“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures”

F.M. Alexander

Alexander Technique Tip #1:  Oppositions

The one area people ask me about most concerns sitting at the computer, perhaps something you’re doing at this moment. We tend to collapse, poking our necks and faces towards the screen. Sound familiar? When we do this we lose our oppositions, one of the principles of the Alexander Technique.

What we want is for our neck to be free of excess tension, so that our head can move up. Directionally speaking, we want our neck back and up. At the same time we want our sit bones to release down into the chair.

So, head and torso up and, in opposition to that, sit bones down. This opposition facilitates lengthening of the spine and, when you get the hang of it, feels good!

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and this is your own self.”
Aldous Huxley, author, philosopher, Alexander Technique student

Alexander Technique Tip #2:  Allow my neck to be free, allow my head to move forward and up.

But before we talk about the head, let’s talk about the butt. After posting Alexander Technique tip #1, a few people have asked me questions about the sit bones.The sit bones are ‘U’ shaped bones at the bottom of the pelvis. If you put your hands under your bottom sliding in from the sides and then sit on your hands, you’ll feel them. You want to be sitting on these bones rather than slumping and sitting on your sacrum (tailbone)

Now, back to the head. ‘I wish to free my neck to allow my head to move forward and up’. Ok, up is up, but what is forward?  Isn’t that our head moving towards the computer screen? Not in this case. In this case, forward is a forward rotation of the head on the spine. An easy way to achieve this is to slowly lower your nose as you think of the crown of your head moving up. Now, don’t force it, or even DO it, but allow it to happen. You allow it to happen by freeing your neck, allowing the muscles to lengthen. Take your time.

Mark  Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly that it is wrong to treat a painful back as a local condition. Back pain is always accompanied and preceded by general misuse.”

Dr. Wilfred Barlow

Alexander Technique Tip #3:  To allow my torso to lengthen and widen

This Alexander Technique direction follows “I wish to free my neck to allow my head to move forward and up.”

If your neck is tense or, in more Alexandrian terms, if you’re tensing your neck, not only will it bring your head back and down, but it will shorten and narrow your torso. You can try it yourself to see.

The torso starts at the pelvic floor and goes all the way up to where the cervical spine meets the head, which is higher up than we usually think.

Note that the torso includes the lower back and the neck, two places people most often report pain. So, when you shorten and narrow your torso, you’re compressing the discs in the lower back and neck. This isn’t what we want. What we want is expansion. Up, down and out.

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

Alexander Technique Tip #4: To allow my legs to move away from my torso.

Welcome to the 4th tip, and thanks for reading these! I’m really enjoying the challenge of simplifying some fairly complex ideas, while keeping these writings short. I hope you’re finding these Alexander Technique tips valuable. If you live in the NYC area, or know someone who does, please contact me. If you don’t live around New York City, please consider studying the Alexander Technique with me via Skype. Also, If you know someone who you think may benefit from these Alexander Technique tips, please let them know.

‘Keep your length-’ That was the phrase he used and it’s a perfect description of what ought to be taking place in the arms, legs, neck and torso.’

Walter Carrington speaking of F. M. Alexander.

The idea of legs away from torso is vital for freedom while seated, standing, sitting down, standing up, walking, bending; in short; movement and posture. The opposite of legs away from torso results in a tightening of the legs and stiffness or rigidity in movement. This tightening may result in back pain, hip pain etc.  Also when you are rigid or when you tighten one area of the body, there’s a good chance you’re tightening somewhere else. You could try it for yourself by stiffening your toes a few times right now. Is anything else tightening? How about your calves or your thighs? Is it possible you’re slightly tightening something as far away as  your jaw?

Especially when seated, think of ridding yourself of any leg tension, and they will gently ‘move away’ from your torso. Now breathe fully. You’re all connected.

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

“Change involves carrying out an activity against the habit of life.”

F.M. Alexander

Alexander Technique Tip #5: My shoulders release out the sides.

We don’t want our stomachs in, chest out and shoulders back.

What we want for our shoulders is the left one to the left, and the right one to the right. If we release excess tension in our upper chest, our shoulders will naturally widen out. We don’t want to push or pull on our shoulders; we just want to stop narrowing them. Narrowing takes place by slumping, or by putting our shoulders back, military posture style.

We also want to remember that our upper arms aren’t glued to our torso. Just as we want leg/torso separation, we also want arm/torso separation.

When using our arms to put our hands on a computer keyboard, we want to think that we are just lifting the fingertips. This will reduce excess tension in the neck, shoulders, back and more.

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

Alexander Technique Tip #6: Alexander Technique Directions

Don’t just do something…sit there.

I wish to free my neck, so that my head can move forward and up, so that my torso can lengthen and widen, and my legs can move away from my torso, and my shoulders can release out the sides.

If we think that our legs flow all the way to our toes, and our shoulders flow all the way to our fingertips, these directions encompass our whole body. However, we don’t want to do any of this. We really want to prevent the opposite from happening.

We can think about freeing our necks as stopping the tightening so that our heads stop moving back and down. Our torso will lengthen and widen by itself, if we stop the shortening and narrowing (as in slumping, for instance). Our legs will move away from our torso when we stop tightening them, which draws them in to the torso. Our shoulders will release out the sides if we stop drawing them together. This can either happen by slumping, or by sticking our shoulders back; both forms of narrowing.

