Applied Alexander Technique Blog

Hello my friends!

Here is a rare find: Nikolaas Tinbergen's Nobel Prize acceptance speech from 1973, for his work in ethology and stress diseases.

Quite a bit of his speech is all about the Alexander Technique; what it is, why and how he overcame his own scientific skepticism, and the results of the lessons he, his wife and daughter all took.

Fascinating slides with before and after photographs of patients of Dr. Wilfred Barlow are about 2/3 through the speech. Dr. Barlow was a noted rheumatologist, who trained with F.M. Alexander to be a practitioner of the Technique.

Nine minutes fly by when the information transforms your life.

Namaste,

Dana

Hello my friends!

The American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) Gains National Visibility

Over 600 teachers nationwide, and 3,500 teachers internationally, are reaching out to help people understand how this work helps relieve back pain by 85%, help balance, reduce tension and help people relieve stress, both mind and body. This is the 8th annual International Alexander Awareness Week!

Find an event near you!

I will be speaking at Jenny Craig in Mountain View. The way you carry yourself impacts how you feel inside. Walk Tall! Be Light!

Carry yourself well and feel a sense of your spine in every meaning of the word. When you are centered in yourself, it is easier to make better choices.

Come look 5-10 pounds thinner instantly by improving your posture.

See you at Jenny Craig!

Dana

Hello friends!

I am very happy to share an article in the current Journal for the California Dental Hygienists' Association (CDHA).

Click on this link to download the article: Working Pain-Free: The Alexander Technique

Dental hygienists often crouch over people, work under time pressure and are often in pain. This article is about a way of working pain free. Please feel free to read - and share!

Cathy Draper, RDH, MS, and editor of the CDHA Journal, also writes:

"The focus of this issue of the CHDA Journal is pain. Whether you are a clinician, educator or a student, you will find timely information on anesthetic options, techniques and ergonomics to incorporate into your daily practice. Our ability to provide effective pain control can improve the outcomes in the care we deliver and ultimately change the public’s perceptions about oral health and dental treatment. "

Download the full issue of the current (Summer 2011) CDHA Journal. For your convenience: the article on Alexander technique is on pages 22-23.

With appreciation to my dental hygienist who always provides me with compassionate care, and to all dental hygienists everywhere.

In health,

Dana

Hello my friends,

One of my just-beginning students felt the need to understand what will happen during lessons in the Alexander Technique, in order to fully be engaged in doing the work. Good point! He requested a "how-to" book and I offered two suggestions.

He looked online and wrote back that there were positive reviews of one book, however there was one negative review and he was concerned. What was the problem? Someone - it happened to be a chiropractor - couldn't understand how to do the process, after reading F.M. Alexander's own description.

I tell you, it is a thorny issue, because the problem is part of the answer.

The reason that it is so difficult to learn this method from a book is that we can't feel correctly, what we are doing with our bodies. If that doesn't make sense, try thinking of it this way. If we could feel what we’re doing that’s connected with our bad posture, we’d fix it. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that our inner sense of our bodies isn’t giving us a true picture.

That's what this method is all about. Alexander Technique trues up this inner sense so you feel what you are doing in the right way and self-correct. It is a skill that you acquire and can use for the rest of your life.

My (hopefully new student) wanted to understand this process, so I sent him a simple explanation of how it works.

Continue reading "Keeping it Simple: Better Posture, Better Functioning" »

Hello friends,

I want to tell a story today about what entrances me about this work that I do.

It is gratifying to help people and a blessing and a gift to help people out of pain.

But it is the sense of wonder that keeps me endlessly fascinated with this fabulous method. While in training to be a teacher, it mystified me that it worked. "Of course it works!" exclaimed my teacher. And it does...

I first came in contact with the Alexander Technique in 1983, when I began taking lessons in Tel-Aviv, Israel. All that I can remember from my first lesson is a Zen-like experience as I floated down the street, afterward. Although the streets were noisy and bustling, a sense of peace and inner quiet accompanied me home.

