Applied Alexander Technique Blog

Hello my friends,

Why do I teach Alexander Technique?

Why do I dance?

It feels expansive, it feels good, it is a joy like no other.

I move my body and I feel my soul. It springs lightly upward when I dance.

In Alexander work, it is a release of my neck that lets my thoughts go upward and my head, with it.

I feel a unique sense of flow and lightness. It feels light and my head floats up. It is like meditation in action and I create it as I walk, sit, stand, move, and dance.

Want some?

We are psycho-physical-spiritual beings and this is like chocolate for the soul. It is like bringing light to the body, the light of awareness, freedom, joy.

Letting your neck be free is a close parallel to dancing. It's like watching a hummingbird...poised so lightly...stillness and yet all-moving.

Sharing a way to have freedom and joy in your body, in the moment, in the Now.

Namaste,

Dana

Hello my friends,

I'm emerging from winter hibernation and emerging into Spring. I blog again!

Here is the most amazing video for you...It is enough inspiration to last me a lifetime. Seriously, if I watched this every morning when I woke up, I'd be a better person (and more fun, too).

"Everything is a present..." Alice Herz-Sommer

Here's to finding laughter and joy every day,

Dana

Hello friends,

Who comes for Alexander Technique lessons?

The British Medical Journal gives an overview:

If you have back or neck pain, or if you are a dancer or musician and would like to improve your performance, I encourage you to take a look at this video.

To your health!

Dana

Hello my friends,

So nice that you stopped by to stay in touch. I've been thinking about taking a day off, in a different way.

I'm taking today off from noticing any aches and pains.

Just for today, I'm going to focus on what feels good and what does work in my body.

We always notice what hurts...sometimes we even notice what used to hurt and focus backwards.

Today, I’m paying attention to what doesn’t hurt.

I’m counting my blessings, muscle by muscle, bone by bone...

Let's notice what feels good and practice THAT.

We’re always training ourselves, consciously or otherwise. Sometimes pain becomes the focus of our lives because we are also training our selves to notice it all the time. Take a mental break...for a moment...

Come, play with me today...take a moment to notice the good things.

How do you feel when you take a moment to smell the blossoms on a lemon tree? I notice how sweet they smell and that there is nothing else in my mind at that moment but pleasure.

Coming back to my senses and out of my head for a moment.

Namaste,

Dana

Hello my friends,

This came to me from an Alexander colleague, friend, and generally enlightened being, Elyse Shafarman. She shared a piece from a talk by Dana DePalma at Insight Meditation.

I would like to share it with you. The parenthetical remarks are mine; I hope you will take a moment and fill in the blanks, for yourself.

Mindfulness for children:

Tell me one thing that was really happy or fun today? (seeing my son)
Tell me one thing that was really hard today. (driving a long way)
Tell me one thing that was neutral. (doing laundry)

That's pretty much it, life. Every day. The happy, the difficult, and the neutral.

I wrote back, “Your mindfulness for children is wonderful!"

Please God, let me have the mindfulness and grace of a child today. To know what I like and what I don’t like. To enjoy the blue sky and the ice cream dripping and the flowers blooming.

Namaste,

Dana

Greetings!

As January is well under way, health and fitness are on many of our minds. Good posture helps with whatever you do. You will instantly look more confident and more slender. It helps with body mechanics and improves your workout results.

According to the current issue of Harvard Medical School Health Beat Extra:

"Good posture trims your silhouette and projects confidence. More importantly, it lessens wear and tear on the spine and allows you to breathe deeply. Good posture helps you gain full benefits from the effort you put into exercising, too."

It's true! Proper form helps you use the muscles you are targeting when you exercise. You will get better results if you use yourself correctly rather than compensate by momentum or using some other body parts.

Learn how the Alexander Technique helps you put your mind into your body. Putting your "sole" into the gym gets you started. It takes consciousness to reap the benefits.

If you're going to put in time, you may as well reap the benefits!

