How It Works
Cycling between collapsing down and hoisting yourself back up…
You’re at work, halfway through checking emails when you realize you have already settled down into an awful slouch. So, you haul yourself up: You lift your chest, take your shoulders back, and sit up straight again.
But a little while later, your back is achy and unhappy. You give up and let yourself relax.
You aren’t uniquely bad at sitting. EVERYONE who tries to hold themselves up in good posture ends up failing.
That’s because our posture and movement (and all of our behavior, really) are guided by bad habits we are not even aware of.
We all have our own set of habits.
Maybe we stiffen our neck when we go to move…
Some of us let our mind drift when there isn’t enough drawing our attention…
A lot of us put way too much effort into our shoulders and arms just to lift a piece of paper…
We let nervousness make our voice thin and quiet…
And many of us know what it’s like to fixate on accomplishing our goals without attending to the process it takes to get there.
Here’s what our bad habits look like…
When Amy reaches out to lift up her coffee cup, she starts by stiffening her neck and raising her shoulder. Then, when she lifts the tiny cup, she uses the amount of effort needed to lift 30 lbs. of coffee beans.
Lewis is intently focused on the tennis court; but sometimes when he is in a meeting at work, there just isn’t enough activity to keep his attention focused on what is being said.
Sam goes to the gym, puts music on, and lifts incredible weights with his arms and his legs. But he’s oblivious to how much his lower back strains on each lift… then he wonders why it hurts afterwards.
Overcome your bad habits with the Alexander Technique…
The Alexander Technique can teach you to STOP the habits that are interfering with your ability to move and think as clearly as possible. Using the skill of Inhibition, you can learn to stop yourself before your habits even start, and to give yourself choice about what you want to do and how you want to do it.
With the space for choice we give ourselves when we inhibit, the Alexander Technique can teach you HOW to think about yourself and your actions in a better way. Using the skill of sending Alexander Directions, you can start to prioritize the things that are key to achieving your goals while you inhibit the things that interfere.
Using the Alexander directions, you will learn to be present in yourself in relation to your environment, your activities, and other people. You will learn how to consciously direct yourself to be more integrated and connected throughout the whole of you. You will learn to consciously direct the subtle control of your head in relation to your back and how to aim up in response the downward pressure of gravity. You will learn to use your back in a way that supports your limbs and to use your limbs in a way that doesn’t drag on your neck and back.
You can develop a different, more indirect, control of yourself.
One that relieves you of the duty of directly micro-managing parts of your body and instead gives you a more reliable kinesthetic sense of where you are. By shaping the way we pay attention to ourselves and our activities, we can facilitate movement, so it occurs in the most natural, organized way.
With the conscious process you develop, you can establish a dynamic state of poise in your body and alertness to the world around you. This is even better than good posture, because it gives you control over your mind and body in an integrated way – and it’s available to you in any body position, in any movement.
The Alexander Technique shows us that it takes way less effort to sit up straight than we thought… that all it takes is the right type of thinking to make it possible to have good posture… and so much more.
Ready for clarity and alertness?
Using an integrative approach where your mind and body work as a unit, you’ll find clarity in your mind and alertness in your body – they are not separate from each other.
In fact, using yourself holistically allows you to develop in ways you didn’t think was possible!
Let me help you overcome the habits that are preventing you from sitting with poise, moving with freedom, and accomplishing your goals at a higher level.