Sometimes in the early stages of Alexander Technique lessons, I might ask a student to ‘do nothing’ while they’re lying on the massage table, or to ‘let go’ as I move their arm…I’m asking the Alexander Technique student (we’re all Alexander Technique students) to inhibit. This isn’t inhibition as in suppressing; it more has to do with stopping your initial response giving you a chance to do something in a new, conscious, beneficial way…

Often at the start of an Alexander Technique lesson here in New York City, I’ll ask ‘how did it go this week?’ A few responses: ‘I did the Alexander Technique, but not all the time,’ or, ‘I thought about the Alexander Technique, but not all the time.’ To me, these are honest answers, but does anyone think of the Alexander Technique all the time? Would we want to be thinking about it constantly, and thinking of nothing else? Is that any way to enjoy a movie, a book or a companion?
The Alexander Technique definitely becomes part of life, and new, more beneficial habits are formed. Even without directly thinking about the Alexander Technique, we’ve changed. We begin to have less tension with everything we do. We sit at the computer, stand, walk, bend, play the bassoon and bowl in a different way without the Alexander Technique being in the forefront of our thinking…

The Alexander Technique calms you down as it wakes you up. The Alexander Technique lets you know what you already knew but forgot so that you can remember it when you forget it again. It gives some un-namable things names, reinforced by a guiding touch. The Alexander Technique gives you words, strategies and directions to get the feelings you want. It opens you up. All you have to do is think of it. The Alexander Technique has plenty of side effects, only they’re all good ones…

Many times people say to me ‘I did ok this week, Alexander Techniquewise, but I caught myself a few times.’ There can be a negative connotation to ‘catching oneself ‘, but there doesn’t have to be. In fact catching yourself slumping or sitting up rigidly straight is really a positive thing. It’s at those moments where you can employ the principles of the Alexander Technique and make positive changes. As you catch yourself, you’re becoming aware; you’re waking up. Additionally…

It’s hard to know how fast and crazy everything around a large city can be, until you leave it. I think it’s comparable to people at the beginning of Alexander Technique lessons not realizing how much they’re tensing themselves, until they release that tension… It also made me realize that I want to take some of that calm energy back with me as I teach my Alexander Technique lessons in NYC.

What are you doing right now as you’re sitting and reading this? I’ll assume you’re sitting and reading right now.

If you are sitting, where is your face? I mean, is it poking towards the computer screen? A clearer way to think about this is that you’re poking your neck towards the screen; your face is going along for the ride. We tend to poke our necks forward and down; compressing. The muscles in our necks are working harder than necessary. It would be better…

1. Become aware, and then let go of the muscles in the back of your neck.

2. Think of your head moving up. (The crown of your head)

3. Slightly, slowly lower your nose.

4. Continue 1,2,3, and let your sit bones release down in your chair, but your torso moves up.

5. If you’re standing, let your feet release down while the rest of you moves up.

6. Let your jaw dangle open, even when you’re lips are closed. (Give it a try)…

Got an extra third of a second or so? You could use it by doing nothing. Not doing anything. Not doing the thing you were going to do, and instead doing something different. Or not that either. Your choice. It’s your choice, if you stop your habitual, automatic response and choose. Mind the gap…

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 …

As I was riding the subway on my way to teach some Alexander Technique lessons, an announcement was made over the PA system: Gr Grbrwr Kr gaggar.  Sometimes that’s what announcements sound like in the …