Use: The Alexander Technique

Calligraphy Monk, Chinq e Ping Monastery, Huashan  Mountain

"Some people think this Technique is either what is loosely called 'bodywork' or posture   correction, but it's really about intentional thinking."        Patty De Llosa 

It once was suggested to me that the reason why time flies for adults and speeds up as we age is that the number of "new" impressions diminishes.  For the young, time is eternal probably because new discoveries are around every corner. As adults we've put ourselves on auto pilot, not noticing how we get out of bed in the morning to the body's specific preference in how we get in and out of our clothing.  And this is all lawful in a way.  Children are needing to acquire new skills continually; if they hung on to the interest of how to do something they've mastered, they probably would have a hard time making room for the new skill waiting to be known. I guess that makes us accomplishment machines.

Why be interested in how we do our basic, mundane operations?  Well, experientially, I see I slow down when I become intrigued with my kinesthetic responses on a crowded sidewalk; my awareness becomes more acute.  I am embodying more of myself.  My attention is fuller inside and outside of myself.

Why this is interesting at all and how it impacts health is because, as children we naturally had perfect postures, before social influence impacted us.  Our awareness and our use of our bodies impacts our health.  The influenced child sometimes turns into the adult with chronic back pain because of poor use.

The Alexander Technique is a body/mind modality that studies use; how to bring a fuller awareness to the way I am.

A fellow-Philadelphian colleague, Diane Young* (www.bodymindbalance.net) a decades-long Alexander teacher explains:  "The Alexander Technique is a hands-on learning method  that helps to literally undo old habitual ways of doing things, albeit unconsciously, by bringing awareness to what we are doing and then being able to respond differently.  Because we are so habituated, the mind is often far astream from the body, and not unified at all. We are “talking heads”.  We have a thought or a belief, and it creates an emotion or sensation which our bodies react to.  We have separated from the experience of being present within the body, and then our reactions lead to certain results.  We startle, tighten, compress and don’t even realize it!  The stressful stimulus has led to a disconnection from our integrated experience.  But did it have to be that way?  Did we have to react to the stimulus?  What if, like a child, we let the experience flow to us and through us without judgement, and then respond instead of react?  The stimulus would appear  as a NEW experience, which we would then have more than one possible response to, and perhaps would have a pleasant, embodied, and fresh experience instead.

As we begin to identify the disturbing stimuli, we also begin to notice how we react to what we perceive as stressful.  It was not the stimulus itself that was stressful, but instead our reaction to it.  Once we know that, then we can actively observe and make new decisions about how we are going to be with it.  A possibility for release can then take place.  A renewed and fresh response to what was a habit now brings us more into the moment, and more intimately back to ourselves. 

F.M. Alexander was one who observed the “use” of ourselves  (the manner and conditions of use of the body and mind together) very carefully.  He noticed that as we become more aware of how we are doing an activity, we have more choice as to how we can respond to it, whether with grace and poise, or with compression and tension.  He noticed that we can change how we are in relation to the stimulus.  He then knew that it is possible to let the reaction fall away, to ungrip from it.  We simply choose not to react in the habitual way!  The result is more freedom, more ease, a breath of release and awareness.  It leaves us with greater expansion and openness to receive the experiences of life in the moment, and to be more alert and alive to the mystery of our daily lives."

In Patty De Llosa's illuminating book, The Practice of Presence*, she illustrates so clearly what the Technique is and its benefits.  It is the "organizing factor [which] is at the heart of the connection between the head, which directs the action, and the body, which carries it out.  This relationship is called into presence at the moment I cease to 'know' exactly what's coming next and dare to fall back into the unknown, while at the same time maintaining a sense of mental curiosity and alert attention."  She goes on to say, the Alexander Technique is "a method of re-education of our neuro-muscular coordination through the power of directed thought."  It's an education in "how the body works (bio-mechanics) and how to direct our thought (bio-energetics), initiating changes in habits and patterns of tension that had probably interfered with both physical and psychological freedom most of our lives.  Yet the amazing thing is we [aren't] learning a new doing so much as undoing movement sequences we had learned automatically and badly. I sensed a return to the ease and freedom of movement I had had as a child."

So then, is the biggest difference between children and adults their use and their willingness (nay interest and excitement) to bring all of their attention to it?  Every time children use their hands, find their balance, do anything, it is new for them.  We adults have lost the intrigue and awareness of almost everything we do. I think this is because it is "old"; we've gone through the quick and successful motions of tying our shoes a trillion times, opened the refrigerator and fit the top on a pot at least that many times.  It's old.  But is it? As indicated above, maybe what is old is our automatic approach.

*Patty De Llosa has spent more than 40 years studying the practice of presence. She has taught workshops in the teachings of philosopher G.I.Gurdjieff, whom she met as a child, studied T'ai Chi with master T.T. Liang, worked intensively with Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, and is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique.  She has led others in these traditions in Peru, Chile, Canada, and New York.  www.practiceofpresence.com

*Diane Young Sussman has been teaching the Alexander Technique for more than 25 years.  She has been a trainer of teachers at ACAT (The American Center for the Alexander Technique) since 1989.  Diane is also very happy to help people over 40 re-claim their ease and balance after spending too many years in less-than-ideal postures.  As a former dancer and choreographer, Diane is always looking for how to help her students regain the freedom of movement they once knew as children.  Also a CranioSacral Therapist, Diane has used the two modalities for a full list of health benefits for the client. (www.bodymindbalance.net)