Drop me a line and I will offer a free, 20 minute phone consultation.

Let's get fit and look younger in 2012!

Dana

Hello my friends,

Have you tried Alexander Technique and struggled to explain it to your friends and family?

Have you heard of the Technique but haven't been able to figure out what it is?

Here's a podcast for you - you can listen online or download it to your iTunes.

Pull up a chair, have a cup of coffee and listen in...

Continue reading "Podcast: Conscious Living - Introduction to the Alexander Technique" »

One day, I visited the training course and received a gift from a visit six months earlier when I had visited before. One of the trainees on the course read me a poem she wrote from that earlier time.

Attentive yet detached,
Simple, gentle yet powerful,
Doing by non-doing,
Invisible and visible meet
Mysteriously in the
Empty hand…

Naturally at ease in her touch,
She creates a vast space
In which I can breathe
Peacefully and freely...

--Yuko Okada

I am humbled...and grateful. Thank you, Yuko.

Namaste,

Dana

"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

Hello good friends,

It's so nice when you stop by and visit. Perhaps we can chat about nothing again. Isn't that how Seinfeld got started? It's a show about nothing....

Sometimes when you take a lesson, the best thing to do is just go along with whatever is happening. It's better not to think too much and let yourself experience a different way of moving. Have you ever gotten intense from trying too hard? If we play with the word, we have "in" and "tense." Put them together and maybe it's tension going inward, or inner tension. Either way, that's too much work.

I like to call my studio, the "no work, no pain school."

Sometimes it is Just Fine and in fact, preferable to lay on the table and go into the Zone. The body has a wisdom of its own. So many times what we really need is to renew the experience of letting it happen.

Sometimes, a mind is a terrible thing to use.

Hello my friends,

....more about nothing....

I was just teaching a lesson and again, nothing came up in conversation.

Nothing in the body is also a space where there is the absence of ego. It is the letting go of posturing and attitude. Postural attitude is part of what lets us and also other people know "who" we are. But we are more than that; posture is the external package that we show the world. We are also Beingness itself.

Is there a connection?

Letting go of muscular tension that contracts in to the joints allows for a little space. It literally creates space in the joints so that we move with ease.

First we stop - just Pause - and allow a little space. Try it...try lying down and postulating a little space in all your joints.

Continue reading "Living in the Space of Ease" »

Hello Friends,

One of my students was leaving her lesson and she looked at me and said, "I am so excited about feeling nothing."

She first mentioned it when she was lying on the table. As I worked with her leg, she said, "I feel nothing." A smile crept over her face and curled up the corners of her lips. "I feel nothing!"

It wasn't the absence of pain or tension.
It was the positive sense of...nothing!

Have you ever had that feeling?

To me, it is a special moment when everything dissolves. The sense of confinement that is embodied in flesh itself disappears. It is like weightlessness or floating. There is no boundary between the parts; I sense the whole. That "Nothing" is the best stuff of all.

After she left, I realized that the space of nothing is also the space of possibility.

How does that tie in when I feel nothing, after the pain of ending a relationship, after the anger has gone... Suddenly there is nothing and it's kind of peaceful and it's also the space of possibility.

This is not about the hole that's left in my heart by the empty room, it's about the whole that is created by nothing.
It is the place where anything is possible.

One of my dance teachers, Tandy Beal, once shared a dance that she choreographed. It was called, "The Place Where Canaries Are Born."

Where does one create?

Out of nothing!

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" »

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

Hello my friends,

My friend, Amy Flynn, wrote a story with many meanings, about a little daffodil named Dinky. This story resonated with me and Amy kindly gave me permission to tell you about it here. I’ll give you a little peek into the story and why I liked it, with full credits to Amy Flynn © 2008.

Once upon a time there was a daffodil named Dinky. Dinky grew in the shade of an oak tree, quite apart from his daffodil friends. He felt lonely and unhappy and wished to be growing with them under the bright sun over in the meadow instead of alone under the shadow of a great, big tree.

