Driving and the Alexander Technique

Are you 16 or older? Do you live in a suburb or rural area? Do you have places to go? Chances are, you drive! Have you thought about how you drive? If you’re sitting in a bucket seat, is your back shaped like a “C”? Is the headrest dictating where your head should be? Are your arms tired? Are you sore after a long trip?

You need to consider using the Alexander Technique!

The AT teaches about the head-neck-back relationship and how being conscious of your alignment can alleviate a lot of discomfort. Let’s explore that relationship:

Assuming you are seated, let your feet rest on the floor about hip width apart. Put your hands under your butt. Feel the bones pressing into your hands? Those are your sit bones. Slid your hands out from under your sit bones and see that they press into the chair just like they did your hands. Let your sit bones and feet form a strong base that allow your spine to lengthen. Let your hands rest lightly on your upper thighs. Let your eyes see the room and let your neck undo enough tension that your nose drops slightly. Breathe and look around. You are balanced and poised. You can lean, turn, and reach with minimal effort. You can breathe and have an awareness of what’s going on not only in front of you, but in your periphery and behind you.    

Now that you know how to maintain your dynamic poise, let’s talk about how to experience more freedom of movement while driving. Spend some time just sitting in your car--while it’s parked--to try a few adjustments.

1. Is your seat tilted back?  This might force your neck and head to jutt forward. Try straightening the seat slightly and notice the difference. Do you feel your sit bones beneath you? Is it easier to reach and turn towards the back seat? If yes, then this is a better seat position for you.

2. Are you sitting in a captain’s chair or bucket seat? These seats tend to encourage the pelvis to tilt back, forcing the spine to curve and the shoulders to slump. Try sitting on a cushion. If you don’t have something on hand that’s appropriate, you might try ordering a cushion. I have the embarassingly named “Tush Cush.” 

You might want to try something like this. 

Are you able to breathe more fully, reach, and turn in your seat? If so, then this is a good option for you.

     3. Do you need to tilt your seat forward slightly? Give it a try and see if you are no longer

           rolling back on your sit bones.

     4. Now that you are more upright with a long spine and the freedom to breathe and move

           more easily, you will want to adjust your mirrors and possibly the steering column.  

Try this for a day or two and notice if you sense a difference? With any luck, you’ll feel more relaxed and less tired after a day in the car. Let me know how it goes!

This is the sort of activity an Alexander teacher can work on with you. If you are interested in trying a lesson, contact me!

Photo by why kei on Unsplash

I cannot predict, but I can inhibit

What happens to my body when I am surprised? I tense. First in my neck and then my shoulders and my back and everything else. My thinking and breathing will also be disrupted. Whether the surprise is pleasant or otherwise, my body will go into the startle response. How long I will stay in startle is up to me.

If I use the Alexander Technique, I can release that excess tension and better handle anything that comes after the surprise. How do I get out of startle? The first thing I must do is NOT try to get out of it and instead just pause. That pause is what FM Alexander referred to as “inhibition.” I inhibit trying to do anything, for if I do try and force myself out of one tension pattern, I’ll just be creating a new one. After I inhibit, I can use my Alexander directions to ease myself out of the startle response. This may seem like a long process, but in real time it is only a moment.

Here’s an example:

BAM!

I jump at the loud noise. My entire body compresses and my breathing becomes shallow. I pause. I notice what is happening within my body and I expand my awareness to include my environment. I notice without trying to change. Only after I am present in this moment can I move on the the next step: the Alexander directions.

1. I allow my neck to be free (to undo its tension)

2. I let my spine lengthen

3. My shoulders widen

4. My legs release away from my torso

These are just thoughts I have for myself. I am not forcing my neck to undo, I am merely wishing it to be so. With time, my body will respond to my thinking. All of these directions allow my body to take up more space than my startled body would. I feel calmer when I am able to release the tension. I breathe more fully and I think more clearly. It is at this point that I am able to realize the source of the noise was a door slamming closed.  

I may not be able to predict a startling moment before it happens, but I can inhibit. I can be present and I can breathe. I may still startle, but I know how to release the tension so I will not live in startle.

If you would like to learn to inhibit, contact me!

