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My hands are heavy when I play. They are also big. Thus, even with 10 years of lessons behind me (albeit misguided as some of them may have been), I am not able to play Mozrt with the relaxation and definition that are demanded from his Sonatas.
The effect I experienced in my fingers sitting at the piano bench having mowed the lawn only two minutes earlier was that I played with just the relaxation and definition I had been looking for all along.
I thought I would share this, because it was very interesting.
Also, I am not sitting at a correct height with respect to the piano keys. My elbows hang below the piano. Would raising the bench make it such that my wrists would be more relaxed while playing? What other suggestions do you have for relaxed playing? E.g., does high tempo ideally need to be achieved only while playing in the absence of stress in the wrist? What about flexibility in the wrist? Wrist down, or wrist parallel to the keys? How much does arm movement matter?

I mentioned the experience after I had mowed the lawn, because it felt so right! I knew that I was indeed using the correct delicateness but there was also precision.

This reminds me of something I read awhile back and recall vaguely - it was a reminesence by a concert pianist - that he'd suddenly done much better with a troublesome passage after he'd spent an afternoon rebuilding his garden gate, a process that involved a good bit of sawing by hand.

Power mower? Seriously, I've played after mowing with a power mower and noticed that the sensation was completely differed due to the lingering effect of the vibration in the forearms. The muscles were fully charged with blood but not fatigued since you don't have to grip very hard. Furthermore the nerves in the hands were desensitized leading to a disruption in the usual feedback mechanism and a completely different sensation in the fingers.

Always take careful note of the conditions and sensations that occur when you are playing well. This is important if you wish to recreate them.

My guess is in lawn mowing you loosen up the collateral ligaments.

Dig this!
The appearance of the hand is shown following wide excision of skin, palmar fascia, flexor tendons, lumbricals, and neurovascular bundles. The small and ring fingers are postured in extension due to the absence of flexor tendons. The resection specimen is shown above.

Seal et al. World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2005 3:41 doi:10.1186/1477-7819-3-41
Download authors' original image

I hope no one's having breakfast.

It's only the human body Frank. (he deleted my picture as 'gross'!)

Just lost my coffee....at least the keyboard still works!

Gross!

Can we spell "gratuitous" boys, and girls?

Raising the piano bench could help you. "Reaching up" for the keys can be a dangerous position that exposes the wrist, hand, and forearm to injuries. It is better to have the forearm level with the keyboard, or possibly with the elbow an inch or two higher.

It is possible to order longer legs for Jansen benches, if that is what you have, since the vertical travel on the seat is only about three inches.

You could probably post the image as a link, and warn people that it's "graphic."

It was gross - and I work in anatomic pathology.

and very informative. Can't find it now.

I'm inviting everyone to come practice this hand relaxation technique in my yard and on my garden gate.

Then, there are devices that vibrate but do not saw or mow...

"Pneumatic drills?" she asked innocently.

Sanders, I think, sanders.