From Alexander Technique Student to Teacher: Why I Chose ACAT

by Karen Krueger

In January 2008, shortly after my 50th birthday, I walked into the American Center for The Alexander Technique ("ACAT") to begin the three-year journey to becoming a teacher of the Alexander Technique. I would soon leave behind a 25-year career as a big-firm lawyer, a choice I have never regretted.

The Alexander Technique is all about choice: it empowers people to make choices about previously unconscious, habitual or reflexive behaviors and reactions like poor posture, excessive muscle tension and anxiety. Learning the technique through weekly private lessons had enabled me to address the chronic neck pain and headaches brought on by my legal career. It also led me to choose to spend the second half of my life in a different pursuit, by becoming an Alexander Technique teacher. Having decided on this change, I faced another choice: where to train? After learning about the structure of training programs in general, and the differences among them, I had no difficulty deciding that ACAT was the place for me.

I was particularly attracted to ACAT's many faculty members from diverse backgrounds. Most training programs have a single head teacher with a single vision, whose assistant teachers, if any, follow the head's approach. I liked the idea of working with many teachers throughout the week, getting different "takes" on the Alexander Technique, different approaches to the use of hands-on guidance in teaching, different philosophies and pedagogical methods. I thought it could become tedious and limiting for me to work with the few teachers in the same way for the 1600 hours of training.

The Alexander Technique world has several different styles, including those developed by prominent members of the first generation of teachers trained by the Technique's founder, F.M. Alexander: the "Carrington" approach, named for Walter Carrington; the "McDonald" style, for Patrick McDonald; and the Barstow legacy, for Marjorie Barstow. ACAT's faculty includes trainers steeped in each of these three traditions. By its very structure, ACAT never delivers the message that "this way (my way) is the best (or only) way to teach the Alexander Technique." Rather, trainees learn explicitly that there are many choices; they try out different styles and approaches; and they are given the tools to develop their own approach and to be creative in their teaching, rather than simply copying the way someone else does it.

Some people have told me they find this confusing. A trainee at another course that I visited called the ACAT program a "conveyer-belt" approach and said she preferred having one trainer with a consistent message, rather than having one faculty member on Monday say X and another on Friday say Not X. This didn't trouble me, and in fact it turned out to be one of my favorite things about training! I enjoyed thinking about and experimenting with the possibility that X and Not X might both be true, possibly at different moments or in different situations or for different people.

Moreover, there is a consistent vision underlying ACAT's training: a written curriculum setting forth the progression from beginner to graduate, term by term; a strong devotion on the part of all trainers to the fundamental principles of the Alexander Technique, as expressed in F.M. Alexander's own books (required reading for all trainees) and developed by his successors; and a rigorous approach to hands-on practice in a supportive environment. This strong foundation, first laid down by founding teachers Judy Liebowitz and Deborah Caplan, combined with the diverse group of collaborating faculty members, makes training at ACAT like a musical "theme and variations," in which each successive variation both elaborates and embodies the theme.

After three years, I graduated from ACAT confident in my skills and ready to begin teaching on my own. At the same time, I was sad to come to the end of my training, having become very attached to ACAT, its faculty and my fellow trainees. Fortunately for me, ACAT affords its graduates many ways to remain part of the community and to continue learning and improving our skills. I'll write about that in a subsequent post.

Found out more about ACAT's teacher training program here.

And be sure to stop by our next Open House on October 19, 7-9pm—details here.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/karen-headshot-67.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]KAREN G. KRUEGER became a teacher of the Alexander Technique after 25 years of practicing law at two major New York law firms, receiving her teaching certificate from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in December 2010. Her students include lawyers, business executives, IT professionals and others interested in living with greater ease and skill. Find her at her website: http://kgk-llc.com. [/author_info] [/author]

Create More Ease Walking With The Alexander Technique

by Witold Fitz-Simon Here are two different takes on walking from an Alexander Technique perspective. The first is from ACAT Teacher Training Program faculty member Judith Stern, and the second from first-generation teacher Marjorie Barstow. (Barstow is in her 90's in this video and still going strong!)

https://youtu.be/m6l7F_nrjeM

https://youtu.be/GOMUKfh_bqw

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

The Habit of Dissatisfaction

by Brooke Lieb The Alexander Technique teaches a robust tool to recognize and address habits, including movement patterns, posture and muscle tone; and thinking and behavioral habits, as well.

As a child, growing up in the United States, and particularly as a student in American academia, I developed the tendency to respond to my circumstances with dissatisfaction. I was inclined to focus on what needed to be changed or fixed, how to garner or continue to get approval, and to seek distraction from my habitual internal dialogue and attitude towards my life circumstances. This attitude was reinforced by the people around me, by the media, and in particular, by advertisers. I was encouraged, first externally, and then internally, to strive to be better, to look for the next goal, the next success or win in life, the next project, the next task. What can I do next, so I can better myself and get the next toy, reward or show of approval or love from the world around me? And as a woman, what can I do to be more attractive, and thinner?

At the same time, from a very early age, I knew I wanted to experience contentment, satisfaction and joy in my life, and I had a strong inkling that I was going to need to work to overcome my tendencies to find fault and feel unsatisfied. I first saw a therapist at 18 and then began therapy in earnest for 11 years at around 21, with my primary goal being to love the life I am actually living. I began having Alexander lessons at aged 20, so I cannot be sure, but I believe my Alexander lessons contributed to my growing awareness of my emotional habit of being dissatisfied, and gave me skills to change my belief systems and responses to the challenges of life.

Over these last 32 years, having Alexander Technique as the central tool in my life, I feel like I have woken up more each passing year, and with this alert, aware state, I have gained more inner peace, self acceptance, patience for those around me, and an acute awareness of the dynamic of chronic dissatisfaction in myself, mirrored many ways in the world at large. My process has often been painful and hard won, as I grappled with my perfectionist issues, but I believe without the Alexander Technique, I wouldn’t be enjoying the wisdom that comes with age, and feeling so awake to life. I have learned how to enjoy myself more. This awakening is still a work in process.

One of my great pleasures as an Alexander teacher and a trainer of Alexander teachers, has been the honor of helping my students wake up to themselves and their lives, as well. I am inspired by their journeys, and I learn about myself in the process. At this point, work is play for me, and I feel so lucky that I earn my livelihood doing something I love so much.

If any of this resonates for you, I would be delighted to hear from you about your journey around the habit of dissatisfaction.

NOTE: The Alexander Technique is a useful tool as part of your self-care regime, but is not a replacement for consultation with a trained medical profession. It is important that you seek the assistance of a trained medical professional for persistent and on-going physical, emotional or mental symptoms, to rule out and/or address underlying causes.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Student Abbe Krieger and ACAT's Health and Wellbeing Program

by Brooke Lieb ACAT’s Health and Wellbeing Program offers experienced students (10 or more lessons) the opportunity to join classes in our World Class Teacher Training Program. The emphasis is on self discovery, self-awareness and learning more efficient ways of applying Alexander concepts to everyday life. The program is ideal for students who wish to take their study to a more advanced level, and for those who are considering training and would like to experience the Training Course environment firsthand.

To learn more and and download an application an brochure, click here, or contact me at “tcp@acatnyc.org”.

BROOKE

Why did you first start studying the Alexander Technique?

