New York seems to have shorter and shorter Springs every year. It's April 19th, 2009 and one of the first warm weekends of the year. So I decided to spend it in the Emergency Room at Elmhurst hospital. I stubbed my toe pretty badly on Saturday and now it has the color and size of an eggplant. The Alexander Technique comes into play...
In some ways the Alexander Technique helps us get better at doing less. Doing less? This goes against the general vibe of New York City; the City that never sleeps, or even takes a nap. The Alexander Technique challenges the general vibe of NYC and other large cities in many ways. Many of us have been taught to 'do more', 'push yourself', 'no pain no gain', and 'always try harder'...
How are you supposed to read without collapsing forward? Doesn't the book draw you down into it? Is there a way to read without compressing your spine, or holding it rigidly upright? Here in NYC a lot of us spend a good deal of time on the subway. We all seem to be carrying bags, [...]
In Man's Supreme Inheritance by F.M.Alexander, (the 'Alexander' in the Alexander Technique) writes..."a human being functions as a whole and can only be functionally changed as a whole." In my Alexander Technique teaching here in NYC this is illuminated countless times. People get the mistaken impression that their back pain has nothing to do with their neck, their neck pain has nothing to do with their jaw, their hand pain has nothing to do with their overall tension, and their shallow breathing has nothing to do with their job...
