Alexander Technique in New York NY

How often do you feel really well?  That is, physically AND emotionally?  How often do you experience that great sense of peace in your body, your breathing, where you feel calm and really balanced?  Restoring balance to your whole self is the objective in an Alexander Technique lesson.  I know when I used to get close to my teacher's office, I actually started breathing better, I walked with more balance, and my spine would start to lengthen JUST because I was nearing her office!  There is a reason for this.  I was laying a foundation for changing my thinking, and so changing the way I live in my own body.  We have choice about coordination and balance.  We can be slumped and tight, we can be overly upright (which translates to stiff and tight as well, so don't use the lithe ballet dancer as your model...she is most likely really hurting), or we can be beautifully balanced in an ease a freedom that seems to glide along effortlessly.  That's the one I want.  Effortlessness.  But how is that achieved?  I will reveal for you the Alexander Teacher's secret.  It is revealed through listening to and awakening the kinesthetic sense.  This is your innate sense register that tells you things like  you are squeezing your head down into your neck, you have pulled the neck back and overstraightened it in order to be upright, you are tightening your shins and ankles while moving.  Most of us don't even know that we are doing these things!  We cannot feel them because they feel normal to us, and we have developed habits of movement over many years that contribute to the pattern.  This will definitely not let you experience that effortless gliding experience you wish for.  So, in a lesson, both teacher and student work together to create just a little bit more softness in the neck muscles, a little more ease and poise.  It is actually the student who is achieving this state.  The teacher is not pulling the student into their idea of good posture, but more coaxing and experimenting with ways for the student to experience themselves more in gravity, more connected in themselves and with the Earth.  If this sounds a little esoteric, it is actually!  But it is also very, very natural.  It is THE process to get back to the way that nature intended for you to move.  It is learning how to be well in your own body.

Sometimes I stop momentarily and ask myself if I'm  happy.  It's true!  Like many people, I know that I have the habit of zooming along with all of my tasks and projects and students, and the entire day has gone by without even one thought of repose for myself.  Even if I have structured time for reflection and meditation, somehow the time gets away from me and I have put my own well being way down on the list somewhere.  But August has always been my favorite time of the year.  I love the sound of the Cicadas singing in the evening.  The sound really fills me up, and makes me happy!  The hot weather in NY forces me to slow way down and appreciate my life, as if there were no agendas to carry out.  If there were a beach nearby, even better, then I could walk for miles alone or with a friend.  I am so grateful that I found the Alexander Technique so many years ago.  My tension and intensity was even worse back then, and at least I have some tools in which to find repose, and in a moment by moment way, to check in with myself.  Am I freeing my neck?  (That's important in the AT, just ask any teacher in your area).  Am I noticing my breathing?  Not even to change anything or count inhales and exhales, just notice.  Am I feeling my feet move on the ground, sand, dew?  Am I alive and well in my own body?  Sometimes the real pursuit of happiness is in the little things, and the time we take between moments, if you will, to feel ourselves alive, breathing, being without any agenda.  I wish you a beautiful, calm, happy end of August, and a way to shine in 2009!