ABBE

The first time I started studying the AT was because my flute teacher from Juilliard suggested that it might be useful for my playing. I was a big end gainer; if anything could help me be an even better "fluter," I would do it. Years later, after a long stretch without any AT, I came back to it because I thought that it might be a nice complement to my daily meditation and mindfulness practice.

BROOKE

Why did you decide to participate in the Health and Wellbeing option within ACAT’s Teacher Certification Program, including the option of adding the 10-session private lessons?

ABBE

I love the AT and have been taking privates with a handful of NYC's top teachers for the last several years—sometimes twice a week. Bravos and Bravas to Ann Waxman, Bill Connington, Jean McClelland, Hope Martin, and most recently, to you, Brooke. Also, my very first AT teacher, Judith Muir. Thanks to the care and guidance of these amazing teachers, my desire to become more intimate with the AT has grown significantly. To that end, I came to ACAT to enhance my experience and "understanding" of the AT. Also, I am thinking about training…TBD

BROOKE

What has the experience been like?

ABBE

Studying and learning AT in the context of a full-time AT training program, even just once a week, and as a HWB student, has been transformative. I have become much better acquainted with the mysteries of primary control and I am starting to take my familiar debauched habits less seriously. Also, observing what the students are being taught to "not do" to facilitate length and expansion in another person is fascinating and unbelievably useful to my own use. I love that ultimately it is about learning to take care of yourself first so that you can be of service to another human being. My body is my first instrument.

About Abbe

A recent first prize winner of the Alexander and Buono International Flute competition, Abbe Krieger’s recital performances have included Bechstein Piano Center, Weill Recital Hall and Klavierhaus. As a chamber musician and orchestral player, her appearances have included Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Paul Hall and the Peter Jay Sharp Theater as well as music festivals including Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Tanglewood and Saarburg. Ms. Krieger's musical training includes degrees with honors from The Juilliard School, Carnegie Mellon University and Brandeis University. Ms. Krieger serves as guest teaching artist and soloist with the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony and teaches privately in NYC.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Give Better Yoga Adjustments with the Alexander Technique

by Witold Fitz-Simon Yoga teachers giving adjustments has become a controversial issue in the yoga community. Classic yoga adjustments tend to be strong, manipulative and often invasive, with the teacher sometimes applying considerable force to push a student deeper into a stretch, or to get the student’s arms and legs into a particular position. If such an adjustment is given skillfully, the effects can be positive. Often, however, teachers yank and crank on the student’s body in such a way that can potentially cause injury. It has gotten to point where some studios offer “consent cards” that students lay on their mats to let the teacher know whether or not they are willing to be manipulated in such a way. One company has even started marketing very attractive wooden chips that you can take with you to any studio to let the teacher know your preference.

Injury in yoga—whether self- or teacher-inflicted—has become the current hot-button issue amongst those who love the practice. Even if the potential for injury were not in question, the way a teacher lays hands on a student can make a huge difference, for better and for worse. There a few different reasons why a teacher might give a student an adjustment. Amongst them are:

• To take a student deeper into a stretch (e.g.: pressing their back down in a forward bend)
• To arrange a body part to better fit an anatomical ideal (e.g.: outwardly rotating their upper arm bones and bringing their shoulder blades down their back)
• To help a student get closer to the classic shape of a pose (e.g.: bringing hands together to achieve binding of the arms in a twist)

Such adjustments come from a misplaced value system where the shape of the pose is more important than the experience of the body doing the pose, where more range of motion throughout the body is always better, where more extreme contortion is an indicator of progress along the path. In this way of thinking, the resistances of the body must be overcome by the force the teacher applies. The student’s body must be made to conform to an arbitrary geometry imposed on the student by the teacher’s eye. This is an unsubtle and forceful way of thinking that will not necessarily have the effect the teacher intended.

From the perspective of the Alexander Technique, the root cause of the problem comes from something called “End-Gaining.” This is a particular way of thinking—one of which we are all guilty—where we put the desired end or goal first and focus all our efforts on achieving this goal. The opposite of this would be one where we are attending more to the means whereby we achieve the goal. It is this “means-whereby” which becomes the important thing, regardless of whether the goal is ever achieved. In the Alexander Technique, this type of approach is called “Non-Doing."

Part of this “means-whereby” you might achieve something such as a yoga pose is an attention to the way the body is organized internally. F. M. Alexander, founder of the Technique, discovered that the relationship of the head, neck and back governs the functioning of the body as a whole for better or for worse. If that relationship is well-organized, we are stronger, more balanced and better integrated in the way we move. If it is not, we are weaker, stiffer, tighter.

The primary focus of a yoga teacher working with these principles becomes creating the best organization of the head, neck and back of the student in any given pose or transition. If the student can be more organized in this way, their bodies will be better able to negotiate the demands of a pose, creating balanced and functional strength and mobility. A teacher working in this way will not only be less likely to cause injury, they will be more likely to create conditions of lasting and significant change in their students.

This post originally appeared on Witold Fitz-Simon's blog.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

Alexander Technique for Non-Surgical Treatment of a Cervical Herniated Disc

by Witold Fitz-Simon This video features Judy Stern—Alexander Technique teacher and faculty member of the ACAT teacher training program—on how the Technique can help people with herniated discs in their neck. The video is made by the medical practice of Seth Neubardt M. D. and Jack Stern M. D. (Dr. Stern is Judy's husband.)

https://youtu.be/P1VSSq9zuUM

If you experience chronic pain and would like to know more about how the Alexander Technique might be able to help you, find a teacher near you here.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

Seeing More and Letting Go: Widening My Experience through Alexander Technique

By Mariel Berger [Many thanks to my Alexander Technique teacher, Witold Fitz-Simon, and my Alexander Technique Psychologist, Jane Dorlester]

I used to believe that intense focus and concentration were the best way of being. I would spend hours practicing music, hours focusing on just one little thing. The more the world disappeared around me, the better I was supposed to be. In undergrad music school, I would walk up and down the hallways and see people in their practice spaces, for hours upon hours, directing all of their energy and attention onto one single thing. I learned that individual mastery of one instrument was the way to be. I practiced all of the time.

When I tried to look at the larger world around me, I got easily overwhelmed, scared, sad, anxious, lost, hopeless. So to cope, I would simply zoom in and ignore all the background noise, erase any thought that didn’t pertain to this one single thing. This scale. This piece.

I have realized that my coping mechanism was also what led me into deep bouts of depression, narcissism, self-absorption, and intense crying from feeling a disconnection from the world around me. Then, to alleviate my sadness, I would dive back into music in order to escape, continuing the cycle.

Depression is losing sight of the whole — falling into one mental space that feels as though it always was and always will be.

Depression is only seeing one thing — being trapped in one experience, one repeating and repeating thought.

I spent so many years narrowing my focus that my mind got into the pattern of hard fixation.

When composing music I spent hours deep in my imagination, but then I wouldn’t be able to come out from the intense focus. I mistook this focus for depth, but depth is not narrow. It expands and has breadth. I was digging a tunnel that ended how it began:

[dark]. [blind].

[alone].

For the past two years, I have been practicing Alexander Technique. Through this technique, I have learned about a soft gaze and a light awareness. It has been two years of unlearning the habits of zooming in. It has been two years of expanding out, seeing more.

Yes, I am home inside my body and aware of my sensations, I hear my thoughts, but I am also aware of my surroundings. Just as I feel my feet, I feel my feet touching the ground.