Teaching Flute Lessons with Alexander Principles - Part 2

II.             Finding Balance

1.  Back and Down                              2.  Over-straightened                     3.  Balanced

To begin to improve the daily use of your body, you must understand how your body works against gravity. When your whole self is poised and easeful, your body will naturally spring up against gravity. You will know your entire system is easeful when your neck is relaxed, your head moves forward and up, and your back is widening. This is the opposite of a collapsed head, neck, and torso that appear to be defeated by gravity, or what Alexander teachers call being “back and down.”

Here are three examples of head/neck/back relationships while in an upright position. (View from left to right.) 1. The first image is of a head back and down. As you can see, the spine would become compressed in this position and breathing would be taxing. People who appear this way may be tired and feel that collapsing as pictured will be restful. The extra effort needed to breathe and move in this state would make playing the flute a difficult endeavor. 2. The second image is of a head over-straightening. People sometimes pull their spines into this position in an effort to have “good posture.” The spine is not allowed to have its cervical curve and it would take extra tension to maintain this arrangement. Once again, breathing and moving would require excess tension. The extra tension travels into the shoulders, arms, and fingers making technical passages a nightmare. 3. The third image is of a balanced head. Keep in mind that this is not a position to be held, but a free neck where the head can constantly balance and re-balance as you move. Just as a tall building is designed to move, so should you. As you are “standing still,” you can let your whole self be free so that your body moves slightly in what Alexander teachers call the “standing dance.” Your head/neck/back relationship is just a part of that dance. When your head is balanced on your torso, you can breathe and move with freedom. FM Alexander called this head/neck/back relationship Primary Control. Primary Control is the body’s basic, innate mechanism for support and poise. It ensures that your limbs can move freely with minimal effort and without compromising your free neck, balanced head, and lengthening spine.

III.           Constructive Rest

Constructive Rest Position

This is one variation of the Constructive Rest, or Semi-Supine position. Lie on the floor with a comfortable number of paperback books under your head. Your head and neck should feel balanced and free, just as in the previous diagram. Allow your knees to be bent with your feet to be as close to your torso as is comfortable, and placed wider than your pelvis. Allow your body to expand onto the floor. Let your hands rest on your abdomen so that you can feel your breathing. Your neck can be easy so that your head can balance on the books with minimal effort. Your spine can maintain its curves and therefore certain places on your back may not touch the floor. Allow your spine to lengthen within its curves. Remember that these directions are not orders that you must follow, but wishes. There is nothing for you to do but be aware and see if you can inhibit and gradually direct yourself to release any unnecessary tension. Continually ask yourself if you can do less. Later, when you are upright, see if you can use awareness, inhibition, and direction to rediscover this feeling of ease in your joints.

For example, if you become aware of tension in your neck, inhibit the desire to move it around, pull it to each side and crack it. Say “no” to all of the old habits and instead, pause. Think of your Alexander directions: Neck to be free, head balancing, spine to lengthen, legs releasing, and shoulders widening. Have the wish for your neck to be soft. Begin again with awareness and repeat the whole process.

Constructive Rest shows us that there is another state in which to live besides awake and tense or asleep. Since we are lying down, we are not struggling with gravity and can release more muscle tension than we would be able to while standing or sitting. Practicing Constructive Rest regularly (for 15 minutes a day) can teach you how to become aware of excess tension and let it go while being in a prone position and consequently, you will begin to do less while upright.

IV.    Dancing with Gravity

Tripod of Balance

When you stand, think of the bottom of your feet expanding. Consider the “Tripod of Balance,” or the ball of the great toe, the ball of the small toe, and the heel. Sensing these points can help you feel more contact with the floor. Once you have that connection, you can have lightness and ease of movement throughout your body.

When we have a good connection with the ground, we have the ability to move up internally in opposition. Once we have awareness and have inhibited doing anything, we can think our directions. The neck can be soft so that the head can balance delicately at the tip of the spine and the spine can lengthen so that the knees can release forward and the shoulder girdle is supported by our sense of “up.” Think of how a fountain works: energy is drawn up from its strongly connected base and the water moves up from its center and then cascades down on the outer circumference. Our bodies work in a similar way. The strong connection of your feet to the ground allows your legs to move up from your ankles and your spine moves up all the way to its uppermost point, the atlanto occipital joint, where your head also releases up and your outer musculature can release, allowing your spine and legs to bear your weight. Therefore, your arms can be light since your shoulder girdle is not responsible for keeping you upright. So there is an upwards and a downwards flow throughout your body. To find the feeling of lightness within your shoulder girdle, try the following procedure.

