I was working with a colleague who has been teaching over video. She said one her students didn’t know what she was asking when she said “Release.”
Release seems like a straight forward and simple word, but in our work as Alexander Teachers, it has layers of meaning.
The dictionary.com definitions of “release” that are most applicable to Alexander Technique are:
Verb (used with object), release, released, releasing:
to free from confinement, bondage, obligation, pain, etc.
to free from anything that restrains, fastens, etc.
Noun:
a freeing or releasing from confinement, obligation, pain, emotional strain, etc.
liberation from anything that restrains or fastens
What do I mean when I ask my student to release (as in the action)?
If you are over-straightening, or “locking” your knees in standing, release means a decrease in the contraction in the muscles that are keeping the knees from buckling. I often compare this to how tightly your hold an object in your hand. You can clench your fingers and palm around the object, or you can use less exertion and still have enough tone in your hand that you don’t drop the object.
If you are raising your shoulders up towards your ears and pulling your head towards your chest, releasing means allowing a chain of muscles to lengthen, and the angles in your joints change, as your shoulder blades release down along your back, and your collar bones release out and down.
When I guide a student in a lie down, I encourage her to imagine the crown of her head releasing away from her spine and pelvis, like a series of subway cars traveling down the tracks. This version of release involves thinking of a series of bones lengthening away from each other in a consistent direction.
If I ask a student not to hold or restrict her breath, I am inviting her to release a bracing of a group of muscles that influence respiration.
I might ask a student to allow herself to see more of what is in her peripheral field of vision. In this instance, I am encouraging her to release by giving up narrowing her focus.
What are other words or phrases that might stand in for, or clarify “release”?
“Lengthen”
“Expand”
“Allow more internal space”
“Come to stillness”
“Allow this to move away from that”
“Let go of [an idea, thought, clenching jaw, tightening a muscle]”