Hi and welcome to Musician’s Maintenance Weekly the COVID-19 edition. It’s a whole different world from last week and musicians are being hugely impacted, so this week is all about resources to support you.
It’s not lost on me that musicians are among the hardest hit by the unfortunately necessary social distancing. Concerts, rehearsals and festivals have been canceled. Students are no longer showing up. And if you are a music student, online education is not nearly as straightforward as English or math.
You are being forced to sacrifice your livelihood, education and passion (articles on it here, here, and here) and unfortunately I don’t think most of the world has noticed. I also don’t think that most of the world notices that you are being forced to make these sacrifices when life as a musician during the best of times is anything but secure. Your income can be unpredictable leading to difficulty accumulating savings, and all too often health insurance is either minimal or non-existent.
I work in a hospital and we are bracing for the worst. The math just isn’t in our favor (see this and this for more) and in the next few weeks the hospital is preparing for the possibility of too many sick people, not enough critical care space, not enough ventilators and having to literally decide who lives and who dies.
If you are receiving this email, then there is only a very low chance that you will get sick enough to need any of these services even if you are infected. But please know that the sacrifices you are making have the potential to save an awful lot of human lives.
Chances are slim that anyone will notice just how much you’ve given, but I do.
So in case you don’t hear it from others…thank you.
I also hope that you’ll keep making and sharing music. We need it now more than ever.
In an effort to do what I can to help you out, I have collected several resources that I think may be useful.
Here they are…
Musician financial aid list in the coronavirus crisis
Karen Hall over at Musician Health Resource has done a great job compiling a list of both national and state by state funds to financially help musicians.
Read: Musician financial aid list in the coronavirus crisis
Successfully combating COVID-19
Andrew Huberman is a professor of neurobiology at Stanford who is also a great Instagram follow if you are a neurobiology nerd like me. He recently posted his science-based perspective with a big picture look at how we combat COVID-19. It includes…
- The multiple related efforts necessary
- What we know for sure
- How to support immunity without falling for hoaxes
- Ways to cope with the stress of the situation
- How not to stress your kids to the point of trauma
- Limiting the emotional contagion
- And more
Give it a look and put some of his ideas into practice.
Read: Successfully combating COVID-19
How to actually improve your immune system
There’s a lot of information out there on improving your immune system, and most of it lacks any scientific validity. However I came across this series of tweets (now compiled in a Google Doc) from professor of psychoneuroimmunology Mark Hutchinson with some science-based advice. Here’s his advice from the tweets…
- Social distancing
- Diverse microbiome
- Quality sleep and plenty of water
- Combination of breathwork and cold exposure
- Keep smiling, get some sun and laughs
- Don’t forget the wine!
Most interesting to me was the cold exposure and breathwork. The study he cites is also cited by Wim Hof who I have featured in the newsletter in the past. But I’ve been skeptical of the results since Wim has so much to gain financially from the outcome. To see it taken seriously by Professor Hutchinson has got me back to breathing and cold showers.
If you are interested in cold exposure, hit reply and I can give you a reasonable way to get started. The 5 min cold shower that Professor Hutcinson quotes is a bit much.
For breathwork, keep scrolling down for free mediation or hit reply if you want more on Wim Hof style breathwork.
Tweets: How do you know you are sick
For your mental health
30 days of free meditation
Mindfulness is one of the better ways to manage all of this stress and uncertainty. I’ve shared this before, but I have a link that will get you access to all of the meditations and courses that the 10% Happier app has for 30 days. Click the link below, sign up and start taking care of your mind.
Meditate: Free 30 days of 10% Happier
Heavily discounted book on stoic philosophy
If meditation isn’t your thing, how about stoic philosophy? Stoic philosophy is all about putting things into perspective, taking adversity and turning it into opportunity.
Ryan Holiday has done a ton to popularize it and his book, The Obstacle is the Way (Affiliate) is excellent. Even better, it’s available in Kindle format at Amazon for a limited time for only $1.99. It’s great for times like these or the general challenges of life as a musician.
For your physical health
Pay what you can musician’s health program
Rachel Galvin White from Mindfelt Methods put out an instagram post that she is offering a light version of her Perform Without Pain program at a “pay what you can” rate. The program looks very good. I’ve featured it here before, so if you were interested then, now would be a good time to take an even closer look.
Send her an email (rachel@performwithoutpain.com) to learn more.
Instagram: Pay what you can musician’s health
Free consult with me
With your calendar cleared out by social distancing, perhaps now is an opportunity to spend a little more time taking care of your body. You’ve got the 10 exercise injury prevention program. If you’re not using it, maybe now is the time to give it a try.
To take that one step further though, if you need any help with it, please contact me. Either hit reply, send me an email (cody@musiciansmaintenance.com) or DM me on any social media and we can set up a time to talk on the phone or do a video chat.
I can’t practice physical therapy across state lines (I’m only licensed in Colorado), so I can’t offer specific diagnoses, treatments, etc. But I can talk about wellness and educational topics like…
- Adjusting/customizing the injury prevention program
- Discussing an exercise program in general
- General injury prevention tactics
- Answer really any other questions you have
There’s no charge. I’ll spend the time that I can with you and do what I can to help.
Another physical therapist for musicians named Janice Ying, who is based in LA is offering something similar. You can learn more from her Instagram post here.
Please share
Pass this offer along to friends, colleagues, or anyone else. They don’t need to sign up for anything. They can just email me (cody@musiciansmaintenance.com) and we’ll find time to meet.
It’s not much, but I hope it’s something you can use.
If there’s anything else that I can possibly help you with, please hit reply and let me know.
Otherwise stay safe, social distance, wash your hands, and please keep sharing music!