Pearl Ausubel’s Arm Procedure

Pearl Ausubel was a teacher at the American Center for the Alexander Technique. She developed the following procedure for her musician students to help them learn to release excess tension in their arms.

1.     Stand with your neck free so that your head can be balanced at the tip of your spine and your torso can lengthen and widen and your legs can release away from your torso and your shoulders can widen.

2.     Let the fingers of your right hand lengthen towards the floor.

3.     Allow the thumb of your right hand to lead your palm to face away from your body.

4.     Let your fingertips lead your straight arm away from your torso, out to your side in a lengthening arc until your arm is perpendicular to your body. Be sure that your torso is not compromised by the movement.

5.     Feel your feet release into the floor as your head releases towards the ceiling and your arm lengthens away from your body.

6.     Allow your thumb to lead your palm to face the floor.

7.     Let your fingertips lead your straight arm in a lengthening arc back to your side.

8.     Notice the difference between your arms and your shoulders.

9.     Repeat with the left arm.

I will add more of the paper soon. Stay tuned!

The Alexander Technique and Chronic Illness

Photo by Jakub Kriz on Unsplash

Can someone with a chronic illness study the Alexander Technique? Sure, they can! The Technique is gentle and non-manipulative. Alexander teachers can tailor their lessons to meet their students’ needs. What’s more, having a chronic illness can make life difficult and deplete a person’s energy more quickly than normal, so learning to use less energy throughout the day would be a blessing.

As to how much the Alexander Technique will benefit people with chronic illnesses, it will depend on the individual. There are those who will experience relief from certain symptoms and others who might need more lessons to notice a change. You will know in one lesson if the Alexander Technique is right for you.

When you call to schedule a lesson, be sure to let the Alexander teacher know about your condition and any restrictions you may have. Tell your teacher what makes you uncomfortable and what you find downright painful. Lessons usually run approximately 45 minutes, but perhaps you want to begin with a 20-minute lesson to see how you feel over the next few days? Your teacher will most likely be flexible and understanding. Be sure to tell them during your lesson if you aren’t feeling well or if something they are doing brings you discomfort or anxiety. There are many variations and ways for your teacher to work with you that will allow you to relax and enjoy the lesson. Remember, F.M. Alexander worked with many people who struggled with illness--including himself!

Some chronic illnesses with symptoms alleviated by the Alexander Technique:

Chronic Back Pain

Chronic Pain

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)

Diabetes

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

IBS

Multiple Sclerosis

Your First Lesson

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

What will happen during your first lesson?

You will arrive wearing comfortable clothing so you are able to move freely. I will spend the first part of the lesson finding out more about you. What made you decide to take a lesson? What do you hope to achieve by taking lessons? What are your concerns? What questions do you have about the Technique?

I will use both verbal communication and hands-on direction to guide you through a variety of everyday activities (like sitting, breathing, talking, and walking). You can let me know if you are uncomfortable with any of my methods so I can stop and try a different approach. As you move through these familiar patterns of movement, you may become aware of excess tension. Together, we will find options for movement that do not involve strain. Activities specific to your lifestyle will also be explored during your lesson.

Future lessons will focus on some of the same activities, and likely something new.  There will always be time for different activities that you wish to consider. You could spend a few weeks learning to possess more ease in your body and mind, or a lifetime. It is important to me that your lessons remain interesting and fun.

The Alexander Technique is non-manipulative. It is not painful because the teacher’s hands are always gentle. Most people report feeling more relaxed and more comfortable in their bodies by the end of the first lesson.

Teaching Flute Lessons with Alexander Principles - Part 1

We can assume that your students want to have a beautiful sound and solid technical skill and you have that wish for them as well. There are two ways to accomplish these goals: 1. By falling into the habit of using excess tension, or 2. Through the use of ease.

