Alexander Technique Directions
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.
Alexander Technique directions act as verbal, or neuro-linguistc cues. They tell us where we want to go, which is often upward, outward, into expansion. Up, down, and out. Head up, feet or sit bones down, shoulders out, legs away…

On my subway ride to teach some Alexander Technique lessons at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Mahattan, I noticed a man who could not have been more stooped over. As an Alexander Technique teacher I was particularly aware of how he was seated, reading the paper, his head not very far from his knees. His face was quite tense, and had a scowl I suspected was habitual. He seemed to ‘have the weight of the world on his shoulders…

The Alexander Technique and meditation can be beautifully interwoven. Since the Alexander Technique is a ‘pre-technique’, using it before meditating can enhance your meditation practice. The Alexander Technique can help shorten the time it takes to get to the state or tone you want when you meditate, and help you stay in that place longer when you’re through. It can help make the line between meditating and not meditating more blurry. Your meditation practice is augmented…

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 stresses and strains of modern living, combined with the ubiquity of the computer, cell phone, blackberry etc., seem to draw us in, collapsing us forward and down and giving us one version of bad posture . (Another version of bad posture would be sitting up rigidly straight. That doesn’t work because it won’t be maintained, and it’s not helpful to add extra tension. Sitting or standing up straight usually means military posture.)
So as not to smash our faces into the screen, desk, or floor…

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…

New York seems to have shorter and shorter Springs every year. It’s April 19th, 2009 and one of the first warm weekends of the year. So I decided to spend it in the Emergency Room at Elmhurst hospital. I stubbed my toe pretty badly on Saturday and now it has the color and size of an eggplant. The Alexander Technique comes into play…

1.    Head in the clouds; feet on the earth. Think of the opposition of your head moving up, while your feet are releasing down. If you’re sitting, think of your head moving up and your …