The Alexander Technique and the Sushi Chef
Art comes first. Life comes first. Joy comes first. Love comes first. The sushi chef is bent over his work, his art. Right now, this is his life; nothing else [...]
Use The Alexander Technique
"How can I use the Alexander Technique in my life?" I hear this question, and versions of it, frequently at Alexander Technique lessons. It's really a great question and gets to the heart of the matter of the benefits of the Alexander Technique. The Alexander Technique is done as you think about it. If you're thinking about the principles of the Alexander Technique, you're using the Alexander Technique, or you're doing the technique, or you're practicing the technique, or you're performing the technique, or you're applying the technique, or you're incorporating the Alexander Technique into your life. As an Alexander Technique teacher I emphasize awareness of initiating movement; how you start actions like moving your hands, initiating walking, so...
Universal Inhibition
Alexander Technique's "inhibition" does not reside exclusively within the realm of the Alexander Technique. Inhibition is universal and timeless. It was not invented by anyone. It just was, and is. Inhibition is used by people from every walk of life, and by animals in every walk, swim, fly, and crawl of life...
Let The Alexander Technique Relieve Tension And Stress
In Alexander Technique lessons, I often use the words let and allow, as in allow your neck to be free or let your head lead your spine into length. Alexander Technique teachers often say allow your entire ribcage to contract and expand as you breathe and allow your sit bones to release down into the chair. Let your torso gently spiral as you walk, allow your jaw to release, and countless other examples of allowing... letting... If we need to allow things to happen, perhaps we unconsciously disallow them from happening. The disallowing has become habitual...
Alexander Technique Posture Help Directions
Alexander Technique Directions I wish to free my neck ... so that My head can move forward and up...so that My torso can lengthen and widen and... My legs can move away from my torso and... My shoulders can release out the sides. Alexander Technique directions act as verbal, or neuro-linguistc cues. They tell us where we want to go, which is often upward, outward, into expansion. Up, down, and out. Head up, feet or sit bones down, shoulders out, legs away...
Alexander Technique Slumping, Shlumping
On my subway ride to teach some Alexander Technique lessons at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Mahattan, I noticed a man who could not have been more stooped over. As an Alexander Technique teacher I was particularly aware of how he was seated, reading the paper, his head not very far from his knees. His face was quite tense, and had a scowl I suspected was habitual. He seemed to 'have the weight of the world on his shoulders...