Interview Questions:
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How often do you practise yoga, and how do you incorporate it into your practice routine?
I used to practise yoga for a few years. Now I do select exercises on a daily basis. I don’t incorporate yoga into my practice, rather, I have a movement practice I perform outside of practice and performance.
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What prompted you to start practising yoga?
I went through several performance related injuries where I experienced chronic pain in my left forearm, both shoulders, upper back, chest, neck, and lower back.
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Do you ever experience tension when playing and if so, does yoga help to relieve this tension and which yoga poses help relieve this most effectively?
I do. At this point in my health and wellness journey, I rarely do any yoga exercises to help relieve tension. I focus on Postural Restoration and various breathing exercises used in a systematic way.
The yoga exercises I go to rarely during a session include cat cow or a jefferson curl.
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In your experience, what can a music student gain from regular yoga practice in relation to the practice and progress on their instrument?
A music student can gain many things from a regular yoga practice (or any movement practice) including developing body awareness, the connection to how the body is feeling in a moment, increased capacity to breathe, deeper understanding of alignment, and a deeper level of focus.
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Have you or any of your students suffered from a playing related injury?
I have developed several performance related injuries and have worked with around 100 musicians who were going through chronic pain/injuries.
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How successful do you think yoga is as a form of preventative care against injury for music students?
I think yoga can be a helpful preventative care tool against injury, however, it is not the complete picture of health and wellness.
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Have you had any drastic transformations in your own or students' wellbeing, progress or mindset after regular practice of yoga?
Sort of! Please check out my testimonials on my instagram page. I aim to view health and wellness as holistic as possible and it’s rare to see a student only improve in one area of wellbeing. Likewise, I do program yoga exercises, but mostly incorporate other tools I have learned through professional education, certifications, and experience. It’s rare that I will give specific yoga routines to musicians who experience chronic pain or injury.
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Do you see a future in the inclusion of yoga into music students’ curriculum and if so, in what form?
I see a future where yoga is offered as an elective that music students can take in a curriculum, but I am not sure that “Yoga for Musicians” should be required as an isolated part of a curriculum without other health and wellness classes. There are MANY facets of physical health and wellness and in my opinion, focusing on one movement modality can cause unintended bias and potential harm over the long term. Likewise, yoga does not capture the entire picture of health and wellness. Rather than think, “yoga should be required,” what if we shifted our thinking towards helping students find a movement modality that best fits their situation?
Interview Questions:
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How often do you practise yoga, and how do you incorporate it into your practice routine?
I teach yoga 8 times a week, and do my own personal yoga practice 3-4 times a week. I incorporate light stretching into my trombone practice before I warm up (neck, shoulder, and back movements), and also pause to breathe and stretch whenever I start to feel tension creeping into my playing.
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What prompted you to start practising yoga?
My college piano professor thought that I might benefit from yoga, so I tried a class freshman year of college and was hooked ever since! I am so grateful for this start to my yoga practice.
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Do you ever experience tension when playing and if so, does yoga help to relieve this tension and which yoga poses help relieve this most effectively?
Oh yes. I actually had a trombone neck injury from holding tension in my posture in college. Yoga was what saved me (that, plus time off from playing. Rest, rest, rest!) I did a lot of neck and shoulder releasing exercises, and yoga poses where I could release neck tension, like forward folds. The balance that I found in my body through yoga helped my posture tremendously. Holding a strong posture helped relieve a lot of the tension I was carrying while playing. I also worked with a physical therapist on strengthening exercises for my neck and shoulders.
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In your experience, what can a music student gain from regular yoga practice in relation to the practice and progress on their instrument?
So much. Yoga not only helps balance the body and relieve physical tension and stress, but it also is wonderful for mental health. A large aspect of yoga is breathwork and meditation. Both of these can help reduce stress and anxiety, something that musicians deal with a lot with performing. I have become a better performer since having regular meditation and breathwork practice.
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Have you or any of your students suffered from a playing related injury?
I have. As stated above, my neck injury really put a halt on my progress as a musician. I took two years off of playing to heal. Luckily none of my students have had an injury. Probably because I am such a stickler when it comes to posture!! Posture and breath are the two most important things I teach. I encourage playing without tension so no physical injuries can happen, but also you sound better when you play without tension!
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How successful do you think yoga is as a form of preventative care against injury for music students?
Yoga is a very wonderful preventative measure against injury. I wish I had known about yoga long before I did. I also wish my teachers had known how to address posture and tension while playing. I had to figure all of that out on my own after I was injured. If teachers knew more about the physical well being of musicians, way less students would be prone to injury.
