In this podcast, Alexander teacher Amy Ward Brimmer talks to Robert Rickover about how the Technique can help with boredom. Robert: “One aspect of boredom is not being in the moment and self-aware but being in some other state.” Amy: “Whenever I’ve been aware and in the present moment, there’s always been a whole lot …
Monthly Archives: November 2016
How The Alexander Technique Can Help You Learn A Foreign Language
Robert Rickover tells Harriet Anderson: “When learning a foreign language, there are pronunciations that are usually foreign. I wish I’d had Alexander lessons when I was taking French in high school. It would’ve saved me a world of grief.” Harriet: “First, as learning to learn. Learning a transferable skill. Learning to unlearn and learning to …
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Fear Makes You Contract, Love Makes You Expand
When you’re afraid, you tighten up. The contraction will start in your neck and then spread to the rest of you. You compress, make yourself smaller, less of a target, and go into some version of the fight-or-flight reflex. When you’re afraid, it will be hard to reach out to others. Your touch will be …
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Practicing Massage Requires Good Body Mechanics
In this podcast, Jano Cohen, an Alexander Technique teacher and Massage Therapist in Philadelphia talks to Robert Rickover about ways the Alexander Technique can help Massage Therapists. Jano: “Practicing massage is an athletic endeavor that requires good body mechanics. In a lot of massage training programs, they teach people how to use their bodies well, …
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The Anatomy Of A Panic Attack
Are there places you can’t go in case you have a panic attack? Are there things you can’t do for fear of panic? A few Alexander Technique lessons will help most people to let go of panic attacks. I had a girlfriend who could not go to courts or hospitals for fear of a panic …
Do You Lead With Your Jaw?
When life is not what I want, I feel a huge emotional need to clench my jaw. I just want to grind my teeth. I’m frustrated and I have to express this frustration through body tension. That’s one of the principle ways I know myself — through my layers of body tension. As I’ve learned …
How To Read A Book Comfortably
Before I took Alexander lessons, I never thought about the way I read books. I never thought about my sitting mechanics. I never thought about the strain of holding a book up. Nuitsmani comments on one of my videos on how to sit: “When reading a book (or writing) I put my book (or journal) …
The Power Of Negative Directions
Robert Rickover writes: Most of us create excess tension somewhere in our bodies. If you have a pretty good idea where you’re habitually tightening up – could be your shoulders, your chest, your pelvis, whatever – you can use it for the little experiment below. If you’re not sure where to put your attention, put …
Critiquing Youtube’s Most Viewed Posture Videos
I went to youtube.com and put in “posture” and found that none of the top videos mentioned Alexander Technique, the best way to develop good posture. Instead, I found these videos: Caroline Blackburn, an Olympic athlete, recommends tightening the abdomen and buttocks and relaxing the shoulders. My critique: Nobody can deliberately tighten any muscle for …
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What’s The Proper Position For Your Head?
Alexander teacher Leland Vall says: “Of course there is no real “position” for your head because your head moves in response to everything you do. More of a problem is that the head is often almost stuck in a position because it is held too tightly. Allowing for a softening (release of the muscles) of …
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