Alexander Technique of New York

What are you doing right now as you’re sitting and reading this? At least I assume you’re sitting and reading. Maybe I shouldn’t assume that, but I think it’s safe to assume you’re not skiing, or skydiving.

If you are sitting, where is your face? Is it poking towards the computer screen?

As you become more present, you might notice that you also poke it towards a book you’re reading, the person you’re speaking with, your car windshield when driving, or poke it forward as you’re walking.

A clearer way to think about this is that you might be poking your neck forward. We tend to poke our necks forward and down, when what we want is the opposite. 

We want to have our necks back and up.

Try not to stick or push your neck back and up; just allow it to go back and up. This is a preventive action.  

If you gently let your neck move back and up, while you let your nose tilt slightly downwards, and let the crown of your head move up, you’ll be expanding instead of compressing.

Again, this is best done with the aid of a certified Alexander Technique teacher, but if that is impossible knowing and applying these concepts can help.

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One of the most painful positions for a person with low back pain is to be seated. We all tend to slump; putting ourselves in a ‘C curve’. Often times when we’re not slumping we’re sitting up rigidly straight with what we think of as ‘good posture.’ Neither of these positions is very good for us.

When we slump we are creating a hinge in the spine, where none exists. The spine can curve as an integrated unit,  but it isn’t beneficial for us to hinge from one point (L5-S1 for instance.) We very well may be putting pressure on our discs creating our own pain. That's the bad news. The good news is that we may be able to do something about it. 

Don't concern yourself with trying to sit up straight. Instead, think about sitting on your sit bones rather than your tailbone. Think, then feel your sit bones releasing down into the chair as your head moves up. This opposition will help you lengthen your spine, instead of compressing it.

You’ll be giving the nerves coming from your spinal cord a little more room. It’s almost as if you can give yourself gentle traction, whenever you remember these principles. If you’re in pain, you may remember these as well as other Alexander Technique principles quite often!

Would you like to LEARN MORE>>> ?

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Although the holidays can be great, the stress associated with them can be palpable.

What can we do about this stress? A lot.

The stress isn’t really the problem. The problem is how we handle the stress, and the manifestations of the stress.

Stress has symptoms.

Often, we tighten our necks bringing our head back and down.

Our breathing might unconsciously become faster and more shallow.

We may tense our jaw, fingers, toes and shoulders.

We may seem to lose control of our thoughts.

The Alexander Technique is a psycho-physical reeducation process, and one of the first steps in this process is the concept of awareness. We can’t change something we’re not aware of. So, can we change our breathing pattern? Yes; the moment we decide to become aware of it. What about the unconscious tightening of the neck, jaw, fingers, toes and shoulders? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And yes.

With the Alexander Technique we learn to make the unconscious conscious. So, indirectly we’re addressing our stress by dealing with the moment to moment symptoms the stress produces...as best we can.

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Happier Holidays to All!

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I have a stiff neck!

We say we have a stiff or sore neck, as if someone gave it to us and now it’s ours. 

In Alexander Technique terms it might be more accurate to say “I’m stiffening my neck.” Of course if you say it that way you sound insane. ‘Just stop stiffening it’ might be advice we’d get.

It isn’t that simple, or is it?

The Alexander Technique teaches us to ‘free our necks’, which basically means reduce or eliminate excess tension in our neck.  How do we do that? Tense your bicep as in ‘make a muscle.’Now let it go. How did you let it go? Who knows, but you can do it.

That’s a simple demonstration of what we want to do with our necks and other parts of us. When we employ the principles of the Alexander Technique (especially with the aid of an Alexander Technique teacher) we identify what’s overly tense, and then release it.

Awareness is the first step in the process.  It’s simple, yet profound.

Would you like to LEARN MORE>>> ?

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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 the sit bones releasing down into the chair.
2. Don’t worry about putting your shoulders back. They’re probably rounding forward because your neck is poking forward and your ribcage is collapsed. Think your neck back, your head rotated forward and up and your whole torso widening and lengthening. Your shoulders will release into width. Notice your breath.
3. Take 5 or 10 minutes out of your day to lie facing up on the floor with your head resting on a few inches of paperback books. Have one or both feet on the floor, thinking your knee or your knees up towards the ceiling. Let yourself breathe slowly and fully. Think lengthening and widening.
4. If you have to slump, slump. Then slowly get out of the slump by letting your head lead your torso into length. However try not to spend too much time in your habitual slump (like right now?) Take frequent breaks, and think expansion.     
5. Get an Alexander Technique session! LEARN MORE>>>

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