Stillness as growth

Sometimes getting still to shed a habit and let something new emerge seems fruitless.

We live in a time and space that emphasizes doing.

Waiting IS doing something.

When you plant a seed, many things happen that you don’t see before a shoot comes up from the soil.

You don’t see how the food you eat becomes fuel for your body and brain.

You don’t see how neurotransmitters create elegant, coordinated action.

Slowing down is under rated.

Give yourself some time and space.

Let the story you tell yourself fade into the background for a short time and find your breath.

Try being still with inner space and inner movement.

Alexander jargon: using language in a non-habitual way

There are many folks who are critical of the jargon* we use in the Alexander Technique. I understand their point. Semantics (the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning) can muddy communication. Our terminology can be confusing, de-legitimizing, off putting and inaccessible.

However, consider the definition of jargon: * “special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand”. Alexander students gain skill from the process one goes through to understand the jargon. Alexander’s directions and concepts can invite someone to think in a new way. Language can be used to trigger novelty in perception, making it possible for someone to access change. Alexander Technique is about change. We are looking for ways to bring habituated, automatic responses to a level of awareness where we have more agency to choose how we respond.

I offer Alexander’s main instructions in many variations, in my self work and with my students:

• Neck free, head forward and up, back lengthening and widening, knees forward and away.

• Allow your neck to be free, to allow you head to move forward and up, to allow your back to lengthen and widen, to allow your knees to release forward and away.

• I allow my neck to be free, to allow my head to release forward and up, to allow my knees to release forward and away from each other, to allow my shoulder to widen, lengthening through my arms and out my fingers.

• I don’t have to tighten my neck, I don’t have to pull the base of my skull back and down towards my tail, I don’t need to shorten or narrow my back, I don’t need to pull my arms and legs in.

I find this keeps me from becoming habitual and automatic, reciting words by rote without perceiving their meaning. After all, I can recite the alphabet, count, repeat song lyrics and any other number of string of words without needing to let them register. This is very to the experience that I can drive a familiar route and have the sense that I don’t remember passing the previous three exits. That kind of automated behavior is what the Alexander Technique seeks to remedy.

Another benefit of having a glossary of jargon in the Alexander paradigm is that it brings an awakening to our auditory processing during lessons and in our self-work.

Try This:

• Imagine your head getting lighter and easing towards the ceiling. What do you notice?

• Say to yourself: “I don’t have to hold my breath” as you think of your head being light. What do you notice?

• What does it mean to let your head move forward and up? Does the image below illustrate what you would understand from those words?

The movement Alexander meant by “forward and up”

My Valentine to the Alexander Technique

Happy Valentine’s Day. I wish you chocolate, pleasure, connection, ease, and a generally good day.

I started the day with dance class, one of those spaces in my life where my mind focuses on the present moment. I don’t think about anything but what I am doing. It’s the best form of meditation for me - moving and active.

I spent the rest of this day arm deep in old documents from the American Center for the Alexander Technique, preserving the history of 54 years of people who came together in our shared love of The Alexander Technique.

For those of you who haven’t experienced it yet, find out for yourself. Take a lesson and decide for yourself.

While I was scanning documents and organizing things, I had on Spotify, listening to a one of the curated playlists they have called “Easy 80s”. That music really takes me back to a formative time in my life, and the soundtrack that played kept the pleasure coming all day.

What has all this got to do with the Alexander Technique? My capacity to be present, pay attention, focus and productive has been greatly enhanced by the technique. I am having such a lovely day, enjoying myself and grateful to be alive. Alexander Technique helps me choose where to direct my focus, so more of my days are spent in ease and pleasure.

Don’t get me wrong, I know life isn’t all roses. I’ve written about some of my not so great days in these blogs, you can read about how the Alexander Technique helped me then, too.