Alexander Technique
Dr. Laura’s trainer Jason Baker looks at her slumping to her left under the weight of her handbag. Jason prescribes some exercises to strengthen her back, neck and shoulder muscles to fix this problem. As an Alexander teacher, I would primarily want Dr. Laura to notice how she’s reacting to the stimuli of carrying a …
Continue reading “Dr. Laura Schlesinger and Her Trainer Jason Baker Discuss Handbag Posture”
When my life is not as I wish, I feel an overwhelming need to grip or grind my teeth and to create other forms of body tension. I often feel so frustrated and angry with my life. Usually I feel morally compelled to not lash out at others (unless they remind me of certain folks), …
The best thing you can do for your posture is to be happy. Happy people tend to be buoyant aka “capable of floating”. Buoyant means full of air and full of life. Upward in orientation. Depressed people tend to collapse. They’re pulled down. When you float through life, you’re much more likely to be happy …
I’m reading an e-book by David Gorman on the virtues. He makes the point that patience is the absence of impatience. And what is impatience? It is a refusal to accept reality. It is a refusal to accept that things are moving more slowly than we would like. Life is not living up to our …
My Alexander Technique students usually want out of their pain as fast as possible. If they have a sore neck or tight shoulders of a gimpy knee, they want a fix pronto. But these pains are only symptoms for what is really going on — a refusal to accept reality. When we accept what is, …
According to fitness coach Belle Badell, “the idea of the chest pop is to squeeze the back muscles and then squeezing the upper abs. …Press the back muscles in and downwards. Press and release. If you ever wonder how Shakira does it, this is the trick.” I notice Belle tightening and compressing her shoulders and …
A typical yoga teacher has taken a course of about 200 hours, often done in 12-hour stretches on weekends. An Alexander Technique teacher trains for three hours a day, five days a week, 36 weeks a year, for three years (a total of more than 1600 hours of training). A massage therapist has training of …
Continue reading “What’s The Training Difference Between An Alexander Teacher And A Yoga Teacher?”
When I mention the Alexander Technique to people, they often stiffen and push themselves up in a rigid way. “Is this good Alexander Technique?” they often ask. No, it is not. You’d be better off with your habitual slump, I often answer. Sitting up straight and standing straight is not Alexander Technique. More often than …
A lot of women feel cramping in their stomach when they’re on their period. In this video, Marjorie Barstow helps a woman move out of the unnecessary clenching that exacerbates such pain: I get so impatient watching these slow-moving Marjorie Barstow videos. And the more impatient I feel, the more I tighten. Try to notice …
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A few months ago, I did this interview with Jeroen Staring (gnirats@hetnet.nl) via email: How has the Alexander community reacted to your work? Is there a certain type of mind that reacts with interest to your work and another type of mind that reacts with horror? That is an interesting question, difficult to answer though. …