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Have you had any drastic transformations in your own or students' wellbeing, progress or mindset after regular practice of yoga?
Absolutely. I have noticed that my focus has improved (which helps with practising music!), and I am way less irritable and stressed when challenging things happen in my life. I have become a better performer because I can manage my performance anxiety much better.
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Do you see a future in the inclusion of yoga into music students’ curriculum and if so, in what form?
I sure hope so! That’s the goal! A few schools of music offer musician wellness courses, and even fewer offer regular yoga classes for musicians. I would love to see every school of music have these resources for their students someday
In order to gain a wider perspective, I interviewed two professional trombonists who have dealt with playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. Both musicians have found relief in their injuries through using two differing methods. One uses a holistic movement modality that centres on postural restoration and the other harnasses the practice of yoga. As a result of their personal experience with pain and tension, they have pursued injury prevention in their pedagogy and have become qualified specialists in their respective fields.
The first musician is Austin Pancner, a Bass Trombonist currently based in Indiana pursuing his Doctorate at Indiana University. He has obtained a Master's Degree in Performance at Indiana University as well as gaining a variety of health and wellness certifications such as:
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Certified Personal Trainer - National Academy of Sports Medicine
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Functional Movement Systems Level 1
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Certified Movement and Mobility Specialist - The Ready State
Due to the sudden emergence of intense pain in his left arm, Austin was forced into a three year rehabilitation process. After addressing his own injury, Austin now works as an injury coach helping fellow musicians through his online coaching company “The Functional Musician”. In three years, Austin has managed to help over 100 musicians overcome issues such as “tendinitis, bursitis, carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet syndrome, lower crossed syndrome, and chronic pain”(Pancner, A. About Austin, Functional Musician. Available at: https://www.thefunctionalmusician.com/about-austin).
Amelia Rosenberger is a Tenor Trombonist currently based in Dallas who has dedicated her professional life to helping musicians relieve tension through the practice of yoga. She is the co-founder of Yoga For All Musicians, an online yoga studio that caters for the specific physical needs of musicians. After experiencing extreme tension in her neck, Amelia suffered from burnout and was forced to stop playing for a year following her undergraduate studies. This experience motivated Amelia to pursue a 500 hour certificate in yoga therapy from the Kripalu School of Yoga. She now teaches weekly classes through her online studio.
The interview with Austin provides a non-biased response as his method of injury prevention does not fit a particular system or practice. It also centres prodominantly on treatment as opposed to preventative as most of his 'students' come to him already experiencing injury. His method combines techniques and treatments from multiple sources, therefore he is not bound to the confines of an existing practice. A result of this is that he provides a critical perspective that does not always favour the teachings of yoga in a positive way. For example, whilst he recognises that yoga provides benefits that assist musicians in their injury recovery, he points out that using it as a sole method of treatment could be potentially harmful for the musician. Austin's background and qualifications surrounding movement and mobility solidify this argument and consequently I agree with this observation. As I progress in my research of injury prevention, I aim to keep this observation in mind.
He also emphasises that many of the benefits that come with regular yoga practice can be found in other movement practices. Whilst I recognise that this is the case, I find the unique spiritual practises of yoga to resonate and equp musicians with tools that support healthy practice and performance in a way that is missing from other movement modalities.
Overall, the interview provided me with a refreshing perspective on yoga as it included both positive and negative opinions of the practice. Following this interview, I now approach my yoga practice with an extra layer of awareness. I continue my practice with a reminder to curious and open to contradictions. This newfound curiosity is explored further in the practice diary.
In comparison to my interview with Austin, the answers given by Amelia may have greater potential of conatining bias. However, it also offers a greater background knowledge of yoga due to her 500 hour certificate in yoga therapy and experience teaching with Yoga for All Musicians.
Throughout the interview emphasis is frequently put on the importance of postural and breath work. This aligns with the approach of Austin. Subsequently, we can now see evidence of successful postural and breath centred treatment in both preventative and therapeutic contexts. Further success of this method is noted in my personal practice diary.
Another common theme is the value of rest in recovery. This is not something I had previously implemented in my process as the pain I experience is not often felt outside of practice. Whilst I can recognise the importance of rest, in my case it becomes difficult to address a pain in a setting where it is not especially present.
Amelia frequently advocates the positive impacts yoga practice on mood and mental health. Having utilised yoga to overcome her burnout Amelia is proof of its effectiveness. This is an impact unique to the practice of yoga that I believe sets it apart from other movement modalities.