Free Breathing - Your Core Power

Free Breathing - Your Core Power

When F. M. Alexander first began sharing his newfound discoveries about human psycho-physical functioning, he traveled around his native Australia and became known as "the Breathing Man." The core of his work was free and full breathing and its relation to overall wellness, and learning the Alexander Technique remains one of the best ways to understand the anatomy and physiology of your own breathing system, and to begin to reverse some of the unconscious habits that develop , and the problems that occur as a result.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

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Walking the Alexander Way

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Walking the Alexander Way

Walking well means you are free to notice the power and energy you produce, and the beautiful scenery you encounter, and the other people who are out there trying to get and stay healthy, too. Applying the Alexander Technique gives you the freedom to let your legs move your torso along, to let your neck be free of tension so your head can bob along in balance as you move. It means you can breathe easily and powerfully, with awareness of your back and what is behind you. And you can be grateful for your feet, which do so much for you all day long.

Includes a podcast interview with me about AT and walking.

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Awake and Aligned the Alexander Way

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Awake and Aligned the Alexander Way

If you study and practice the Alexander Technique, it will change your life for the better.

This is a statement I can make with complete confidence and zero doubt. I can say this to absolutely everyone, no matter their condition or circumstances. With very few exceptions, there is no one who can't benefit from the principles and the process created by F. M. Alexander and developed over the past century by those who have followed his path.

That’s quite a claim. Read on.

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Are We There Yet?

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Are We There Yet?

Bringing embodied awareness to the transitions we experience — whether small everyday movements from one task to another or during larger significant life changes — can bring about deep and dynamic change. Why? Because it's the last place we show up. We are always thinking ahead, moving toward or away from something, Who brings intention to reaching for the door handle and opening the door? The point, we think, is to get to the other side of the door. The truth is, always being ahead of ourselves leads to unnecessary suffering. Luckily, we can learn that how we do what we do makes all the difference.

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Finding the Strawberry

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Finding the Strawberry

Are you waiting for things to improve so you can feel better again?

Is your jaw tight, your knuckles white, your breath held? Do your thoughts run out of control? Is your mind fuzzy and your attention worse than ever? And do you believe this will change just as soon as the pandemic is over?

This is what is known as Destination Addiction, the belief that once I arrive at some future point or state of being, then I will be okay, then I can be happy and at peace. This is what AA calls stinkin' thinkin' and it stinks because it is a lie.

The truth is, you don’t have to be dependent upon certain conditions in order to know happiness and inner peace.

Right in the Middle

Right in the Middle

The first day of Spring is traditionally about balance, as we get equal hours of day and night. It’s a great time to explore equanimity, the practice that puts you right in the middle of whatever is occurring, in a steady balanced way so that you’re not thrown off by the ups and downs of daily life.

Previously published in 2019 but more relevant than ever. Share your balance strategies for living with the coronavirus pandemic in the comments - you may help someone else.

Don't Worry, Be Mindful

Don't Worry, Be Mindful

Everyone is expressing a lot of anxiety and upset in the face of uncertainty. This is a great time to practice mindfulness and compassion. Conditions are perfect to gain clarity about the difference between concern and worry, fear and terror, self-love and selfishness. The difference is not a matter of intensity but rather the degree to which we are willing to move closer to our anxious thoughts and scary feelings and relate to them differently.

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Four Ways to Alexander Awareness

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Four Ways to Alexander Awareness

The Alexander Technique provides a skill set that can be applied in every situation. That's a pretty big claim. Every situation? Really? Yes, really, because Alexander work teaches a way of being, in the same way that practicing meditation creates new ways to be in relationship with reality. Still, that's rather vague, isn't it? How does the AT get applied? In what situations might it be most effective?

Here are four basic positions we all find ourselves in every day, and they are wonderful ways to use Alexander awareness.

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You're Soaking In It

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You're Soaking In It

Repetitive thought patterns tend to reinforce themselves, and this always shows up in the body somehow. This is good news, because it means we always have an immediate tangible way to know what’s going on in any given moment. We don’t have to unconsciously absorb the pool of greed, hatred, or delusion that may have become the mental background of everyday living.

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Heel Thyself

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Heel Thyself

Someone recently asked me what physical habits of posture or use I see most often, and what I teach my students in order to to address these issues. This is not easy to answer, because everyone is different. But like any Alexander teacher, I typically see a lot of locked knees, shallow breathing, head/spine misalignment, tight jaws, and generally overworked muscles accompanied by low-level anxiety. One common misunderstanding I've seen in nearly everybody involves the heels. They are the base of balance and stability, but most people don’t access this ground-level support and, in some cases, make choices that actively work against it.

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A Most Reliable Mindfulness Bell

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A Most Reliable Mindfulness Bell

Wouldn’t it be great to become more oriented toward the ease and freedom in our bodies? What if our default was to look for sensations of high functioning, or balance, or unity and connection? If awareness is always present and ready to be accessed, then recognizing and supporting ease is merely a matter of intention and practice.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

What You Need is Here

What You Need is Here

It can be easy to believe that growth and awakening require hard work in order to attain something. This is the conditioning we have all been subject to since birth, a continuous message about striving for "someday." Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, play fair, study hard, be thrifty and save, lean in, never give up, never say die, and you will be rewarded. Someday.

Guess what? Someday will never arrive.

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Unnecessary Roughness

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Unnecessary Roughness

Part 3

The Alexander process addresses not what we do but how we do it, and what I discovered initially was that not only did I not have awareness of how I was doing things, I literally did not know what I was doing as I did it.

It began to dawn on me that I treated myself rather harshly. They way I toweled off after a shower, brushed my teeth, styled my hair, held a glass, stirred a pot, walked down the street – I performed these routine daily tasks with a great deal of roughness. I used too much energy. I was hard on me.

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There is No Try

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There is No Try

When there is something I don't understand, if I remember to notice the tension that arises around "not knowing," I can release it before it begins to cloud my brain with panic-based messages. I feel this tension in my neck and behind my eyes; other people get upset stomachs or jaw pain or sharp headaches. I observe myself striving to understand a new way of doing something, using different controls, and in the striving, I tighten. So I let go of trying at the same time I let go of the tension in my neck. I think everyone gets anxious when they have to learn something new, even if it is something they are excited about learning.

Includes a Bodymind experiment for you to “do or do not.” But no try.

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Sweetness Within the Sorrow

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Sweetness Within the Sorrow

Like many of you, people I knew and cared about died on September 11. Yet we also came to life that day. I met neighbors I had never known and found so many sweet, authentic connections. I saw in action what we talk about when we talk about community.

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Senseless

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Senseless

Part 2

The motivation to begin Alexander lessons came primarily from my curiosity about this method I had heard about for years. The actors and dancers I knew swore by it, saying it kept them injury-free or was a huge help in recovering from the physical demands on people who use their bodies for a living. On a less intellectual level, I felt a nagging pull toward anything body-based, because I suspected that my relationship with my physical self was not what it should be or could be.

The truth is, I had almost no awareness of my body, my senses, or the way I moved through life. I was senseless.

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Taking Small Bites

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Taking Small Bites

More and more, I'm seeing that stepping back and searching for the big picture in any situation is often all that's needed. Taking the long view is called for right now, don't you think? I'm hearing some discouragement around questions of whether one's individual efforts can make a real difference. Whether in relation to socio-political chaos or about daily mindfulness practice and changing movement habits, folks are expressing doubts about the power of tiny repeatable actions. Is calling your senator effective? Can one big splashy march truly change hearts and minds? Is moving my computer monitor higher or lower really going to stop my neck pain? Is it really so bad to skip a day or two of meditation?