Applied Alexander Technique Blog

Hello friends!

Today in the Wall St. Journal, "What's Your Workout? Sharpening Mind and Body with Martial Arts," by Jen Murphy, tells the story of one man's quest to cure his back pain.

Mr. Mark Fromm practiced martial arts and boxing in his teens and early 20's. He was forced to stop and suffered from back pain for years after a car crash in his college years, and tried many things to cure his pain.

What worked for him: the Alexander Technique, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and yiquan .

Mr. Fromm emphasizes need for mindfulness in all activities. Yes! Whether you're trying to solve a software problem or a body problem the first step is awareness. All of his practices bring one into the present moment.

Here’s the video of Mr. Fromm and his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Peace,
Dana

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Life Stories , Pain Management , Videos

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Hello friends,

I’ve recently enjoying a return to creative cooking. It started with a recent trip abroad, and a reminder of how good it is to eat freshly cooked, unprocessed food that has real flavor. I was keenly aware of how much better the food tasted for all the additives that were not in it. We bought small quantities of real, fresh food that didn’t have expiration dates a month out. We shopped often and lightly, and ate well.

Not surprisingly, all my teaching metaphors lately have been food-related. For instance, I work with a number of musicians; many of them are in pain from too much muscular tension in their minds and bodies as they play.

It suddenly came to me that making music is a lot like cooking soup. There’s a certain amount of muscular effort necessary to play, and a certain amount of salt necessary for good taste. I prefer adding salt to the soup till it's right, rather than using too much and throwing in potatoes to soak up the excess.

Continue reading "A Recipe for Pain-Free Practice" »

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Applied Alexander® , Life Stories

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Hello Friends,

Thanks for stopping by again. I'm inspired by my colleagues - surely a nice thing! It's wonderful to learn so much from them. My friend, Sandra Riddell, in Edinburgh, wrote a lovely letter about a quote from Viktor Frankl. We had a lovely exchange that I'd like to share. With her permission, here 'tis:

Viktor Frankl was a survivor of the concentration camps. He went on to develop a system of psychotherapy based on his experiences there, and the philosophy he outlined in his book, Man's Search for Meaning.

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. The last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." Dr. Viktor Frankl

Continue reading "Viktor Frankl: the Freedom to Choose" »

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Applied Alexander® , Articles and Books , Life Stories

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"Ua ola loko i ke aloha," means Love Gives Life Within, in Hawaiian.

One of my Twitter friends posted this today. I am practicing the phrase until it flows with my breath.

A Hawaiian friend explained "aloha" to me once. It refers to love and also, to breath as spirit. I think of this as love being the breath that is within us - which is life itself - so love brings life and breath within us and it flows outward to all.

Isn't language loveliest when it IS what it means? Wouldn't that be nice if saying Chocolate would create the experience of eating it? That's what the word, Aloha, does. The breath itself - the love that is breath that is also the word - is the gift you are giving and receiving when you say, "Aloha."

I'm sure my Hawaiian friends could add much greater depth of meaning. Please give me a call and fill me in!

Ua ola loko i ke aloha, my friends.

Aloha,

Dana

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories , Mindfulness

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Hello Friends,

The other day I came across is a list of “8 Rules to Produce Happiness.” It was posted on Twitter and I really liked it. I re-tweeted it and said, “Attitude matters!”

It does….it is the strongest tool we have for dealing with the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that Life throws our way. The whole world seems topsy-turvy lately and sometimes it gets to me. Sound familiar?

This morning, I was really down. This afternoon I am perfectly content to chip away at the long To Do list in front of me, happy as a clam. What the heck happened?

It was my attitude. I only noticed that it had shifted when the noise from leaf blower in the neighborhood failed to annoy me. It was just soothing background noise.

I don’t recall the moment when it shifted, but I do remember noticing that I was down and figuring that I’d better do something about it.

Continue reading "On the Road to Happiness" »

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Posted In: Applied Alexander® , Life Stories , Mindfulness

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Hello my friends!

Today was the day for all things green and growing. I wanted to plant the pineapple, but before taking that on, I decided to patch the big bare spot on the far end of the lawn.

I'm sure you know how one good thing leads to another.... While I was hunkered down patching the open spot, I started looking more closely at the rest of the lawn. I discovered that it's true; what you look for, you shall find. I looked and I found...more bare patches! In the end, I patched almost half the lawn. It was a beautiful day and I didn't mind, not really.

When I came inside I looked carefully at the pineapple. It was green and alive, but the roots seemed to have plateaued in their growth. It was time.

