Alexander Technique Tools
Give Me My Props
Although the Alexander Technique is concerned with the use of the self, (the title of one of F.M. Alexander’s books) if there are props around why not use them? If you need a cane to help you walk, certainly you should use it; just use it with good use. Good use also applies while using a walker, a wheelchair, a table or a ledge to help you up or down. Other Alexander Technique ‘props’ may include a handrail while using the stairs, a golf club to help you get the ball from the hole-in-one you just made. (As many aspects of the Alexander Technique, using these well may be all fairly hard to describe, but easy to demonstrate.)
While sitting and reading in your home, you could help yourself by propping the book up on a table. If there is no table, (the subway for instance) you could rest the book on a pillow or a knapsack or a bag. These can help reduce the angle you need to look down while reading. Then look down with your eyes, and if you need more of an angle use your head-neck joint (atlanto-occipital) That joint was just made for looking up and down without collapsing and compressing your spine!
You might want to rest your foot on the bathtub while brushing your teeth or putting on makeup. (Or brushing your makeup while putting on your teeth) The back of a chair can be a useful prop for support while sitting, unless you collapse back into it. In fact all props may be useful or harmful depending on how we use them. It’s all how you use yourself.
Once again, the Alexander Technique gives you a choice.
Mark Josefsberg
917.709.4648
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