That experience is at the core of what entrances me with this Work. I have often wondered, what is this Alexander Technique, anyway? How can we talk about something that is often known for posture and pain, yet affects people so profoundly in their spirit?

I finally came to realize that it might be helpful to return to what Mr. Alexander used to say. He called it, "the Work."

He also said that we are psycho-physical beings.
I would add, that we are psycho-physical-spiritual beings.

The conventional description is that the Work helps people undo postural patterns that are often at the root of pain.

However, the Work is not only about body mechanics. It is a skill to undo habit patterns that have put us wrong, over time. That is as true for habitual reactions to emotional stimuli as it is for physical patterns in how we move our bodies in daily life.

Physically, the premise is that the way we carry ourselves, affects how we function.

On a deeper level, I believe that this work helps to open the flow of Chi and wake up our Consciousness.

To me, this is where the deeper challenges lie...the development of human potential....the Work.

Namaste,
Dana

Hello my friends!

It is almost spring and sunny and I am watching an amazing video that shows Roger Federer's footwork. Take a look!

What I notice is his amazing alignment and what in the Alexander world, is called "Use."

The narration describes his footwork and shows the direction of his movement in slo-mo.

You can also look at his alignment. See the perfect relationship between his head, neck and back. He is poised, aligned, and centered in all his moves.

Alexander used the word, "Use," to refer to the way we carry ourselves in every activity of life. He postulated that the basic way our head is set up on our neck, and the head and neck in relation to the back, is what he called the Primary Control for the entire, psycho-physical being.

The point, as one student of mine said, is "...making the most of the facility that one still has."

This related NY Times article on Mr. Federer states that "The argument for Federer as the greatest player in men’s tennis history starts from the ground up."

I suggest that it also starts from the head, down. Look at his head and eyes, turning and focused on the ball and also, on where he's about to go. Can you see the alignment? The head leads and the body follows.

Be well! Stop a moment during your day to say Hello! to awareness and being present in your body.

The first step is awareness....

It is a sunny day and I'm heading out to enjoy it.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Little moments of awareness add up....let's do this again soon.

Hello my friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. I'd like to go back to the discussion that was the reason for this blog. What is this stuff, anyway? Why do we talk about the "Alexander Technique?"

Lately, it seems to me that it would be better go back to what Mr. Alexander used to say. He called it, "the Work."

If you've ever taken lessons and then tried to describe the Alexander Technique, you understand the challenge that this represents.

There’s the conventional description of how it helps people undo postural patterns that are often at the root of pain.

Then there are the deeper ramifications of the work. That's where this blog, Applied Alexander Technique®, comes into play for me.

F.M. (Alexander) said that we are psycho-physical beings.

If so, then perhaps we need an entirely new, synthesized language to begin to truly discuss this in holistic terms of the Self.

The aspect of this work that attracts me most deeply is that it is not only about body mechanics. The Alexander Technique is a skill to UNdo habit patterns that have put us wrong, over time. That is as true for habitual reactions to emotional stimuli as it is for physical patterns in how we move our bodies in daily life.

Physically, the premise is that the way we carry ourselves, affects how we function. Absolutely true! For instance, in dance, good posture in activity gives balance, ease, and poise. In terms of the how-it's-done, the Technique is incredibly gentle. Instead of pulling on some body part that is tight and off-center to make it go in the right direction, we UNdo the reason it's tight in the first place.

Once upon a time, we were born with bodies that worked and were balanced. We ran and played and walked upright because that is how children are born and grow.

That open, upright posture is still within us and it can be reawakened.

On an internal level, I also believe and sense that this work helps to open the flow of Chi and wake up our Consciousness.

That's where the real challenges lie...the development of human potential....that is truly, the Work.

Give me a call sometime!

Dana

Walter Carrington narrates this film of F.M. Alexander teaching a lesson. The film was taken in 1949.

This film is freely available on YouTube.