I planted it in a flower pot in regular potting mix and set it back in its spot on the kitchen counter.

I am sure it would prefer the iron rich, red dirt of Maui. The best I could do was black potting soil with those little bits of white, spongy fake rock mixed in it, in a dark red pot.

All it needs to do is root and grow and be alive a month from now and I'll be happy to feed it a cup of liquid fertilizer, per the instructions. I wonder what type it really needs....or does it matter, given that the true need, the warm Hawaiian sun, is absent?

Somehow my little crown of pineapple heaven keeps on going and growing. It is the Energizer Bunny of pineapple. I swear the leaves are greener this evening, just since planting it this afternoon. Whenever I see it, I smile.

We are far from Maui but it is growing where it is planted.

There's a lesson for me.

Aloha,

Dana

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories

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Aloha, my friends!

I promised to let you know how my pineapple crown does.

You may recall the instructions. They said to pull off the bottom inch or so of leaves from around the crown, let it dry on the counter for 2-3 days, and at long last, to put the crown in 1 1/2" of water.

Two days after being in water, I thought it was going to die. The remaining outer leaves started turning brown and soggy. A few fell off. I was worried about writing to you.

I kept adding a little water to the dish and kept it out of the sun but in a bright spot on the kitchen counter.

Several days later, I ventured to lift it out of the water and see what was going on.

Roots! But quelle surprise! It is growing roots, but not out the bottom!

Continue reading "Roots! Or, A Pineapple's Story" »

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Just Because , Life Stories

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Aloha my friends!

The feeling of Hawaii is still within me and I'm doing my best to make it real.

I have a pineapple crown set in a dish of water on my kitchen counter. I don't know if it will grow but I am giving it lots of attention and a bit of fresh water every day.

I had a real education in pineapples recently.

I didn't just buy a pineapple at the Foodland in Maui. The local pineapple had a brochure attached, to teach me more.

It's called Maui Gold®. This is a special pineapple that has 3 times the vitamin C of other pineapples. It's also much sweeter than regular pineapple; these pineapples don't bite back.

Back home, my local Safeway gave me a happy surprise; Maui Gold® pineapples, picked ripe and flown in from Maui. I picked up a few as gifts, and of course I had to bring one home.

It had the same brochure on it.

One part told about growing pineapples from the crown. I had to try it.

Continue reading "Pineapples, Sweeter than Sunshine" »

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Hello my friends,

Welcome....come on in and enjoy some of the sweet end of summer while we can. I just came back from Hawaii and have lots of good energy to share.

I woke up this morning thinking about Maui.

I woke up feeling the Island air and how soft it is. I can still feel it, caressing my skin. It is so warm that it melts me, but not so warm that it burns. It is soft, it is soothing, and I could drift away into it, into the Zone.

Melting into nothingness, feeling my body float away till there is nothing left and I’m just floating in space; that is the experience for me of sitting quietly out by the ocean’s edge.

Two days ago, I was lying under a tree on Ka’anapali beach. The breeze was warm and gentle. I drifted off to sleep, and when I woke, it was to consciousness but not to any particular sensation.

Can I do Constructive Rest while floating off in a Hawaiian breeze?
In that floating feeling, how does one find a sense of direction?

I notice that I can think very lightly up my spine, just letting it be and yet knowing it is there.

Thinking lightly down my legs, out the heels, but not pulling, not pulling at all.

I notice that my back widens out the shoulders in either direction. I send a thought going up my neck and notice my head is lightly poised on top.

It is as if I am floating in space. Nothing is pulling, yet I sense that there is a space that my body takes.

I can think in a direction in my body, in whatever position I may be.

I can think of Maui and the warm, Hawaiian air and let it fill me again, all the way here in the Mainland.

That is the skill, of thinking in the body that is taught in the Alexander Technique. Like any skill, it takes practice. This morning I can still feel Hawaii and the ocean in my body. What a good skill…it is so worth practicing…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, or in Hawaiian, Mahalo!

Aloha,

Dana

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Applied Alexander® , Life Stories , Mindfulness

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Hello my friends,

Today I'm just sharing a poem. This came to me on my one and only visit to Esalen Institute. Four hours in the hot tub under the stars melted my edges and I felt one with the Universe. The stars agreed.