When writing a piece of music, I used to think about it so hard that my brain would hurt from all the grasping, and I would get a headache. Now, I hope to approach art-making as less thinking hard and more softening around an idea. I clear space and watch the tendency of the mind and body to grip; but instead of gripping, I let go. I soften my gaze so I see more than what’s in front of me. I let the subtle colors of the periphery be a part of my expanded experience.

The practice of releasing clenched muscles and obsessive thoughts is starting to help expand my interpersonal relationships. I am learning that there is an easier way of relating to the outside world. Because of various traumas in my childhood I have an intense fear of being abandoned. So I grew up relating to people with an anxious attachment style--clinging to them so they wouldn’t leave me. I also grew up tightening my body in fear of someone potentially hurting me. Through Alexander Technique I have learned that I don’t need to walk around in the world with my body frozen in defense. My torso can widen and deepen, my legs can move away from my pelvis, my knees can move away from my back---I can expand and expand.

I thought I was protecting myself hiding in my tightened and scared body, but I ended up causing myself pain. I developed chronic shoulder and neck pain, headaches, and pelvic pain. I am learning that practicing an open and expansive way of being does not mean that I’ll be more easily hurt by others. Quite the opposite! When my neck is free, head is moving forward and up, torso is widening and deepening, knees are moving forward and away---I am grounded, balanced, fluid--- poised. I am able to go in any direction anytime. So if someone tries to connect with me who isn’t ultimately healthy for me, I can walk away.

The essence of Alexander Technique is the simultaneity of all possibilities-- embracing the whole experience--not being stuck in one position, on one path, one direction, one idea.

I am learning to unfasten my grip on my friends and loved ones. I am also learning that I can’t control people or the world around me. However, maybe I can expand the Alexander Technique directions onto my friends and loved ones? I can look at my mom and wish for her neck to be free and for my sister’s head to move forward and up. Everything about Alexander Technique teaches me to widen, so I can in turn expand Alexander Technique into the world.

Since practicing Alexander Technique (and also with the aid of anti-depressants), I rarely experience bouts of severe depression. In addition, the pain and tension in my body become alleviated each day when I remember my directions: to widen my experience, and to be aware of the space around me-- the world around me. Each day I notice myself gripping and falling into old patterns, and instead,

I let go... I let go...

I let go...

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/helsinki-sun-headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]MARIEL BERGER is a composer, pianist, singer, teacher, writer, and activist living in Brooklyn, NY. She currently writes for Tom Tom Magazine which features women drummers, and her personal essays have been featured on the Body Is Not An Apology website. Mariel curates a monthly concert series promoting women, queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming musicians and artists. She gets her biggest inspiration from her young music students who teach her how to be gentle, patient, joyful, and curious. You can hear her music and read her writing at: marielberger.com[/author_info] [/author]

So You’re An Alexander Teacher? How Come You’re Slumping?

By Jeffrey Glazer Recently I was watching a video on YouTube about Patrick Macdonald, a prominent first generation teacher of the Alexander Technique. The video portrays his training course in the 1980’s. I love this video, as I always learn something new when I watch it.

I decided to peruse the comments section, and I saw several comments about Macdonald being hunched, and people asking why that is. Since, among other benefits, the Alexander Technique claims to help with one’s posture, it is totally understandable why people would question why such a distinguished teacher appears slumped.

Thinking about it, I recalled a conversation I had with Daniel Singer, one of the Senior Teachers at ACAT (The American Center for the Alexander Technique). Daniel took lessons from Macdonald for many years, and was profoundly influenced by his approach, especially when he started teaching. I remember Daniel explaining how Macdonald was born with some of his vertebrae fused together, and that he had a terrible prognosis from when he was a young child. Daniel also said the following:

“What people see in the older (Macdonald) videos particularly is a bit of a medical miracle. It is uncanny that he was able to manage such a rare, profound and overwhelming condition so effectively due to his Alexander Technique “thinking in activity.”

After clarifying the details on Macdonald, I added the following comment on YouTube…

“Regarding some of the comments about posture and why Macdonald is hunched, I think there is a misunderstanding. At 2:54 in part 1, it mentions that Macdonald had a congenital curvature of the spine, and later in the video (part 2, 6:50), Macdonald says that the technique saved his life. I spoke to an Alexander Teacher who took lessons from Macdonald for many years, and he told me that Macdonald was born with 5 thoracic vertebrae fused together, and he had early onset idiopathic scoliosis, with a strong forward pull as well as a twist. That type of scoliosis is severe and can even be life threatening. Despite Macdonald’s poor prognosis, his Alexander Technique skill and thinking helped enable him to overcome the most harmful effects of his condition, as he miraculously lived so long and vigorously with such a structural condition.

And only as his overall strength declined due to whatever other aging factors appeared to weaken him, did the conditions of his structured stoop (which was imprinted into the structure of his body from birth) become visibly worse. It is likely that the reason Macdonald said the Alexander Technique saved his life is because with his condition one can end up bent over 90 degrees with the face and chest facing the ground, and the result of those pulls can compromise the space needed for organs to function properly. So, while it is true that most Alexander Teachers and experienced students stand upright and have what many would call “good posture”, sometimes there are underlying conditions or other factors that are at play.”

So, here is the moral of the story…

1. Sometimes there are underlying conditions that affect the spine, and consequently, posture. While such conditions can prevent one from fully standing up straight, this does not mean they cannot benefit from the Alexander Technique. Without the Alexander Technique, Macdonald would likely have been hunched over in much more dramatic fashion. Indeed, Marjorie Barstow, another renowned first generation teacher, developed severe osteoporosis later in life, and has many YouTube videos where she is hunched. She also taught into her 90’s, and just like Macdonald was able to so at a high level of energy and vitality.

2. One must be careful not to judge too quickly, whether it is posture, or anything else.

3. The idea of posture as some sort of fixed upright shape is not really adequate. Posture is dynamic, as we are constantly moving about and adapting different positions to do what we need. It is more important to learn to move with less tension and without compressing the spine, so that there is greater ease and coordination in all activities.

4. In addition to being about movement, the Alexander Technique cultivates a high level of awareness around one’s thinking and reaction patterns. This results in the ability to think more clearly and respond more constructively to whatever one is doing. When we learn to slow down, it can also help to calm the nervous system, which, in today’s society, is a much needed component of overall health.

Finally, here are links to the Macdonald video, which is broken up into two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Watch, learn, and enjoy!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jeffrey.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JEFFREY GLAZER is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He found the Alexander Technique in 2008 after an exhaustive search for relief from chronic pain in his arms and neck. Long hours at the computer had made his pain debilitating, and he was forced to leave his job in finance. The remarkable results he achieved in managing and reducing his pain prompted him to become an instructor in order to help others. He received his teacher certification at the American Center for the Alexander Technique after completing their 3-year, 1600 hour training course in 2013. He also holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from Florida State University. www.nycalexandertechnique.com[/author_info] [/author]

Make Your Life as Interesting as a Procedural Drama with the Alexander Technique

by Witold Fitz-Simon In genre fiction, movies and TV, there is a type of story known as the procedural. The classic version of this type of story is the Police Procedural, best exemplified by the TV show “Law & Order.” The crime is committed and the detective is on the case, using forensics to search out cues, canvassing the neighborhood for potential witnesses and piecing together the truth. A good police procedural can be riveting. Each clue uncovered, each witness questioned can build up to a fascinating portrait of passion, of greed, of intrigue. The Alexander Technique can make your mundane daily routine just as interesting, even without the drama!

