Image by Zoe
February 3, 1978
Keeping the directions going. Being with oneself and touching another person. The feedback of a sophisticated person as a body is useful at this stage of the training. Keep the eyes open and be aware of what one is looking for. Be with yourself and everything around you. Arm free, wrists free, uncommitted hand. Putting the hands on one student's neck and lightly moving his/her head. The hands should just be there and not grab. If the hand is presently too tight to mold to the head, it will eventually get there. There is a greater tendency to tighten the wrist when it is dropped. The danger is in wanting to be right and feeling what is happening. Stay in the moment.
Even though we feel things in bits and pieces, it's happening all over. We may see things sequentially although it happens all at once.
Idelle Packer, MS, PT, mAmSAT, certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, has been creatively exploring its broad application for over 35 years. In her private practice, Body Sense, in Asheville, NC, she teaches the Alexander Technique in context of physical therapy assessment and rehabilitation. She authored the chapter on the Alexander Technique in Springer Publishers’ Encyclopedia of Complementary Health Practices (1999). Her current passion is Contact Improvisation, a somatic and athletic improvisation form, to which she has been joyfully integrating the principles of the Technique over the past fifteen years.