The pace in New York City is frenetic, and it hit home yesterday during a long walk in the woods. It’s a relatively quick drive, about an hour, to go from an incredibly loud fast-paced city to the calmness of the woods. Since we can get used to almost anything, it’s hard to know how fast and crazy everything around a large city can be, until you leave it. I think it’s comparable to people at the beginning of Alexander Technique lessons not realizing how much they’re tensing themselves, until they release that tension. It’s at that point they sometimes say ‘wow, I was really tense!’
My friend, Robbie, once told me a story about a trip he took to a small town in Oregon. He hadn’t been away from New York City for quite a while, and suddenly he was in a quiet forest. He was walking down a path within a few hours of arriving when he heard a loud click. It took him a few seconds to realize that the click was the sound of his shoulders dropping!
So here I am in the woods and about 25 yards ahead of me is a woman talking on her cell phone, which was on speaker. Not only could I clearly hear what she was saying, but I also heard the friend she was speaking with. In Manhattan I couldn’t have heard that if she were 3 feet away. It made me realize the incredible amount of energy and sound we get used to and think is ‘normal’. It also made me realize that I want to take some of that calmness back with me as I teach my Alexander Technique lessons in NYC.
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC
(917) 709-4648
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