One of the key ways in which we can get ourselves in trouble in life—doing things like stressing ourselves out, or giving ourselves repetitive stress injuries or back pain—is by not paying much attention to the how and why we’re doing things. We go for the end result of our goals without being mindful of the choices we make to achieve them. This puts us at the mercy of habit: a history of behaviors that get the job done, but not usually in the most effective way possible. And if those habits have in them the seed of mis-use of our bodies, or emotional unease, then we can only add to our problems no matter what we do to get away from them.

Be Your Own Detective!

The solution to this is to be more like the police detective in the P. D. James mystery, or the Crime Scene investigator in the TV show. To pay more attention to the process and the details. In the Alexander Technique there are certain practices that you do over and over again in a lesson like sitting, standing and walking around. Even though there is a lot of repetition of these activities, we don’t think of them as exercises.

The idea of an exercise is something that you can learn to get right once and keep doing the same way, often quite mindlessly, to achieve a goal. In the Technique we think of the activities we carry out as “procedures.” You might spend a lot of time with your teacher sitting and standing, but the point is not learning to sit and stand correctly. The point is to become aware of how you approach the activity. What is your intention when you do it? What do you think about. You must become the detective in the mystery of your own life!

Get On The Case!

Try this right now, if you have the time. Do something simple and easy: stand up and sit down, or reach out and take a sip of your drink, if you have one at hand. Whatever activity you have chosen try it once or twice without thinking about it very much.

Now that you have your chosen activity fresh in your mind, take out your mental notepad and pen and interview your prime witness, yourself. Ask yourself these questions:

Did you notice anything special about what you just did? What were you thinking about as you did it? What did it feel like to do the activity?

If you don’t have any concrete answers, try the activity again a few times and see what you come up with.

Okay, now you’re going to put the pressure on your witness and ask for more details:

What was the first thing that you did to carry out your chosen activity? What part of you did you move first? When you moved, what happened to your neck? Did it get tense or was it easy and free? What was the quality of your movement? Was it rushed and effortful? Was it lethargic and slack? Was it easeful and effortless?

Let’s change tack here. You’re going to put on your forensic scientist hat and try some experiments.

Think about doing your activity again, but stop for a moment before you do it. Notice if you have tensed up in preparation. If you have, let everything soften, even if just a little bit, and try it again. What happens when you do it again this time?

Next time you do your activity, notice what you do with you head? Does it move in the direction you are moving, or does it seem to be heading somewhere else? What happens if you let it lead the movement in some way?

It doesn’t take much to go from rushing around mindlessly, oblivious to what’s going on around you, to having a bit more awareness of yourself and your environment and to start to change the way you do things. All it takes is curiosity and interest, and applying that to yourself. And if you need a little help, take an Alexander Technique lesson with a qualified teacher. You’ll never be bored again!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]

How Learning the Alexander Technique Has Saved Me Money

by Jeffrey Glazer Recently, I realized that it’s been years since I’ve spent a dime on efforts to get myself out of pain.

Before I learned the Alexander Technique, I went to practitioner after practitioner in an effort to find a solution to chronic pain in my arms and neck. But really I was just trying to manage it. In addition to the psychological and emotional cost of having chronic pain, my inability to manage it myself was costing a lot of money.

I went to a great number of medical and nonmedical practitioners. I went to two different neurologists, two different physiatrists, a Lyme disease specialist, massage therapist, multiple physical therapists, an occupational hand therapist, a chiropractor for active release therapy, multiple acupuncturists, a craniosacral practitioner, and an MD for trigger point injections. While I would often feel some relief in the short term, the debilitating pain would always come back.

At first it was similar with Alexander Technique lessons, I would walk out with less pain, but it would eventually come back. BUT, what separated the Alexander Technique from the other things I was trying was that I wasn’t being treated; rather, I was being educated. I was becoming aware of what I was doing that was actually causing my own pain.

For the first time, I made a connection between my use (how I carry myself and react to life) and my pain. And all my teacher, Judy Stern, was doing was bringing my awareness to how I was moving, pointing out areas of excess tension and distortion, and giving me the experience of carrying myself in a radically different, and almost freakishly easier way.

Once I had enough Alexander Technique experience under my belt, I became adept at creating change in myself. I learned to identify when I was doing an activity in a way that would eventually lead to pain, so that I could then use my Alexander Technique skills to make a change. Now, when I start to experience pain, I am self-sufficient in dealing with it, no longer dependent on someone else to make me feel better.

Did years of Alexander Technique lessons, including teacher training, cost money? Of course!

But, the money I’ve spent on learning the Alexander Technique has been an investment, rather than a sunk cost.

And I am now reaping the return on that investment, not only in the form of greater ease and enjoyment of life, but the economic return of savings on health care costs.

As the saying goes, “health is wealth”, now I know that can literally be true.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jeffrey.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JEFFREY GLAZER is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He found the Alexander Technique in 2008 after an exhaustive search for relief from chronic pain in his arms and neck. Long hours at the computer had made his pain debilitating, and he was forced to leave his job in finance. The remarkable results he achieved in managing and reducing his pain prompted him to become an instructor in order to help others. He received his teacher certification at the American Center for the Alexander Technique after completing their 3-year, 1600 hour training course in 2013. He also holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from Florida State University. www.nycalexandertechnique.com[/author_info] [/author]

ACAT's 9th Annual Summer Intensive

by Witold Fitz-Simon ACAT’s 9th Annual Summer Intensive takes place July 13 - 17, 2015. There are still a few spaces left, for more information and to register, visit our events page. 

Brooke Lieb, Director of Training, created the Summer Intensive as an opportunity for new and experienced students of the Alexander Technique to have an in-depth learning experience, similar to the structure of a week on ACAT’s Teacher Certification Program. Each year, participants have commented on what a pleasure it is to be among a group of others who know and appreciate the Alexander Technique.

WITOLD

Brooke, How did you conceive the Summer Intensive?

BROOKE

There have been residential courses being offered in the Alexander Technique throughout the country, but none right here in New York. ACAT has a world class Faculty, and I wanted to share our work with a wider audience. I imagined the program would offer local students a “staycation” opportunity, which would make for an economical, in-depth learning experience. Interestingly, some summers we have as many as half the participants travel from out of town to join the program. There are also a number of students who have attended multiple years.

WITOLD

What does the Faculty enjoy about teaching on the program?

BROOKE

There is a fresh energy and excitement for the participants and the faculty, since the week is an “event”. We work with the trainees on our Teacher Certification Program 30 weeks per year, and that allows for depth-learning, but it requires a slow and steady pacing. On the summer intensive, the novelty of new experiences, new students and new energy creates a different quality to the teaching. Also, the Summer Intensive is focused on the individual interests, needs and learning style of the participants to apply Alexander Technique to whatever is most of interest to them. Training teachers has a different emphasis, and we are teaching different curriculum.

For me, the opportunity to come back to simple and basic ways of explaining Alexander’s concepts and methodology puts me back in the beginner’s mind, and this deepens my understanding and appreciation for the essential genius of this work!

