1- 10 (10 being the worst pain you ever felt in your life), stay within 3 or less, think ‘shave away restrictions’ little by little. after a few weeks of regular practice of any of above methods, you won’t believe the difference. nothing happens overnight.
(Sigh) If only people would listen to this advice. Well, we can dream rama, we can dream. Of course then again, you and I would likely be largely out of business if everyone actually did follow that advice
