A simple script to remind me to relax while practicing

Hey all, another hacky tool for anyone interested, maybe it will give you some ideas for yourself even if you don’t use it.

When practicing, it’s easy to build up tension, tighten shoulders, etc. This script just plays various relaxation reminders (e.g., “Breath deeply”, “Relax your pick grip”, “Release tension in your neck”, etc) periodically. I wrote it yesterday and tried it out a few times, it feels decent. Again, nothing fancy, it’s training wheels until I get into the habit of relaxing and monitoring unconsciously.

The code is at https://github.com/jzohrab/relax. It uses the Ruby scripting language, and only runs on a Mac (though improving it to also work on Windows should be easy … I don’t have Windows though).

Cheers and best wishes! jz

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Nice. I’ve heard “use a slack jaw,” and have been having success reducing tension