WITOLD

What have past participants said about the experience?

BROOKE

Here are some wonderful quotes from past participants:

"The quality and passion of the teaching was mostly excellent…. I'm so happy that I participated. Many of the teachers were quite brilliant, even inspired. I learned a tremendous amount. I will likely want to repeat next year!” D. S., Summer Intensive 2013, 2014

"I find it helpful to combine information and learning along side the hands on practice.  I also found it helpful having a different teacher everyday, each of whom presented different information with there own personal take and approach to the work.” Jennifer Hanley, Summer Intensive 2013

“I feel that this summer’s intensive enabled me to make unbelievable progress in both my understanding and usage of the Alexander Technique. Concepts I thought I knew have become even clearer, and the class exercises and hands-on experiences have made a huge difference in my everyday movement.” S. B., Summer Intensive 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

Blueprint for a Better Back

by Witold Fitz-Simon

To find out more about how you can make your back stronger and freer, come to one of our monthly free introductions to the Technique or to a drop-in group class.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

How to Avoid Back Pain at the Computer

by Jeffrey Glazer

Most of us spend lots of time sitting in front of a computer. Unfortunately, this often results in back pain, particularly lower back pain. But computer related back pain is not inevitable. Once you know what’s causing the pain, you can take steps to alleviate/prevent it.

The following are some reasons why you may experience back pain, and in each case there is something you can do about it

1) Sitting for too long

More and more studies are warning us about the detrimental effects of sitting. As human beings we are designed for movement, and the more time you spend sitting without taking a break, the greater the likelihood of pain.

Make sure that you stand up and move around every so often, I cannot emphasize this enough! If you make just one change after reading this post, then let it be to take more breaks. I recommend using a software program that reminds you to take breaks. I use RSI Guard, you can set it up so that you are either reminded or forced to take a break at any time interval you choose. It also has many other helpful features, I highly recommend it.

It is generally recommended to take a 5 – 10 minute break every hour to stand up and walk around, and to take micro breaks (for 2 minutes or less) every 15 to 30 minutes. During a micro break you let your arms rest or do a simple stretch, as well as look away from the screen to give your eyes a rest.

2) Craning your neck or shoulders forward

Most of our lives are spent paying attention to what’s directly in front of us, be it the computer, phone, tablet, TV, food, writing, driving, etc… In comparison, there is not much behind us that we need to pay attention to. This constant stimulus in front of us can result in our bodies getting pulled forward, to the point where it becomes a habit.

It usually starts with the neck and shoulders. When we crane our necks forward, it causes the head to compress down onto the top of the spine, resulting in compression on the entire spine, including the low back (for more information on this, check out this post). And because there is a connection between the shoulders and neck, when we round our shoulders forward, it pulls on the head and neck. Remember that everything in the body is connected.

Moving your neck towards the screen is not necessary. If you cannot see the screen without tensing your neck forward, then it’s a good idea to get your eyes checked to see if you need glasses or an update in your prescription.

3) Arching your lower back

Since the computer is a strong stimulus that is directly in front of us, it is tempting to also arch the lower back forward, which puts undue pressure on the lumbar (lower) spine, and can easily cause back ache and pain. If you catch yourself arching your lower back, see if you can let it go so that it relaxes back towards the back of the chair.

Also, you do not want to tighten or suck in your abdominals, that will put further pressure on the low back, and it also prevents proper breathing. To test this, notice the quality of your breathing when you suck in your abdomen, and then notice the quality of your breathing when you let it go. You can also notice the difference in pressure on your low back.

4) Tensing your legs

If you’re like me, you may catch yourself tensing your legs while at the computer. Crossing your legs or ankles, lifting your heels up off the floor, and holding tension in your legs are the common habits that can put pressure on the low back.

Instead, let your feet rest flat on the floor. This may be easier to do if you move your feet away from the chair. If you catch yourself tensing your legs, see if you can let them be relaxed. You can even try exaggerating the tension, which can help give you a better sense of what you’re doing, and then you’ll have a better idea of what the opposite, and desirable, way is.

5) Poor ergonomic setup

Rather than adapt your body to your computer setup, you want to adapt your setup to your body. This is where ergonomics comes in. I recommend taking a look at the Ergonomics-info website. Another good resource is the ergonomics department at Cornell University. Your position relative to key devices (monitor, keyboard, mouse, chair) can make a big difference.

Finally, if you have trouble avoiding some of the tension habits described above, lessons in the Alexander Technique can help. They will give you the experience and skill to avoid the common bodily habits that cause pain, including lower back pain. Changing how you do something is challenging because of the nature of habits and their relationship to our feeling sense. Once we are used to sitting a certain way (or doing anything a certain way), that way eventually feels normal, or right, even if it’s harmful.

Think about it like this, if the way you are sitting at the computer is hurting you, and you could feel what you were doing wrong, then you would simply stop doing it and your pain would go away. But because our kinesthetic sense gets educated in part by the habitual way we use ourselves, we don’t always feel what we are doing wrong. Furthermore, when we do something different, it may feel unfamiliar, which we may mistakenly believe is wrong, so then we go back to doing our old habit.

Lessons in the Alexander Technique will help to re-educate your kinesthetic sense so that you have a more accurate idea of what you’re really up to, and they will provide you with the skill to make real change. Further, the Alexander Technique promotes an overall coordination and ease in the entire body, so that you don’t have to micromanage every little tension.

Thank you for reading, now take a break!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jeffrey.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JEFFREY GLAZER is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He found the Alexander Technique in 2008 after an exhaustive search for relief from chronic pain in his arms and neck. Long hours at the computer had made his pain debilitating, and he was forced to leave his job in finance. The remarkable results he achieved in managing and reducing his pain prompted him to become an instructor in order to help others. He received his teacher certification at the American Center for the Alexander Technique after completing their 3-year, 1600 hour training course in 2013. He also holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from Florida State University. www.nycalexandertechnique.com[/author_info] [/author]

Good Posture Means Connecting, Not Correcting

by Dan Cayer I’m not against correcting our posture or body on principle. I wish all it took to rid ourselves of chronic pain and tension was figuring the right angle or position, and tapping our body into place. It’s such a seductive offer; that we need only arrange our body and then get on with the rest of our day.

I object to correcting our posture on practical grounds; it doesn’t work. From my perspective as an Alexander Technique teacher and a person dealing with chronic pain for several years, ‘correcting’ posture tends to tie us further into a tense knot, decreasing our ability to actually enjoy our body. In this article, I’ll offer a short but powerful exercise for connecting with a natural posture.

What Correcting Usually Means

The instinctual response to pain is to fix it or push it away. As discomfort crowds our consciousness, our brain reaches for a solution: “good” posture! Or, at least our idea of it. Usually, this means we push our shoulders back and stick our chest up. On a more subtle level, we may tighten our jaw and squeeze our throat against the discomfort and fear that’s bubbling up in relation to feeling pain. When posture carries the promise of not feeling pain or uncomfortable emotions, it’s easy to try too hard and stiffen ourselves.

I don’t mean to offer the unhelpful advice to never move your body no matter the pain. I only wish to say that when the first step of responding to pain or discomfort is to immediately try to correct ourselves, it only leads to a negative cycle of judgment, tension, and undesired results. We trade one problem, say slouching, for another, rigidly arching ourselves upward in an uncomfortable and ungrounded way.

