Dear shakuhachi players, In response to Herb Rodriguez's comments about
posture and breathing I want to share my story of injury,in the hope that
some of you might avoid the difficulties I have encountered.
I've been experiencing severe tendonitis in my wrists for the past 4 years
as a direct result of playing shakuhachi. This manifests as heat and
tingling in the wrist area and accompanying weakness in grip and holding
ability in both hands. In my ignorance, at the beginning of the symptoms I
chose to continue playing until I couldn't pick up the instrument (or
anything else) without pain. My hands were so weak I couldn't pull items off
the supermarket shelf. I stopped playing for a few weeks and recovered, only
to revisit the experience again and again as soon as I had been in my
habitual playing pattern for a while.
So I started to educate myself about what was going on both physiologically
and mentally and that journey is still going on. My observations:
-Once I was injured I am forever predisposed to that type of injury.
-Recovery means learning to live with my predisposition to injury. The
injury is to be cared for during shakuhachi time and at all other times too.
-There is little understanding amongst shakuhachi teachers about
body/flute/mind relationships.
-I have found no one-step cure.
-Being obsessive about shakuhachi led me into injury. Wanting to sound
'good', wanting to play a piece as the score says, wanting to learn more
technically difficult pieces, wanting to practice many hours a day. Wanting
to attain, period, and thus playing beyond the capabilities of my body.
Rehabilitative procedures that have helped:
-STOP PLAYING, at least for a while.
-I learned not to override my body signals.
-I changed my posture so that my spine is aligned correctly over my hips and
neck and head sits on my shoulders without tipping forwards or backwards.
(my Rolfer gave me the best advice).
-Rolfing was helpful in releasing cronic tensions that had built up over the
years and that were essentially invisible to me. It gave me a blank slate
with which to re-educate my pattern tendencies.
-I became a tension-hunter, looking for areas where I was holding tension,
some of which can be very subtle. I softened my grip and hung my arms more
loosely from the shoulders. Shoulder/back tensions are still being looked at
and continue to give me problems.
_I learned how to do a good upper-body/hands comprehensive stretch before,
during and after playing.
-I learnt some simple yoga exercises to do every day that directly heal and
build strength in my wrists, arms and shoulders and are the reason I can
still play shakuhachi today.
_I learnt to vacuum the studio floor(or any other such task) between pieces!
-above all I learnt to love and respect injured-ME as shakuhachi enthusiast,
My desires, my pains my frustrations and all.
Everytime I was injured I was forced to re-examine my relationship with this
bamboo....what does it mean to me, what constitutes 'right' playing for me,
where is balance. I let go of all wants except the want to blow and I'm
finding I stopped playing sankyoku and modern pieces and play only the
'simpler' honkyoku pieces like Kyo-choshi, Sashi or Kyushu Reibo.
Of course I'm finding that these short, easier-to-finger pieces are
bottomless and infinitely rich in possibility and I'm wondering why I have
been so intent on devouring technically harder and longer pieces. I'm
understanding that all my shakuhachi joy and expression can realize it's
fullest potential with these pieces and I'm not missing anything.
I would so welcome any comments from others who have had problems. It's been
a bit of a lonely road, with much misinformation and I'm still learning.
David Sawyer
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jan 31 2001 - 12:46:36 PST