The oak tree tried to help Dinky understand why he was in a better position than his daffodil friends. Dinky was just a young daffodil, though and it was very hard for him to see beyond his current situation. It was dark and it was cool under the oak tree.

All of the other daffodils bloomed in the sunshine, soaking up the rays.

Continue reading "Dinky the Daffodil" »

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

Hello friends,

Lately, I am reading a new book: Forgive for Good, by Dr. Fred Luskin, and enjoying it very much.

It's all about forgiveness, and that necessarily includes looking at grievances that we can learn to forgive.

Dr. Luskin talks about how much mindspace we give to grievances in our lives. He uses the example of a flight controller's screen that shows planes flying around as dark spots on the screen. They are an analogy for the dark feelings we get when we harbor grievances. Dr. Luskin goes on to say that dwelling on wrongs that have been done to us is like making those planes stay in the air forever, circling round and round. They are a corollary to how much mindspace we give our grievances. He suggests letting the planes land...

I tried it and what I noticed when my planes of dark feelings landed, is that what I was left looking at was the sky. Clear, blue sky (and my imagination added just a few, small puffy white clouds.) The sky was wide open and all things were possible. I felt sunny inside.

Reading this book is causing an attitudinal shift in me. It is making me wake up and look for the sky instead of the dark planes in my life. I'm learning to let the planes settle and focus on the sky.

I started thinking about applying the principle of dark planes to pain. Pain is like dark planes that become the focus of our attention, to the exclusion of the sky. Often times when various places hurt, we ignore everything else and our entire awareness may become focused on pain.

I think that this is one of the ways Alexander Technique helps with pain. In the practice, we stop focusing on the dark planes that are our aches and pains and let ourselves notice the whole and flow with it. So, my friends, let your mind wander a bit. Let it wander up and down your back and out your shoulders, and on to the world beyond. Try a lesson if you're curious; it is easier to learn this skill with a teacher.

Hello friends,

My Tweeting friend, MaAnna Stephenson, sent this note. “Aristotle stated all things fell to Earth because all was made of earthly substances and were attracted to their natural home.”

It made me wonder; does this mean that what we call death is really just that our spirit is attracted to its natural home and falls up?

I wonder; where does this thought lead you?

Love to hear from you....

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.

Hello again!

Thanks so much for stopping by on Valentine's Day. I thought it would be nice to post some news of the heart. Or in this case, the heart, the brain, and the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama and Stanford University are working together to research the connection between compassion and the brain.

The goals include taking this to the next step to gain understanding in ways that can reduce childhood bullying and recidivism. Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, has a project called Operation Respect, with the goal of ending bullying.

On a day that is about love, isn't it nice to know that some people are putting their money where their hearts are?

Hello friends,

Remember, I promised to tell you how I might apply this thinking in the body to real life? I will tell you about my experience with the dentist....and undoing tension in my neck.

A year or two ago, I had to have a root canal and was literally getting uptight and tight-necked about it. I decided to try and apply the Alexander Technique to my thoughts about the dentist.

I started by doing the same thing I ask all my students to do: "First, we stop." Just Stop - Pause - and notice where I am and what's going on with me.

Then I began undoing the tension in my neck. You can do it along with me....we can do it, step-by-step.

Want to try? We'll start with something simple and expand to the neck.

Continue reading "A Visit to the Dentist without Pain - Neck or Otherwise" »

Hello again...this is a nice habit we are creating. We stop and have a chat and stop to breathe for a moment or two.

I often meditate on the mental image of a rose, but even better, is to put a real rose in a glass of water and study it.

Look at it closely, till you can see the texture of the petals. Breathe in deeply; does the fragrance smell sweet? Spicy? Look at the gradations of color in the rose. How open is it?

Look at the stem and notice the leaves. Are the edges spiky or smooth? How big are the thorns? Does it have teeny-tiny little hairs that are thin thorns, or smooth skin and big, bold, honest thorns that are large enough to see before you impale yourself upon them?