We’ve skipped right over feeling what it’s like where we are, and flown straight to how we should be. It’s this nonstop flight that keeps us from actually finding a way of sitting or walking or simply being in our bodies that feels comfortable or ‘at home’. By dictating an idealized sitting position, we almost inevitably inflict an inhumane expectation on our body that just does not jibe with our actual structure. Sitting upright with comfort and ease and vitality is totally possible – it’s how we were designed. But we don’t get there by muscling ourselves up, “sitting up straight,” or yanking ourselves out of a slouch.

Connect with Your Self First

The first step needs to be connecting with ourselves. This need not be a big deal or require the services of a psychotherapist. Simply pause before changing your body and feel how you are – in your body, heart, and mind. You are touching in to your current experience. It may feel unpleasant like dipping into a cold pool or even overwhelming. Strangely, this is a good thing. You’re beginning to relate with your body not as a contraption that needs to be ordered, but as a physical and emotional self that has a natural organization and its own way of responding to life (often independent of our wishes).

How to Do It

Here’s a take-home exercise on how to connect, not correct:

When you find yourself out of sorts, imbalanced, slouching, or if pain is present, take a moment or two to notice what you’re experiencing on a visceral level, which includes bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions. It may help you to actually breathe in once or twice, with the intention that you are breathing in the full experience. After a moment or two, feel free to make whatever change you wish: roll out your shoulders, connect your sit bones to the chair. Notice if it feels different having listened to your felt experience first.

Widening Our Experience of Posture

Posture may seem to be a wholly mechanical exercise but alas, that is only part of the picture of ourselves. Think of how stage fright or performance anxiety has a strong physiological effect. Our bodies and minds are deeply connected.

Take the example of training a horse. The trainer has an agenda but unfortunately for him, so does the horse. A wise trainer coaxes and works with the horse, allowing the horse to have some room to play out its energy while still being taken through the proper procedures. A horse that’s bridled or reined in too tightly will bolt.

In working with students (and myself), I often find that we hold the reins too tightly in our well-intentioned effort to change body patterns and improve well-being. Over time though, students see that immediately correcting themselves – trying to fix their posture in an instant – is another habit just like slouching.

Posture isn’t about scolding and stiffening ourselves, any more than training a horse is like programming a computer. Gentleness and curiosity are required to make any long-lasting improvements in how you sit and stand. You could try right now: breathing in your experience exactly as you feel it for a breath or two before trying to change it.

This post originally appeared at dancayerfluidmovement.com.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dan-Head-Shot-13.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]DAN CAYER is a nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. After a serious injury left him unable to work or even carry out household tasks, he began studying the technique. His return to health, as well as his experience with the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of pain, inspired him to help others. He now teaches his innovative approach in Union Square, Carroll Gardens and in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He also teaches adults to swim with greater ease and confidence by applying Alexander principles. You can find his next workshop or schedule a private lesson at www.dancayerfluidmovement.com.[/author_info] [/author]

Alexander Technique and Somatics

by Witold Fitz-Simon

People turn to the Alexander Technique for help for many different reasons. In the hundred years or so that it’s been around, the Technique has helped people with back pain, scoliosis, respiratory problems, speech problems, and balance issues. It has helped athletes rehabilitate themselves from injuries and performers refine their craft. There are many reasons why a person might be drawn to the Alexander Technique. Not least of these is for the simple joy of the Technique itself.

The Alexander Technique is one of the earliest examples of a Western Somatic practice. Thomas Hanna, founder of Hanna Somatics and Somatics Magazine, coined the term in 1976 to refer to practices that explored movement and the integration of mind and body from the perspective of first-person experience. Other somatic practices include Body-Mind Centering, the Feldenkrais Method, the work of Irmgard Bartenieff and Rudolf Laban, Yoga and Ideokinesiology.

What differentiates a somatic movement form from something like a dance technique is that it is intended to be experienced from the perspective of the mover rather than from an outside observer. Somatic practices can provide a philosophical perspective as well as a methodology with which to approach movement. With these as a foundation, the mover can have a richer, more meaningful experience as they use themselves in anything and everything they do.

What makes the Alexander Technique unique among all the other somatic practices are its five basic principles:

1. Recognition of the force of habit: We build our lives on a foundation of habitual behavioral and movement patterns. They can be so entrenched that they become extremely challenging to overcome.
2. Inhibition and non-doing: The way to overcome habitual behaviors is through inhibition of impulsive responses and an attitude of exploration rather than mindless achieving of our goals.
3. Recognition of faulty sensory appreciation: One of the things that allows us to operate habitually is our feeling sense. We build up a vocabulary of choices that “feel right” so that we don’t have to be constantly monitoring the way we are doing things. But that feeling sense is unreliable. We might actually be working against ourselves, even hurting ourselves, when we’re doing something, but we have been doing it so long in the same way that it has come to “feel right."
4. Sending directions: There is another way our conscious minds can communicate with our bodies that does not require reliance on our feeling sense. We can direct our bodies using all our other senses and with the power of our intensions, allowing us to move mindfully with greater ease and efficiency.
5. The Primary Control: This is the aspect of the Alexander Technique that sets it apart from other movement systems. Primary Control refers to the relationship between the head, the neck and the back. When that relationship is going well— the neck is free to allow the head to be poised and the back to be long and wide—then all the systems of the body tend to go well. The Alexander Technique offers a simple and powerful way to work with movement based around optimal organization of the Primary Control.

If you want to learn more about yourself—the way your mind and body work together to create ease and balance in your life—The Alexander Technique is great way to do it. ACAT offers a number of ways to find out more:

Free Monthly Demonstrations Drop-In Group Classes Find A Certified Teacher Near You

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]

Mindfulness and the Alexander Technique

by John Austin There have been several articles in the New York times on mindfulness recently and it would seem that mindfulness is back in vogue. One that caught my eye most recently was focused on a study that found that pausing, even for just half a second, between having a thought and making a decision to act on that thought improved decision making.

Now this isn’t shocking new information to many people, especially anyone who has studied the Alexander Technique; but the question, “How do we access the space between thought and action?” is still an interesting one.

Most mindfulness practices when boiled down to their essence consist of these instructions:

1. Be conscious of what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Pay attention without judgement to the present moment, not letting your mind wander elsewhere.
2. Include your self doing the activity in your awareness, don’t solely focus on what you’re doing.
3. When you notice your mind wandering, bring your attention to your breathing/feelings.

There are many variations and exercises designed to cultivate this state of ‘mindfulness’ but they are all essentially related to the above. The principles seem simple enough but try putting them into practice. You will soon find that it’s difficult to notice your mind wandering and come back to the awareness of your breath when you’re doing nothing, let alone when there is a task at hand.

Here’s where the Alexander Technique is invaluable. Through hands on experiences from a teacher your awareness of your self is significantly improved so it doesn’t require so much effort to pay attention to what you’re doing.

Most people have difficulty being conscious of what they are doing because there is a general misunderstanding of the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is not the voice in your head as many of us believe; however, we can be conscious of the voice in our head. Consciousness is also not our brains telling our bodies what to do non-verbally (i.e. desire for coffee, lift right arm to pick up coffee). We can be conscious and experience these things, but for the most part we are watching our unconscious habits unfolding. This is different than making a conscious decision. Consciousness essentially allows us to do two things. Pick a direction and stop; although not necessarily in that order. Generally you must stop doing your habit(s) that are taking you in directions you don’t want to be going to move in a direction you do want to go.