Starsong at Esalen

The stars are singing
There are so many
And they are so close
Because they want me
To hear them singing

"We are all connected
We are starlight and lovelight
We are all the same

"All of us are stars
Singing in the same sky
With our light and our love
Reaching between to connect us all

"Sometimes we forget we are stars
We forget to let our light shine

"We are here to remember
To learn to shine in this form
In this life"

They are singing tonight
Loudly enough to wake a human
Out of slumber
Into stardom.

©2009 all rights reserved by Dana Ben-Yehuda

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories , Mindfulness

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From my friend, Eleanor, comes a link to this video and a message: "It would be great if everybody can pass this around. Open your eyes and open your heart and listen carefully what she has got to say."

From the mouth of a child....truth.

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories , Mindfulness , Videos

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Hello my friends,

One of my friends asked me how I got my dogs to let me brush their teeth.

This may not appear to have anything to do with Alexander Technique, and of course, in a direct sense, it doesn't. But I would never have had the patience to do this without the skill of patience that I acquired through my Alexander training. It helped me get my dogs trained in such a friendly way that they leap into their bed eagerly awaiting a good tooth-brushing.

A friend of mine gave me pointers. They involved not end-gaining and lots of patience.

First, I let my puppy sniff the doggy toothpaste from my finger. I bought poultry flavored dog toothpaste; that helped a lot.

He sniffed once or twice and then licked it off my finger.

That was that! I put everything away while he looked around for more.

Continue reading "How to Get Dogs to Let You Brush their Teeth." »

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Posted In: Applied Alexander® , Just Because , Life Stories

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And does it make your mouth water just thinking about it?

I love smoked salmon...the good stuff; Nova. Belly lox. Put that on a freshly backed (boiled - not steamed) bagel with some good Philly and I'm in heaven. Just the thought of it makes my mouth water.

Don't get me started on the steamed, baked donuts they call bagels today. I want the real thing, dropped into a vat of boiling water, then set to rise, and baked. Hard, dense, chewy, and delicious.

But I digress.

The point is, a simple thought can cause a reaction in the body. Just mention freshly brewed coffee and I'm ready to hop over to Starbucks.

Let's talk about this some more....how about tomorrow? We'll chat over a cup o' Joe.

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Posted In: Applied Alexander® , Just Because , Life Stories

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Hello friends,

I wanted to share a little story with you.

It was almost Christmas Eve. I was down like the day; gray, cold and without a single ray of sunshine.

To my surprise a box with flowers stood upside-down at my front door. I was sad and the box was light. How strange that in a dark hour of feeling empty, a flowerpot arrived that was also bare.

It was filled flatly with gray-green moss; there was nothing to see.

I read the card. My dear friend, Stacy, sent me a flower - only it is yet to grow. She sent just a bare pot – or so it seems – with gray-green moss on top and no weight to the plant.

Continue reading "A Return to Happiness" »

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories , Mindfulness

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Hello my friends,

Thanks for stopping by to say hi. I feel the need to take a break from news about back pain and tell you about a baby giraffe that was recently born at the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

You might think that this story is about Giraffes because I'm an Alexander teacher. After all, we deal with the poise of heads on top of necks. They are graceful and they have amazingly long necks that have only 7 vertebrae - just like us. Did you know that?

The truth is, I've always liked animals and Giraffe have always fascinated me. I went to high school in San Diego and visited the Zoo frequently.

Giraffes are so big and so shy. They are gentle creatures with huge eyes, the longest eyelashes imaginable, and incredibly powerful, fast legs. Here are fascinating facts about Giraffes.

On a recent visit to San Diego, I went to the Zoo with a friend and we saw the Giraffes. I don't know if it was Debbie the Giraffe who gave birth shortly thereafter, or another one, but it is an amazing process to witness.

Here's a video. I can't believe the baby falls six feet as it's born, and survives.

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Posted In: Just Because , Life Stories , Videos

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Hello, my friends. How are you today?

Here’s a question for you. Have you had your eyes examined recently? I did, and learned that flashing eyes are not just a figment of fiction and fairy tales.

Dr. Michael Marmor, world-renowned retinal specialist and Professor of Ophthalmology, Stanford University, sat across from me. He wanted to measure the electricity that is emitted from my retina, as a measure of the health of my eye.

“Do you mean that our eyes really emit electricity?”

“Yes!”

I started to smile, “…so the idea of someone having flashing eyes is real?”

“We are electrical beings. The body works through electricity!”

I was fascinated. Pacemakers work on electricity. Brain neurons and in fact, the nervous system communicate electrically. Now I learn that our eyes not only have electricity, they emit it.

Continue reading "Beings of Light" »

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Life Stories

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