Breathe in the fragrance of your rose for a minute or two. Even if you do it in your imagination, tell me, now how do you feel?

The same thing can happen with pure thought in the body. The Alexander Technique is a good way to learn this skill and apply it to benefit your well-being.

What fascinates me is where this skill may be applied in life. How can we use it to improve our relationships? How may it enhance the quality of our lives?

See you again tomorrow....let's see where this may go.....

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" »

Several months ago I returned to meditation after some years away. As I sit, quietness seeps through my body and all my cares fall away. I take time just to be in my body and enjoy the aliveness that it brings.

It reminds me of a story I used to make up about why going to the ballroom dance lightens my spirits so much. I used to imagine that I brought a big, white box all tied up with a big, red ribbon with me. I’d put all my troubles into it and leave the box right by the entrance door to the dance. I’d go in and dance and hope that someone would pick up that box and steal it. That never happened, but on my way out, I’d pick up the box and somehow, it was always lighter.

The same thing happens when I meditate. All the rest of the world can wait while I settle into my body and sit in a chair. I let a few deep breaths in and out. I let all the cares and woes wait and I focus on the flow of energy going right through my body.

The Alexander Technique does something very similar for me. The first step is awareness. In that way, it reminds me of a meditation in the body. It is always done in present time and all the work you do to retrain how you move is done in the Now.

I invite you to come try a lesson. Park your troubles at my door in the big white box with the nice red ribbon and come on in.

Here is a lovely video of Thich Nhat Hanh, talking about his walking mediation.

I readily admit to thinking about it but not slowing down enough while walking my dogs.

Hi there! So nice of you to drop by again. It’s spring and I was just walking my dogs.

Do you have dogs to walk? If not, how do you take little mental health breaks during your day?

Sometimes when we walk, I meet a neighbor. Other times, I just look at what comes to my eyes and think of Thich Nhat Hahn’s walking meditation.

Today, I looked at the yellow and pink snapdragons by my front door and noticed how relaxing it is just to pause and really examine the details of a flower. I remember feeling that way on a vacation at The Mauian, a hideaway in Maui, when a gecko walked up the glass walls of a phone booth as I was inside. You can lose your worries watching sticky little footpads inching up.

Of course, my eyes were open looking at the gecko and at the same time I had a feeling of relaxation.

Some people close their eyes when they try to relax. What do you do? Closing the eyes may be an unconscious association with a certain amount of tension in the body and eyes being open, and relaxation with closing the eyes for sleeping or meditating. I realized meditation is also possible with eyes open, as with looking closely at flowers.

Once in a while during my Alexander training, the Director would put a flower in the middle of the floor. We’d all sit in a circle and look at it. The instructions were to just notice the flower.

Continue reading "Walking the Dogs" »

When you are centered and grounded in your body you are centered and grounded in your Self.

Do you want to try and prove it to yourself?

Try slumping in your chair. Let your chin come rest on your chest, if your neck will stretch that far. Let your arms fall into your lap. Let your back collapse.

Now try and sing The Star Spangled Banner in a bright and sprightly voice. It doesn’t work very easily.

It is hard to be up when you’re down.

And it’s hard to be down when you’re up.

One of the things I tell all my students is, “Wherever you are, you’re Up!”
That’s because in Alexander terms, “Up” means up the spine and out the top of the head. Therefore, “Up” is a relative term to you, wherever you are. And given that, then truly wherever you are there is an Up and it is within you!

We literally cannot separate mind from body, and mood and mind and spirit are intertwined.

Think about someone who is happy. What do you see? Are they smiling? Are the corners of their mouth turning up? I bet they are not frowning and tears are not rolling down their face. It seems simplistic, but it’s very true. We read people by their expression and also by their body language, and we do it all the time.

Continue reading "Wherever You Are, You’re Up!" »