The difficulty here is that we have so many unconscious habits going on below the level of our awareness and it’s nearly impossible to stop doing something we don’t know we’re doing.

One thing I never liked about the word mindfulness is that it implies a separation between the mind, body, and consciousness. The three are parts of a whole that are intimately connected and functionally equivalent. The nervous system takes in sensory information and responds to the various stimuli we encounter. Our consciousness is able to access a limited amount of that information at any given time in order to act as a failsafe to our instinctual reactions. If the wrong response is learned one can inhibit the reaction by being conscious (or mindful if you will) and creating a space between stimulus and response for choice.

F.M. Alexander discovered that the information registered by the nervous system could be distorted by patterns of malcoordination and muscular rigidity that originated in the conceptualization of movement and posture. This is a huge point to consider because if our sensory information is flawed, even if we make the space for choice our decision is based on unreliable sources. Therefore, proper use of the self which results in reliable sensory feedback is an essential first step to a successful mindfulness practice.

There are some things often taught as mindfulness that actually take you away from being consciously aware.

• Close your eyes when you pay attention to your breath.

Closing your eyes doesn’t bring you into the moment, it’s essentially hiding from it. You can’t very well take a moment to close your eyes to pay attention to your breath while driving on the freeway.

• Imagine a sunny day (or some other scenario that is pleasant).

Again this type of instruction takes your consciousness away from your self. It’s much more helpful to be aware of what is there and your reaction to it. Whatever is there will still be there when you come back from your happy place.

AT-Mindfulness Tips:

1. Find the top of the spine (roughly between your ears/behind your eyes). See if you can keep your awareness of the top of your spine without losing your other senses; keep seeing, hearing, feeling your feet on the ground etc. This will expand and quicken your conscious awareness as you learn not to hyper-focus on one thing at the cost of everything else in your awareness.
2. Seeing is a great indicator of the quality of your consciousness in any given moment. If your vision goes blurry, your presence has a similar quality. When you think about something, do you still see? Or do you turn your eyes toward your brain to concentrate? Is it necessary to leave the present moment to think?
3. When you have the urge to do something (pick up your phone when it rings, cross the street on green, etc.), take a second to stop and find the top of your spine. Keep the awareness of the top of your spine as you give consent to the activity or choose to do something else. Notice if you are reacting or actually making a choice.

This post originally appeared on John Austin's blog.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JOHN AUSTIN started pondering and pontificating on the probable and possible reasons for the tragic loss of joy in himself and his fellow musicians as he approached his breaking point in a music conservatory. In fact, he was nearly a casualty of the music “busi-ness" when he stumbled on the Alexander Technique. Since then he's been inspired by his training at the American Center for the Alexander Technique to write in an attempt to better understand what was happening to himself and others. Mr. Austin has an active performing career, blog, and teaching studio in West Harlem, Manhattan.[/author_info] [/author]

Better Balance Through A Free Neck: How Alexander Technique helps to avoid fall, and helps even more if you do fall

by Brooke Lieb I have always taken having good balance for granted. Since I was a small child, standing on one leg, walking along a balance beam and other activities that require balance on one leg have been easy for me. In ballet class, I could go up on demi-pointe on one foot and stay easily balanced for an indefinite amount of time. I have come to appreciate this is due in no small part to the luck of the genetic lottery. I’ve had my share of near misses, and the occasional tumble, and as the years progress, I can tell my Alexander training has given me better balance and coordination, even if I started off fairly well to begin with.

Tripping on uneven sidewalk pavement

Over the years, I have had numerous experiences of my shoe catching on the edge of uneven sidewalks as I was swinging my foot forward to take a step. I have even tripped on the same sidewalk more than once (you would think I'd pay closer attention). I tend to fly up more than forward, and my back foot easily lands in place without missing a step.

Slipping on Ice

Alexander lessons seem to have helped me preserve this natural asset of good balance, and I seem to have gained some advantages I didn't used to have. I remember slipping on ice skates at the age of 13, and taking a hard fall directly on my bum. I am sure by 13 I had developed a healthy case of pulling my head back and down. I even have photos to prove it. It took me three or four months to recover from the tenderness in my tailbone.

A number of winters ago in 2011 or 2012 (on two separate occasions weeks apart), I stepped onto the sidewalk at the bottom of the 5 stairs to my apartment building, only to find my foot slipping out from under me - in a forward direction. Without time to consciously respond, I found myself falling forward (instead of back) and landing on the other foot, in essence not missing a stride. The same thing happened two or three times this Winter (2015) on sheets of ice around crosswalks. The fact that I’ve fallen forward and up each time leads me to conclude that all those years of thinking about "letting my head rebalance forward and up" has had a lasting influence on my alignment, whether I am consciously thinking about it or not.

A Chair Tipping Over

This past week in acting class, I rose from my chair to help my fellow classmates move set pieces to arrange for their scene. My chair was on a riser 8 to 12 inches off the floor, and I was sitting near the edge, where there was no railing. When I returned to my seat, unbeknownst to me, the chair has shifted sideways and one of the legs was no longer on the riser. I sat down and the chair and I tipped over sideways. As I was falling, with the extra height before landing, I went through a vivid thought process: "Can I get rotate enough to get my foot under me? No, I'm too close to the floors. I'm going to fall, nothing I can do about that. I should still turn to face the ground so my shoulder doesn't take the impact." I landed on my right hip (well padded, lucky me!) and my right forearm. As I was falling, I heard people gasp and express concern, and apparently I said "I'm OK" as I was falling. The teacher was concerned and told me to take it easy while a classmate grabbed my by the hands and abruptly hauled me to my feet. Having students who are elderly and tentative in their balance, or have conditions such as MS or Parkinson's, I have worked with them on how to fall. The cameraman in the acting class commented on how relaxed I looked the whole way down. While I was certainly shaken, I wasn’t hurt, and spent the next 10 minutes or so in my seat directing and calming myself down. By the time class was over, I had completely forgotten about the fall.

Students report improved balance and coordination, too: The week after my fall in class, I was seeing my PA clients at my parents home. Three out of five had taken a spill since I’d seen them a month before, and all of them said they credit their Alexander lessons with mild to no injury, quicker recovery time, and at their lessons, their symptoms improved yet again. You can view this short video showing the value of Alexander lessons in improving balance in a variety of daily activities for older people. (Note: the video has no audio soundtrack. It depicts subjects involved in a study on the Alexander Technique and balance in the elderly going through balance testing before and after a two-week group lesson series in the Alexander Technique.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNf5bGRwhZA

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Creating a Culture of Life around Technology

By Dan Cayer So I guess it’s time to follow through on those New Year’s resolutions… I’m reminded of a quote, “We overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term, and we underestimate what we can accomplish in the long-term.”

I have not underestimated my ability to forget the name of this person, but the point seems clear given the various fads of self-improvement out there. When we make a slapdash effort to get fit, start meditating, lose weight, etc. we often have unrealistic expectations for ourselves. If we don’t notice immediate signs of improvement, discouragement might set in and our gym membership or meditation cushion becomes forgotten.

