Would you like to schedule a workshop with Francesca? See below for details on the various workshop types offered, and click on the link below to schedule a session for your private studio, school, or music class! Pricing is offered on a sliding scale.
Wellness Warm-Ups
Join Francesca Leo, founder of www.playingwithoutpain.com, certified meditation instructor and Body Mapping Licensure Trainee for a Wellness Warm-Up Routine addressing strategies for injury prevention, stress management, and mindfulness in 45 minutes. Participants will learn to slow down and cultivate a greater sense of mind-body awareness through a brief body scan/centering exercise, as well as learn a physical warm-up routine to incorporate into their practice sessions, and how to incorporate simple stress management techniques into their warm-ups and daily lives. Participants will receive handouts of all activities demonstrated and examples for on-instrument warm-up exercises will be provided. Open to all instruments.
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Building a Sustainable Career: Injury Prevention and Stress Management Techniques for Musicians
You may have heard the phrase “your body is your instrument”, and this statement could not be more true! Taking good care of your mental and physical health and allowing your body rest as needed is just as important as practicing.
Various studies have demonstrated that the vast majority of musicians develop some type of performance-related injury throughout their careers. Join Francesca Leo, flutist, meditation instructor, and founder of http://www.playingwithoutpain.com, in an interactive workshop discussing various methods of activating the body's “rest & digest” relaxation response, efficient and effective practicing, and learning a physical warm-up routine that you can incorporate into your practice sessions to help prevent injury. During this workshop, Francesca will be discussing a brief overview of research regarding the prevalence of performance-related injuries in musicians. She will lead participants through a guided meditation and a body scan exercise followed by an improvisationally-based warm-up routine to begin cultivate a sense of mind-body awareness, notice habitual areas of tension non-judgementally, and begin your practice session with a greater sense of ease and freedom that you can carry through the rest of your day. For this online workshop, the audience will need their instrument, a few pillows or a blanket, and a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
Research Presentation: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of the Prevalence of Performance-Related Injuries and the Stress Connection in Collegiate Musicians
Join Francesca Leo, founder of www.playingwithoutpain.com, in a brief presentation outlining the findings of her IRB-Reviewed study “An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal PerformanceRelated Injuries and Stress Amongst Collegiate Musicians”, including an overview of existing research on the topic.
Abstract: In this cross-sectional study, researchers examined the prevalence of performance-based pain and related musculoskeletal injuries among undergraduate and graduate music majors at a large, Midwestern university. Study participants also reported on stress levels associated with their performance-related physiological challenges. Findings indicated a high incidence of performance-related pain and injury among study participants (88%, n = 38), and there was a significant, modest positive correlation between pain severity and performance-related stress (r = .40, p < .05). Implications for collegiate wellness programs and musician self-care are discussed.