Unlock Your Mind and Body

Here is my online diary of all my Alexander Technique learnings and discoveries as a student and teacher. Learn the benefits of the Alexander Technique and the pitfalls to avoid when learning it yourself...

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

I went walking today...

Since I had a day off work I decided to start the day with a nice walk outside. I dressed up warm and ventured out. The wind was nasty and biting and walking across the open fields I really wished I'd had a balaclava!

I also use the same route for running and to start with I really felt like I should have been running. My only difficulty with running is I'm a three season runner - Spring to Autumn - I really don't like running out in the cold! Anyway this started me thinking about my running because I have had a small problem with my left hip joint hurting when I've run for long periods or every day. I have had Alexander Technique lessons with other teachers and worked on this problem myself and although it has improved it still turns up occasionally. So I decided to take a step back and look at my walking instead to see if I could work anything out.

Whilst you might think I am barmy it was an eye opener for me. I didn't think my walking was too bad and it is an activity I now normally find easy but I was surprised at how much improvement I achieved during my walk by applying the Alexander Technique to what I was doing. I noticed two significant things: one, my lower back felt tight and inflexible and two, my legs did not feel evenly weighted underneath my pelvis. It basically felt like even though I was walking in a straight line my legs were going to the right, especially my left leg! (When you are reading this, remember that what something feels like isn't always what it looks like!)

I started thinking about my lower back and I wondered why it felt tight and inflexible. I also wondered what it would be like if it wasn't tight and inflexible and what would it be like normally. I came to the conclusion that if my lower back was really flexible I would be in big trouble because it isn't really meant to be very flexible (unless you are in Cirque du Soleil!). This made me laugh! I came to the conclusion that it was feeling tight because I was tensing it up and I needed to stop!

I also started thinking about what would I want the relationship between my legs and my pelvis to be and once I got a clear picture of evenly weighted legs under my pelvis in mind I asked for my system to reorganise itself so it matched my new idea. And amazingly it did just that. Suddenly my legs felt even and my walking was even easier! Fantastic!

This reminded me of my left hip hurting while running. Is it any surprise that my left hip joint might have hurt occasionally if I was twisting my left leg clockwise and to the right against my pelvis and then running on it?

My walking felt quite different after this change and I kept playing with the ideas and seeing what I could stop doing that I didn't need to do. I found the whole walk very enjoyable and I noticed so much of what was going on. I got to see lots of snowdrops, a few crocuses and lots of daffodils starting to come up - all these indicators that Spring is on it's way. It was cheerful walk and a rewarding one for all my self-improvements.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

I love teaching!

I was teaching again yesterday afternoon and I had a great deal of fun explaining this Alexander Technique stuff. I am still amazed at how many opportunities open up because we can change the way we view things and overcome things we thought were inevitable. Things like tension, poor posture, aches and pains that we can all label "ageing" and therefore inevitable but it is so clear to me that when these things are caused by unnecessary tension then all we have to do is to learn to stop and so much of what we do can get easier.

All of my students on Friday demonstrated this, they were so great and amazing at what they achieved. All of it was possible because we reasoned through new ways of viewing what was going on. Fantastic stuff!

Friday, February 24, 2006

What a really good Alexander Technique lesson!

I have been teaching this morning and the discussion between my student and I was great. She learnt lots and so did I. One of things I love about teaching is when this happens. The key ideas that caught our attention were very simple but really effective.

We were talking about how when we want to go from A to B we can often end up going via C, D and E even without realising it. And actually one of the great ideas is that rather than learning how to go A to B what we really need to learn is to stop going via C, D and E. Improvement happens when we stop going via E, more improvement happens when we stop going via D and things get even better when we stop going via C and actually just go A to B.

If you don't like analogies much or the concept isn't clear I think an example would be better. For instance, you need to go shopping to buy some food (so it is important!). You also need to ring a friend, do some housework and have a cup of tea. So you could plan to do the following: I'll just ring my friend quickly before I go out shopping, I'll then come home, do the housework and then sit down for the cup of tea.

What is the most important thing to do on this list?

It is going to depend but I would either say ringing your friend or getting some food in. But to be honest, I wouldn't want to have to rush through ringing my friend so the simple option going A to B idea was just ring my friend with a cup of tea and enjoy the time you spend chatting together. You can fit the food shopping in later that and the housework you can do over the weekend. Does it really all have to be done now, and can you only do the things that matter?

But the concept that happened next was even better. We got to the stage of questioning whether we need to go to B at all. What could we achieve if we just stayed at A. Rather than ringing your friend for a chat, can you invite them round for a cup of tea? (Or if they like shopping, take them shopping for a chat!)

Keep things at their simplest level to achieve what is needed. Do no more and do no less, and enjoy every minute of it! I am definitely going to be applying this, I am already mentally challenging myself with my current projects on how I can do this.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Sitting at the computer for hours...

Whilst I think the joys of the internet are great I am noticing a definite negative side effect of sitting in front of the computer for so long. Last year I had to get glasses since I was spending so much time in front of a screen. Now I am noticing that I am less comfortable spending so long in front of it again. Considering I am slouching over the keyboard, which I think is OK just so long as it isn't constant, I am starting to wonder about activities that you do for a long time.