So we can think of these primary directions as preventive. Alexander said that if you stop doing the wrong thing, the right things do themselves. This is very evident as we become more experienced with these directions.

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

Alexander Technique Tip # 7:  Walk Tall

Want to try an experiment? Take one step forward and then meet the front foot with the back foot. You can do it several times. What you can notice when you do this is: What is moving forward first?

Is it your foot? Your face? Your hip? Your thigh? Your chest?

Ok, now that you’ve read this go ahead and give it a try and see how you initiate the movement of walking. Become aware of what goes forward first. I’ll wait , and I’ll be here when you get back.

Back so soon? Nice to see you.

Now try it again and this time start the movement with a knee going forward first. You might find this challenging in the beginning. (I did. I lead with my chin)

We all develop habits for one reason or another. It would be a great thing to develop the habit of leading with our knee when we walk. We may really save ourselves a lot of trouble down the line. The trouble may come in the form of hip, knee, neck or back issues. Give it a shot.

And remember, in any movement, start with the head moving away from the top of the spine. Then, the knee moves forward.

Alexander Technique Tip #8: Forward and Up

When we say or think the first part of the primary directions ‘I wish to free my neck so that my head can move forward and up’, what is forward? And what is up? And why is it a wish? And what is my head? And what is my neck? And what is free?

‘Forward’ can be explained in different ways, but I find that thinking of forward as a forward rotation works best.  It’s a forward rotation of the head on the spine, while the crown of the head moves up. Up is up; that’s easy.

Well, I’ve asked a lot of questions, so let’s get started. It’s a wish because it can’t be a demand. It’s not something you do; it’s something you undo. You can’t make, or force your neck. Freeing your neck is actually an absence of  something; excess tension. That’s why it’s a wish.

My head? My head is that big bony thing on the top of my neck. But it’s useful to know where the neck ends and where the head begins. The top cervical disc is called the atlas. The part of the head that interfaces with that disc is called the  occiput. The joining point of the head and neck is called the atlanto-occipital joint. The top of the spine, then, is higher than we usually think. One could imagine that the neck ends around the height of the earholes.

What is free? In this case free means released or the least amount of tension necessary. Well, I hope I answered some of my questions for you.

Alexander Technique Tip #9: Breathing

In terms of the Alexander Technique all we’re after is full, natural breathing. If you’ve ever watched a baby or a cat breathe, you can see full, natural breathing in action. Everything is allowed to move. There is no holding anywhere.
Some of us know about ‘deep breathing’. We are taught that we want to let our stomachs (force our stomachs?) to move in and out. The abdominal area moves because it is making room for the diaphragm to rise and fall and yes, that movement is desired. However, with the Alexander Technique we want the entire ribcage also to be able to contract and expand, and the ribs go very far up the torso. There’s even one set of ribs above the collarbones.
So, let yourself contract and expand way down low, way up high, all along your sides, and your whole back. Allow yourself to breathe fully; naturally.

Alexander Tip #10:  Whispered Ah

Last tip was about full, natural breathing. I hope everybody got to breathe this week.  Today I will describe an exercise called the whispered ah. ?In much of the Alexander Technique you will hear the word expansion; head away from torso, torso away from hip joints, arms away from torso etc.  However, one time Alexander stressed contraction was during the act of breathing. ‘Let your ribs contract’, he repeatedly told a student. He was highlighting the area of exhalation in the breathing cycle; you ‘empty’ your lungs so you have something to fill. ?After the exhalation let your lips gently come together and inhale through your nose silently, then do another whispered ah. See if you can release your neck, your jaw, and the back of your tongue. Add a little smile as you exhale. You could do five or ten of these before you give it a rest. With this exercise we want a full, slow exhalation. We want to whisper an open ‘ah’ sound. Listen to make sure there’s no real definite start to the sound; it just flows like you’re riding a wave. Allow your jaw to open fully, as you do when you yawn.

Alexander Technique Tip #11:  Standing

We want to think of the opposition of the feet releasing down to the ground while the rest of the body is moving up from the ankle joints. In the alexander Technique there are oppositions within oppositions however.
Think of the legs flowing down away from the torso and the torso moving up away from the legs. Another way to think of this would be leg/torso separation.
As a general principle think of the knees forward and the hip joints back. The knees are unlocked.
Within all of this the neck is free, the head is forward and up and the head is leading the spine into length.

Alexander Technique Tip #12: Constructive Rest

Alexander Technique’s Constructive rest position is a whole lot of nothing. Doing nothing isn’t as easy as it sounds though. What you want to do is find a place to lie down on the floor. A carpeted floor is fine, as is a yoga mat. You’re going to be lying down on your back with your head on a few paperback books. The height of the books should be high enough so that your face is parallel to the floor. Your forehead could be slightly higher than your chin. A little extra book height is better than not enough. Either have one or both feet flat on the floor, to help ease tension in the lower back. Your hands could be by your sides, or resting on your torso.
You could think about F.M. Alexander’s  primary directions: allow your neck to be free so that your head can move forward and up, so that your torso can lengthen and widen, and your legs can move away from your torso, and you shoulders release out the sides.
Take five or ten minutes, and enjoy gravity as it helps lengthen and widen you. See if you have tension somewhere, and let it go. You could also take this opportunity to do some whispered ahs.