letting go

"We have to listen to ourselves, first of all. If I play, for example, holding the stick-where literally I do not let go of the stick-you'll experience quiet a lot of shock coming up through the arm. And you feel really quite-believe it or not-detached from the instrument and from the stick, even though I'm actually holding the stick quite tightly....If I just simply let go and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system, suddenly I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more. And I just feel, at last, one with the stick and one with the drum. And I'm doing far, far less." Evelyn Glennie, from this TED talk: As I was watching this video I couldn't help but think that what she was saying about playing music really did hold true for many things. Including knitting needles. Knitting is much easier after you learn to not hold the needles too tight....