:(…
I’m with you @Gadget. I love putting on my experienced teacher hat and asking people to relax and breathe… but, damn it, at a show last weekend I got super amped up. When I get excited my whole body tenses. Adrenaline + my brain’s instinctual shouting “you’re trying to do a cool thing! Use muscles!!” = my muscles tighten up, everything feels like it’s in slow motion; clunky; not good.
So. I’m with you on this 100%.
Best thing to do is just dedicate practice time to relaxing and playing. Whatever the phrase or the situation is where you feel the tension, try and isolate it and play it. Let the brain and body get comfortable with the scenario so they’re not activating ‘fight-or-flight’ channels in the bio mechanics.
And then, like me, you’ll still have to deal with lapses.
Steady on, steady on, steady on.
(he said to himself…)