If you end up doing something for an hour or two, it is going to take energy to do it. Whilst I think you can do it in the easiest way possible, it is still going to take some effort. I guess this is where picking the approach of least effort comes in. If you are going to do something for a extended period of time, design the way of doing it so it takes the minimum amount of effort. Anything else is hard work, and I'm all for not doing work unnecessarily! After that I guess comes using the minimum amount of effort to do that activity, then you will be able to do it longer for the same amount of effort!

I tried this with running last year. I could only run for about 10 mins and after I had a few Alexander Technique lessons at Summer School I realised that I didn't need to use so much effort and in the space of about a week I managed to get my running time up to about 35 minutes. And it wasn't possible to get me that fit, that quickly! I am going to think about that in relation to working on the computer and see what I can come up with!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Welcome Newsletter Readers!

As I have just sent out my newsletter I thought I would just put a little welcome into my blog to all my newsletter readers who clicked on the link in my newsletter and dropped in on my blog for a quick read/chat!

I now have a headache but I don't think this is due to an Alexander Technique problem but more to do with the fact that I smacked my head (quite hard) on my stairs at the end of the lesson I was teaching a student this evening. Aah, the joys of being an Alexander Technique teacher (and still being a bit tired after my great weekend - yes I know it is Wednesday)!

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Monday, February 20, 2006

Another Learning Experience!

After my easy relaxing and enjoyable weekend I managed to throw some of that out the window today by causing some lower back ache for myself this morning and challenging myself with it this evening. Just another opportunity to experience applying this Alexander thinking stuff! I got up this morning feeling bright and alert after my great weekend, this usually has the effect on me of getting me to take action so I decided to sew up a hole in my trousers that I had been staring at for the last few months (in reality it is probably longer than that). As we would probably all say, it is a simple activity, shouldn't have taken too long (but then you don't know my sewing!).

I think the best thing to say is I didn't think about what I was doing, I just wanted to do it and get it done. While I was doing it I could feel my lower back complaining and I knew I was being a bit of an idiot. I did stop myself and think about it but to be honest all I wanted to do was to get my sewing done so I could go to work and by the end (about 20 minutes) it was pretty sore. I went to work and forgot about it. During the day I was so busy I didn't really have time to pay attention to my back but when I went into London this evening, did it catch up with me!

I spent the evening shopping with a friend, then we went to dinner and afterwards to the theatre. It was a lovely evening but everytime I moved around I could feel my lower back complaining about it. I would say that was just about 6 hours of discomfort. At the end of the play (Honour with Diana Rigg, if you want to know) I finally decided that enough was enough and I had to starting applying some of my Alexander Technique thinking in a constructive way so I could get myself out of the mess I was in. I basically started thinking about what I needed to do to move in the simplest terms I possibly could and applied it to what I was doing. To say I could notice a difference immediately was an understatement. I went from having a "miserable" lower back to suddenly feeling back to normal all within in a minute of me applying what I had learnt from the Alexander Technique. It is times like these when I have successful events of applying this Alexander Technique thinking to either the mess I have caused myself or when I need a breakthrough about something that I am so glad I have learnt it.

(P.S. Don't forget, you can learn it too - www.UnlockYourMindAndBody.co.uk or email me at Barbara@UnlockYourMindAndBody.co.uk if you want to ask me any questions.)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

My Exciting Weekend

I am really excited. My first blog entry. I've spent the weekend learning about all the kinds of things I can do on the web and this is my first journey into additional things for my Alexander Technique website: www.UnlockYourMindAndBody.co.uk . Some of people I spent the weekend with were really interested in the benefits of the Alexander Technique (AT). I could really notice times during the three days where people could have really benefitted from it:
  • on day one, one of the presenters had lower back ache due to standing around so much presenting! We did talk and I did work with him for a bit to help him out.
  • a few of the presenters were a bit nervous and it took them a few minutes to calm down after they started presenting. I term it "taking fright" at the prospect of presenting and then they have all those physical effects of their mental anxiety - red faces, shallow breathing, shortness of breath, difficulty thinking on their feet, etc. AT could have helped them manage their nerves and not allowed their nerves to affect how they were speaking and behaving.
  • it was a lot of sitting down for all the participants (3 days for about 8 hours with breaks), some of the people in the audience I also noticed got a bit uncomfortable with so much sitting.
  • I ended up wearing high heels all weekend since I was enjoying being a couple of inches taller. It was great until I noticed that my left knee was starting to feel irritated and started to hurt. As soon as I noticed this I started putting my Alexander thinking into practice to sort it out and guess what, hey presto, it went away and I carried on wearing my heels for the remaining two days with no problems (and enjoying those extra inches)!!
  • I have also noticed that since I spend so much time typing these days on computers that when I end up in a conference room either at seminars or training courses etc. my hands can get tense and sore with all the writing I end up doing when I'm not used to it and my shoulders, neck and back can be sore from leaning over the desk. The great news was that this time I didn't have a problem with any of this, I was able to take copious notes and pay attention to what was going on without issue.

All in all it was a great weekend. Making new friends, learning about the internet and getting enthusiastic about all this stuff I could start doing. I also excited with this because today is also the first day of me using my new broadband connection, so lots of firsts achieved this weekend!

I hope you enjoyed the update on my weekend, my first blog all done and dusted, wow! For more info. on the Alexander Technique and how you can benefit from it go to my website: www.UnlockYourMindAndBody.co.uk.

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