Do you remember the phrase, "Don't step on a crack or you will break your Mother's back?" Ouch. We thought that was the funniest thing ever. Or, I should say, as children we loved skipping over cracks and dancing our way through the neighborhood with this little self-made rule for ourselves.
What did that teach? Rhythm, control of the body, eye-foot co-ordination (or in scientific parlance, eye-hand co-ordination), breath, freedom...you get the picture.
So what happens over time? Why do we stop skipping and start second-guessing our balance, movement and control?
Ah, now that is a big question. Why do we stop TRUSTING ourselves to maintain balance and freedom of movement in our daily lives?
Well, some of the answer is that we develop habits based on fear of falling. We tighten just a little when insecure, and we stop the elegant balance in gravity that the human body-mind system has available to us. Over time (decades) this becomes normal. We start to pull down and pull in.
But what if when meeting a stimulus, perhaps an uneven surface in the concrete, or a step up or down, instead we paused for just a moment and thought "stay free in my neck and release my head upward" instead of pulling down. This is called "Direction" in the Alexander Technique.
Then possibly notice the ability of freeing my breathing so that I don't hold my breath in anticipation of falling, and releasing instead into expansion. Hmmm. That sounds like a tall order!
But it isn't really. It allows us to pause in the moment of the stimulus and do something different from what we usually do, which is to compress and tighten our muscles, and lose that inherent freedom that we are designed for.
Yes, humans are designed for free, upright movement, but a lifetime of tension has left us tight, held and not breathing! We don't see children or animals move that way. They LOVE to skip and dance and play. They love to jump too! When was the last time you jumped just for the sheer pleasure of it?
The Alexander Technique is a mindful approach to change that will give you clues as to how to skip over a gap, a bump in the road, a rock, and think nothing of it.
More on the GAP in my next newsletter...I want to share what the psychological gap means, and how we can navigate it with ease.
What did that teach? Rhythm, control of the body, eye-foot co-ordination (or in scientific parlance, eye-hand co-ordination), breath, freedom...you get the picture.
So what happens over time? Why do we stop skipping and start second-guessing our balance, movement and control?
Ah, now that is a big question. Why do we stop TRUSTING ourselves to maintain balance and freedom of movement in our daily lives?
Well, some of the answer is that we develop habits based on fear of falling. We tighten just a little when insecure, and we stop the elegant balance in gravity that the human body-mind system has available to us. Over time (decades) this becomes normal. We start to pull down and pull in.
But what if when meeting a stimulus, perhaps an uneven surface in the concrete, or a step up or down, instead we paused for just a moment and thought "stay free in my neck and release my head upward" instead of pulling down. This is called "Direction" in the Alexander Technique.
Then possibly notice the ability of freeing my breathing so that I don't hold my breath in anticipation of falling, and releasing instead into expansion. Hmmm. That sounds like a tall order!
But it isn't really. It allows us to pause in the moment of the stimulus and do something different from what we usually do, which is to compress and tighten our muscles, and lose that inherent freedom that we are designed for.
Yes, humans are designed for free, upright movement, but a lifetime of tension has left us tight, held and not breathing! We don't see children or animals move that way. They LOVE to skip and dance and play. They love to jump too! When was the last time you jumped just for the sheer pleasure of it?
The Alexander Technique is a mindful approach to change that will give you clues as to how to skip over a gap, a bump in the road, a rock, and think nothing of it.
More on the GAP in my next newsletter...I want to share what the psychological gap means, and how we can navigate it with ease.
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