Every flutist uses tension to play the instrument. By excess tension (as noted in the first category), I am describing those flutists who (usually unconsciously) use more muscle tension than what is needed. It is understandable that we may rely on excess tension to perform. Many flutists have hectic schedules and use extra strain to help them conquer fatigue during a performance. Others may use it because it is a habit that provides comfort and comfort of any kind is welcome during performances. Some flutists feel that excess tension gives them an extra edge or helps them block out nervousness or even to block out the audience itself. The reasons for relying on excess tension are numerous, but does it really help us? For some musicians, the use of excess muscle tension does not cause a problem. However, for others (myself included), relying on excess tension causes repetitive stress injuries. Therefore, for the flutist whose playing habits fit those of the excess tension category, the Alexander Technique plays an extremely integral part in preventing the development of repetitive strain injuries. In addition, the Technique can be informative, invaluable, and even career-saving after a repetitive strain injury has surfaced.

People whose performances fall into the second category (playing through the use of ease) are often called “naturals.” They are amazingly gifted, and yet there is a way that each of us can obtain some of their qualities. Those same levels of grace and fluidity, as seen in people like James Galway and Fred Astaire, can be learned. The Alexander Technique can give you the tools to have more ease in your playing and, should you choose to apply it further, ease within all aspects of your life. The Technique can support your teaching and aid your students.

I.       Beginning

When you teach, consider the whole student (mind and body). This includes but is not limited to: ease within the joints, using the necessary amount of muscle tension, effortless breathing, a mind that is present, and eyes that see their surroundings.  Therefore, teaching the whole student begins by letting freedom in the body take precedence over the quality of sound—over making any sound at all. You and your student must be willing, at times, to walk away from the flute and do another activity instead. This is the only way to diffuse habits of tension and allow more healthful patterns to develop. When ease within your whole system becomes the priority, a new, full tone is allowed to develop. To accomplish this, you can apply the three main principles of the Alexander Technique: Awareness, Inhibition, and Direction.

The Alexander definition of “Awareness” includes knowing how you move your body and having consciousness in and around your body, in other words, having a clear kinesthetic perception. Through awareness you will on occasion discover a habit. You may decide not to continue with the habit, so the next step, according to the Alexander Technique, is to pause. Pausing is necessary to override a habit. If you notice a habit and decide—without a pause—to stop the habit, you will quickly find that you have slipped back into your habit. The pause gives you time to reorganize your system and it is called “Inhibition.” By inhibiting a reaction to a stimulus, you give yourself time to check in with your system. For example: your phone rings (the stimulus), and instead of rushing to answer it (reaction), you inhibit. In other words, you pause and see if you are breathing (or if you held your breath when you heard the phone) and allow your neck to be free. After inhibiting, you are able to pick up the phone in an easeful way. This reorganization does not require much time and yet it will make an incredible difference in how you feel.  The reorganization, itself, is called “Direction.” It is accomplished with a set of instructions not to be carried out. This means that the instructions, or “directions,” are a set of wishes you have for yourself and so you wish for yourself to be free—in mind and body. Once these “directions” have been spoken or thought, you may move in a new, non-habitual way.

FM Alexander’s directions begin with relaxing the neck. Most people have felt neck pain at some time in their lives. To get an idea of what a tense neck feels like, place a hand on the back of your neck and sit in a chair and then stand up. It is likely that you felt some stress. Pause now and direct your neck to relax. You can do this by thinking “I wish my neck to be soft.” When you feel an undoing of tension, sit and stand again. Notice if anything changed.

Alexander’s second direction is to “let your head go forward and up.” This does not mean forward in space, but a forward tilt in the axis of your head. When your neck is free, or relaxed, your head naturally nods forward slightly. This is because your skull is not centered above the tip of your spine. Most of your skull is in front of the spine (if we consider the side with your face to be the front). Hence, more of the skulls weight is in front, and it is designed to nod forward slightly. The up is the space created between the tip of your spine and your skull when your neck is free and your head is poised. It is a feeling of lightness and accessibility. Once your neck is soft, direct your head to move forward and up. Let each wish be in this order.

The third direction Alexander devised was for the back to widen. When you have the desire for your back to widen, you are including the wish to breathe freely and the wish that your spine lengthen within its curves. So, once you have allowed your neck to be free and your head to move forward and up, let your back widen.

Stay tuned for Teaching Flute Lessons with Alexander Principles - Part 2, where I will talk about finding balance and Primary Control.

My Alexander Technique Story

Photo by Billy Pasco on Unsplash

While pursuing my Master’s degree in flute performance, my jaw began snapping and popping and aching.  I was diagnosed with Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction. My jaw’s range of motion deteriorated to the point where I could barely clear a fork. By then I was constantly in pain and I had to file for disability. 

