i have NICK STRUTT here and he would like to offer his advice. he is one of the fourmost mandolin players in G.B. here he is................Hi Aine,you dont say how & why you are playing the mdo. Are you performing for an audience standing with hideous adrenalin levels? Are you sat with a group of Guinness soaked Celts?Each offers different opportunities. On the premise that the instrument is perfectly in the playing position ( it is easier to imagine a banjo perfectly balanced on your lap with no hands )no choking should occur. If there is muscular tension from whatever cause a sort of freezing effect can hit right or left hand. The producer of BBC Country Meets Folk [a 60's country/folk programme] told me the listening figures shortly before my performance live on air and this gem of knowledge paralysed my right arm just on cue for the solo. Sofas are death to musicians. Your body and the instrument must be married in the dance and one needs space to sway spin and fearlessly indulge your passion.