Do you have cold hands even when the room and rest of your body is warm? Do you suffer from performance anxiety?
    Well, chronic cold hands may mean poor circulation or it may be a sign of stress. When we get very nervous or stressed out, our nervous system often triggers the "fight or flight" phenomenon. The blood rushes to our hips and trunk in order to fight off any threat (an old animalistic response) and our hands become cold. It is common that this phenomenon last throughout our days as we get bombarded with many stressors. Besides the cold hands, our muscles become tense (thus the tension felt in our shoulders when nervous). Sustained muscle tension can lead to aches and pains and hinder our playing performance. In order to help these pains we will need to reduce the phenomenon and stresses. One way is relaxation techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing. The "fight or flight" tension should not last throughout the day if we want to prevent a music-related injury. (see eBooks)