I had a great discovery this morning as I was taking my daily run.  I know that our head moves forward and up as we walk and run, my Alexander training has instilled that in my kinesthetic awareness.  However, I know this learning about my body through movement and discovering ease, flexibility and balance is a “practice” and just when we think we “have it”, we realize that the process is just evolving.  I think the awareness of my body as being in layers, and as I come to notice and be deeply connected to that layer, I learn something profound in how it relates to the whole and my movement; it then becomes my own. This morning when I let my head fall forward in this sort of relaxed way my pace picked up I became so much lighter my joints were open, my breath was easier…what a revelation! So now I have uncovered another layer to help me be more balanced in all that I do.  I could say it was unconscious and now is conscious and available to me.  These layers of deep tension and tightness come forward into your awareness over time, because they are unconscious habits, they hide below our consciousness until we decide to embark on the curiosity of discovering and changing. For me, there was an emotional piece, that somewhere in my psyche I thought if my head came forward that much (which was a miniscule amount), that I would fall forward, so I unknowingly tightened my neck muscles to keep from falling…what an absurd thought! As FM Alexander would say we don’t really know where we are in space we don’t know what our body is doing, this really gave me that awareness in a very deep way. I am beginning to think that the headrest in my new car may have given me a new awareness of the position of my head on my spine.  So change is good in that it brought me to a new way of relating my head to my spine, and that what I thought I knew was taking me to another layer of consciousness; and it showed up in my running.  I love this work, and being in my body with enhanced awareness of how I move in relation to the whole body is profound!  

Comment from a workshop participant in Montana:

“Also, (wish I would have thought of this in class), last spring when I was in Tucson I went to my granddaughter’s  violin lesson. (she’s just beginning).  She was “sawing” away at the song.  Her teacher said “Operate the bow from your whole arm, not just from your elbow.”  What a difference in sound.  Sound went from flat to full.

Free your bow arm

I took violin as a child and must have learned that because when playing her violin it was natural for me to bow with my whole arm.  I noticed her father, also, when helping her with her lesson bowed from the elbow.  When I pointed that out he immediately picked up on doing it differently – it was harder for my granddaughter to “get” the difference.  I would suppose a violinist who used the bow from the elbow would eventually develop an injury.  In other words “tennis elbow”??

When we ask our body to perform an action w/o the full repertoire of joints and muscles and tendons intended to perform that action then we create wear and tear and eventually injury, I would guess.  Very interesting.

Thank you for the class.  It was enlightening.  It’s very comforting being around you.”

C.Collins, Montana (2013)

While traveling last month and taking various forms of public transportation which required me to share a seat with other travelers, I became curious about unconscious habits. Do we all have unconscious habits that occur when we are otherwise focused; for instance, while reading or watching a movie?  And because we are so drawn into the entertainment through our eyes, and our hands being free; that we do some unconscious movement with our hand.   I experienced on these trips the following unconscious habits as nail biting, knuckle cracking or popping and nose picking, all being done very unconsciously as the person was reading and/or watching something on their ipad or iPhone. It was very distracting to me, that in one instance I asked to be moved to another seat. So I thought, what habits do I have? We really can’t see ourselves, and the habit isn’t in our awareness. So I decided to watch a movie on my ipad so I could really become aware of what I do, it was so hard since I was so drawn into the story. I had to divide my attention between two things, and probably more if I heard a noise or my phone rang. WOW, could I do it?   This is what FM Alexander explored 103 years ago, when he lost his voice when performing. When he watched in the mirror that he tightened his neck, shoulders and ribs, he knew that tension made his voice scratchy and hoarse. However he wasn’t aware at all of the bracing and tightening he was doing “unconsciously”. He realized that we do have a choice on how we use our attention. What is our body doing, what are we thinking, what is around us, and then to practice being attentive to your self and your surroundings. This new way of being allows you to change the unconscious habits that may be affecting your voice, breathing, joint pain. My habit? I am still exploring, and I know there is one, I am finding that what I think I am doing isn’t necessarily what I AM DOING! Better pull out a mirror, and try Mr. Alexander’s way of seeing himself and find out what i can’t sense in myself.  To be continued….