Bi-weekly visits to a physical therapist, a soft-food diet, pain medications, and muscle relaxants filled my days.

The Alexander Technique isn’t well known in the United States. I was lucky enough to be a musician where the Technique is familiar, yet I was still resistant to taking a lesson. Why? Because no one could tell me exactly what it was! Why would I take a lesson if the best people could come up with was, “Just try it. It’ll help.”?

First, I had a professor who mentioned I might try it. (I didn’t.) Then, I sat in on a short class with an Alexander teacher who offered to talk to me after class. (I left immediately after the class.) Then, I had a coworker who literally called her Alexander teacher friend and put me on the phone with him. I couldn’t escape politely so I took a lesson.

At this point, I hadn’t played the flute in three years. Yet even though I wasn’t playing, I was still in pain. It was then I knew the problem went far beyond the flute: it was how I dealt with stress on a daily basis. However, I had no idea how to undo the many layers of tension I had built up over the years…until I was backed into a lesson on the Alexander Technique.

In all honesty, it was my teacher’s personal experience that convinced me to try a lesson: He is a violist with a busy career after RECOVERING from tendonitis in his shoulder and TMJ. Everything I’d been told up to this point was that I wouldn’t be able to play again because TMJ was a career-ending ailment, but here was this man who said he was better because of the Alexander Technique!

The Alexander Technique is a method of movement education that focuses on learning to resist going into the startle response. In other words, if something surprises you, you jump, your breathing becomes shallow, your muscles contract, and you prepare to fight or take flight. Now imagine you experience a lot of stress (work stress, relationship stress, family stress, financial stress, physical stress, illness, etc.). You may be startling frequently throughout the day. If you startle repeatedly, you lose your ability to let go of that tension. If you can’t let go of that tension, you will probably tire more easily, feel discomfort, sleep poorly, and have any number of health concerns. The Alexander Technique works by identifying and changing habits that cause stress and fatigue so you can begin to change how you respond and how you feel.

How is this accomplished? I promise Alexander teachers don’t spend lesson time startling their students. Instead, they focus on daily activities like sitting and standing to engage a hint of the startle response so that their students can learn to undo the excess tension gradually. They also work on bending, reaching, walking, and activities that pertain to their students who may be musicians, corporate workers, dancers, parents, students in elementary school… basically anyone with a body. The side effects of learning the Technique include: less pain, more mobility, and more energy.

The Alexander Technique has changed my life. I never thought I could feel better and  play the flute, but that is exactly what’s happened. If you want to have the tools to improve yourself, please call me. I am making it my mission to teach others to empower themselves.

Sharing My Process

What is the Alexander Technique?

A method of movement re-education that focuses on letting go of the startle response through dynamic postural alignment and breathing work.

Hello. My name is Stephanie and I’ve been a teacher of the Alexander Technique since 2003. I trained at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in NYC and I'm AmSAT Certified (American Society for the Alexander Technique). I am starting a blog because I love to write and I want to share my knowledge in the hopes it will help others.

I’ve been working part time and parenting two children for the past 12 years, so my life has been full in the best possible way. That said, it’s easy to let my Alexander thinking move to the background as I go about my day.

Even Alexander Teachers need to regroup!  I think it may be helpful to allow others to follow my process. I promise to be honest about my struggles. If you believe that Alexander teachers no longer struggle with habit, I am here to prove you wrong!

For example, how am I typing at this moment? My head is balancing at the tip of my spine while my neck is free and my back is lengthening and widening. I am sitting at the front of my chair and my feet are on the floor. My sit bones are poised on the seat of the chair and I am breathing. I notice that my arms are heavy so I pause. I think again about my head, neck, and back relationship. Breathing into my back and allowing my upper arms to soften instead of pressing against my rib cage, my arms lighten.

All of this happens in just a moment, but these moments are important because they will bring me back into my body instead of allowing myself to be drawn down into my laptop with a compressed spine and shallow breathing. When I lose track of my body the Alexander Technique gives me the tools to notice and to free myself from that tension.

In Alexander terms, your front length refers to the distance from your pubic bone to the roof of your mouth. When you compress, your front length shortens. That compression could come from physical, mental, or emotional stress. One of my amazing teachers from the American Center for the Alexander Technique would say, “Nothing is worth losing your front length.”

She was right and this is how I remind myself to live her words.