Somewhere in our mind, we know that this will likely happen. That’s part of what creates such intense effort at the beginning – going to the gym five days a week, meditating for an hour at a time – we are trying to right ourselves before the door swings closed again and we go back to our TV-watching, sugar-loving selves (that’s my fear, anyway).

It’s important to remember that what we’re really trying to change is not our present self, but the habits that got our present self to where it is. That means developing daily rituals to help us shift our inertia-driven orbit away from what is easy and familiar, to what may be more challenging but ultimately gratifying. We never say on New Year’s Day – I’m going to have a really impressive three months, and then by April I’ll get too busy and forget it all!

Reach the Sleepy Places

Resolutions become wishful thinking if we don’t take on the areas of our life where we usually operate on autopilot. Let’s say we want to eat healthier but we’ re used to coming home from work stressed, hungry, and scarfing whatever’s around until we are reconstituted enough to make dinner. If we don’t have easy options waiting for us in a bowl when we get home, we will probably pass on the healthy stuff.

One of my resolutions is to improve the way I use technology so I don’t detract from my health. I have a condition where typing even a sentence or dialing a phone number can be extremely painful, so I route all of my computer and phone work through voice recognition. Learning and using the software’s is hard enough, yet it’s been my experience that technology and mindlessness seem to go together. How easy is it to check out in front of a screen?

It’s in these dark places where the habits are at their strongest – like mold! So if we can bring the light of our awareness to the places where we perpetually are discursive, brooding, absent-minded, etc., then imagine how much easier it will be to do it in the rest of our lives! Practicing mindfulness and compassion while using email is like training for a race by running up a huge hill. It’s hard but our muscles (of mindfulness) are getting so much stronger. We’re creating habits that will change our trajectory.

A Culture of Life

To wrest this phrase from its current politicized context, I create a culture of life at my desk. Each morning, I give myself 5 to 10 minutes to clean the surface of my desk, go through piles I left the day before. I check in with my body for a couple moments when I sit down. All around my computer are pictures of my family, beautiful places, and inspiring slogans. I even buy myself flowers occasionally – aw, shucks! They are like medicinal injections to help me be strong enough to fight off speediness, disconnecting from my body, and tunnel vision.

If I didn’t bring so much positive intention, I know it’s easy for me to spiral downward into speed, distraction, and eventually pain. I’m much more productive when my culture of life is thriving around my workspace’s since I’m not working out of a frantic state of mind which often leads to poor decisions and time management. Rather, I’m reminded of the good things in life and how I wish to conduct myself.

How can you create a culture of life at your desk or wherever your autopilot place is? What will provoke you to notice your surroundings and feel more space? (Hint: cleaning up is a really good start.)

This post originally appeared at dancayerfluidmovement.com.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dan-Head-Shot-13.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]DAN CAYER is a nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. After a serious injury left him unable to work or even carry out household tasks, he began studying the technique. His return to health, as well as his experience with the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of pain, inspired him to help others. He now teaches his innovative approach in Union Square, Carroll Gardens and in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He also teaches adults to swim with greater ease and confidence by applying Alexander principles. You can find his next workshop or schedule a private lesson at www.dancayerfluidmovement.com.[/author_info] [/author]

Marjory Barlow on the Alexander Technique: "Just think it. That's all you can do."

By Witold Fitz-Simon

"Just think it. That's all you can do. Any thing extra you try and do... and we all do this. We all think, "It won't matter if I do just a little bit of doing." And the whole thing is ruined. Immediately. What you're doing, what you're changing, is the pattern... are the patterns in your brain and your nervous system. And that manifests in your body. So, in a sense, you're not working on the body, except very indirectly. Do remember that, because you have control to a certain extent over what you're thinking. You have very little control over what's happening in your body. If this were not so, if it wasn't a question of the brain and nervous system, F. M. could never have discovered the work. It was only because he was able, by thinking, to stop those wrong habits. Probably one of the biggest discoveries ever made by a human being." —Marjory Barlow

Marjory Barlow (1915-2006) was F. M. Alexander's niece, who trained with him to teach the Technique in 1933.

Thanks to Jeffrey Glazer for highlighting this clip.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]

Releasing Eye Strain with the Alexander Technique

by Witold Fitz-Simon Eye strain is an increasing problem for many of us in our digital world. Our eyes were not built to be constantly staring at a fixed point with a bright light shining straight at them for several hours at a time. They are, in fact, incredibly skilled at tracking the movement of all the things in our environment, as well as moving around themselves, but once you fix your gaze on something for an extended period of time, all sorts of mechanisms can start to go wrong.

Constant Movement

We see by the light from our environment falling on our eyes which is then directed to the retina, a layer of specialized cells lining the inner surface of our eyeballs, which change the information carried by the light into signals that our brains can process. If a particular image falls on the retina without moving for a while, those light receptors start to get tired and no longer send information, so the muscles of your eyes cause them to constantly jiggle a very tiny amount in a movement called saccades. This means that the light falling on your retinas is shifting around just enough to keep the receptor cells fresh. If your eye muscles become tense and rigid, then that movement is going to be restricted and your eyes will have to work that much harder just to see what is in front of you.

Staring at a bright screen has the additional effect of causing us to blink less. Blinking is an extremely important physiological process. Not only does it effectively wipe the surface of your eyeball, clearing it of accumulated residue from the atmosphere around you, but it also spreads your tears around, keeping your eyes lubricated and hydrated. Once they start to dry out, they become much more prone to irritation.

Relief for Your Eyes

If you find yourself suffering from eye strain, Constructive Rest is a simple and effective practice you can use to help find relief. To learn more about how to set up Constructive Rest and what it can do for you, check out this post. Once you’ve done that, come back here and follow these instructions. (You can also follow them right now at your desk.)

1. Close your eyes for a moment and notice how tense they are. Do your eyelids close easily? Are your eyes darting around behind them, or are they fixed in place?
2. Place your palms over your eyes for several moments. The contact of your palms and the darkness of having your eyes covered will help them start to recover.
3. Once your arms start to get tired from being held up against your face, let them rest by your sides.
4. Allow your eyes to open and expand your gaze all the way out into the periphery of your vision.
5. Take a few moments to think about allowing your neck to be free. Just think about it, though. Don’t move it around and try to stretch it out.
6. As you think of your neck being free, allow your head to be poised on the top of your spine. If you are lying down, allow its weight to be supported by the books underneath it.
7. Allow your whole torso to soften and widen and deepen.
8. Allow your arms and legs to ease out away from your torso.
9. Notice the state of your eyes once again. Are they as tight and as gripped as they were? If they are, don’t worry about it. Come back to allowing yourself to be generally softer and freer.
10. Instead of staring out at the room around you, allow the light of the room to come to you. Allow it to fall on your eyes and to be taken back into the visual centers at the back of your brain. I say “allow” because this is happening anyway, but sometimes we do things that get in the way of even unconscious and automatic processes of the body.
11. Allow your eyes to move around freely rather than being held fixed in one place. In particular, allow your gaze to rest on things that are different distances away from you as a change from staring at one fixed point over and over again. Stay like this for several minutes.

If you make a point of doing this once or twice a day, over a period of time you can begin to retrain yourself to use your eyes in a more healthy way.

If you suffer from a lot of eye strain or other work-related issues, a trained Alexander Technique teacher can help you change your habits and make your working environment easier and less stressful. Find a certified Alexander Technique teacher in your area here.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]