Using The Alexander Technique To Relieve Tension And Stress
In Alexander Technique lessons, I often use the words let and allow, as in allow your neck to be free or let your head lead your spine into length. Alexander Technique teachers often say allow your entire ribcage to contract and expand as you breathe and allow your sit bones to release down into the chair. Let your torso gently spiral as you walk, allow your jaw to release, let the Alexander Technique relieve tension and stress, and countless other examples of allowing… letting…
If we need to allow things to happen, perhaps we unconsciously disallow them from happening. The disallowing has become habitual.
We unconsciously shorten, narrow, compress, grip, tighten and hold. It’s unconscious because nobody purposefully lives with their necks tensed and shortened, bringing their shoulders up around their ears. Have you ever noticed you feel better in almost every way when you’re on vacation? It might not be because of what you’re doing; it might be because of what you’re not doing.
We may continue harmful patterns until something or someone makes us aware of them. This awareness may occur because we notice our bad posture (in a photo or video), we start to experience pain, or we take an Alexander Technique lesson.
We usually don’t allow our necks to be free. This disallowing, or tightening may occur 24 hours a day (yes, even during sleep) It becomes normal, though not natural, to walk around (and sit around ) with lots of excess tension. The good news, and there’s plenty of it, is that with Alexander’s Techniques we can learn to form new habits. We can learn how to just be. We can learn to let go of our tightening muscles. We do it all the time when we exercise; every time we put down a heavy weight.
F.M. Alexander said if we stop doing the wrong things, the right things will do themselves. Adding extra stress and tension to everything we do is one of those ‘wrong things’.
Please click here for a practical way to relieve tension and stress.
Join in the conversation!
Have you used the Alexander Technique to help relieve tension?
Have you tried the Alexander Technique exercise above to relieve tension?
Any questions about using the Alexander Technique to relieve tension?
I’ll answer all comments.
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC
Call Mark (917) 709-4648
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Great post Mark!
Have you ever experimented with negative directions? So, instead of “allow my neck to be free” “I am not tensing (constricting, tightening - whatever) my neck”
There’s more at http://bodylearningcast.com/teachers/negativedirections/
Thanks Robert! I have experimented with that, and some Alexander Technique teachers I know use negative directions quite a lot. I’ll hear teachers say ’say NO to tightening.”
For me, it might make me tighten more, or get down on myself which kind of defeats the purpose. sometimes negative directions can be…negative. I think it’s highly individualized depending on both the teacher and the student. Whatever works! There are so many styles teaching this technique. Do you agree?
Great post as usual, Mark. It always amazes me how quickly neck pain I once thought of as chronic can just dissolve quickly when I follow a few Alexander Technique concepts.
Thanks Peter!
I know. sometimes chronic isn’t so chronic. I see that with myself, and I see that every day with my Alexander Technique students. Here’s another take on ‘chronic’. http://markjosefsberg.com/back-pain/can-the-alexander-technique-help-with-chronic-back-pain-management
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Traditionally, Alexander Technique lessons are taught privately. However, Alexander Technique group classes offer a few advantages… The first advantage of group Alexander lessons is price. The cost for Alexander Technique Saturdays, a very small Alexander Technique class, is $35…
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How To Reduce Neck Pain
I have a stiff neck. We say we have a stiff or sore neck, as if someone gave it to us and now it’s ours. In Alexander Technique terms it might be more accurate to say “I’m stiffening my neck.” Of course if you say it that way you sound insane…
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What Is The Best Way To Improve My Posture?
There is really only one way to improve posture, and I can say it in one word: The Alexander Technique. Ok, that’s three words, but one idea.
Most people think they know how to improve posture, but it is not the best way to improve posture, nor is it a permanent way to improve posture. Here’s what most of us know about improving posture: ‘stand up straight!’ ‘Sit up straight!’ We’ve all heard things like ‘suck your stomach in, push your chest out, put your shoulders back, stick your chin back’ etc. This is not the way to improve posture. This is a way to have military posture…
Stress »
What Is The Alexander Technique’s Role In Happiness?
I think F.M. Alexander (1869-1955), the developer of the Alexander Technique, would be fascinated by the emerging evidence of how thinking affects our brain, how our brain affects our body, and how our body affects our brain. Detailed brain imagery demonstrates that thinking is not a purely mental process; it is physical as well. Measurable, physical changes occur in our brains ‘just’ by thinking. In other words, we don’t just think. We change our brains, in function and structure, with our minds and bodies…
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(917) 709-4648
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