Dance and the Alexander Technique Panel Discussion: a report

The panel discussion Dance and the Alexander Technique: Addressing Longevity in a Dancer’s Career, was co-produced by the Balance Arts Center and Movement Research (a part of Movement Research's Studies Project program). It was held at Dance Theater Workshop in NYC on October 15th from 6-8pm. Panel members included June Ekman, Eva Karzag, Shelley Senter, Jennifer Grove, and Katherine Mitchell. Ann Rodiger moderated the conversation.

This event provided clear evidence of how the Alexander Technique works over the long term and how it can affect people’s lives at a very fundamental level.

In preparation for the panel discussion potential questions were circulated among panel members so we would have ideas to contemplate before the conversation and be able to prepare beginning remarks. A few days before the event I started to get worried that we had collected a group of people who were so totally converted to the Alexander Technique way of thinking and that after about 5 minutes of discussion we would fall silent in a collective “Yes, the Alexander Technique is great” and have no where to go from there!

And there was, in fact, an agreement about how great and useful the Alexander Technique is. However, instead of landing on silence, the conversation evolved into something very inspiring and full. There was a shared sense of the power from the process of thoughtful whole mind/body awareness.

It became evident that the Alexander Technique is and has been the basic process, essence, and central core of each of the panelist’s unique dance experience. And the experience of that process had been guiding and informing the choices the panelists have made with technique, teaching, and choreography for a long time.

What emerged is that each person on the panel, all of whom have had quite different experiences of the Alexander Technique, dance training, performance experience, in various geographical locations, had an understanding and shared experience of the movement/energetic flow that is fundamental and underlies all movement we do. Through that understanding they have been able to dance and explore movement for a long time. And they continue to explore dance and movement in creatively satisfying situations.

One might say that if the Alexander Technique helps the dancer dance better and longer, it must really work for those of us who don’t jump around quite so much. It could even be more effective in helping us stay balanced if we aren’t using our body in such a seemingly extreme manner, challenging our balance, going upside down, and hanging out on one leg for so long, as dancers do. The dancer actually puts the Alexander Technique to the test in many ways as they are constantly learning and inventing new movements, movement sequences, and refining their use.

We are all dancers in our own way even if our range of movement and movement vocabulary may be considerably less extensive than that of a professional dancer. Though we don’t spend a huge portion of our lives focusing on sophisticated movement in the way dancers do, we can definitely benefit from the Technique. Thinking of our daily, work, and play movements as movement that can be played with, explored, and improved (no matter what the range of motion) can lead to longevity in everyone’s movement options and life in general!

What that means is that we can each discover a dance of balance and flow of movement/energy, wherever our lives lead us: painting the living room, playing golf, sitting at the computer, or leading meetings, for example. Study of the Alexander Technique gives us freedom and longevity in our activities, so we can fully explore our pursuits.

I also understood from the panelist is that the principles F. M. articulated are so fundamental that they sustain the interest and curiosity of intelligent and thoughtful people dedicated to movement as a profession for many years.

Movement Research posted a podcast and video of the discussion.
Check out the podcast here
Check out a short video excerpt here
Check out Movement Research's website here

The Balance Arts Center will be sponsoring a conference on Dance and the Alexander Technique in New York City in May. Stay tuned!

University of Oregon Commencement Talk

Ann Rodiger was honored to speak at the University of Oregon commencement ceremony for the School of Music and Dance on June 13, 2009, having received a Distinguished Alumni Award. Several colleagues, students, and friends have requested that we post the talk on the Balance Arts Center blog, so here it is!

Thank you and congratulations to the graduates and your families. I am very honored to be invited to speak with you today. It is wonderful to be back on the U. of O. campus and see all of the growth and expansion that has been going on here.

So, what’s next? I’m sure the question is on the table for many of you. Some of you may be clear about your plan of action and some of you may giving yourself some time before you make definite plans.

I would like to use a short article written by FM Alexander entitled “About Golf” as a jumping off point for some thoughts that may be of help to you no matter where you are at the moment. Alexander, who was a movement educator, talks about how, frequently, golfers are told to “keep their eyes on the ball,” and even though they know how important it is to keep their eyes on the ball, they still seem to loose eye contact with the ball at critical moments during a swing. Although none of you will be receiving a degree in golf today, our task is really the same: to keep our eyes on the ball as much as we can.

Our ball, the ball for us as dancers and musicians, takes many forms and comes in many sizes, from the small ball of developing and refining our skills to the much larger ball of our overall purpose.

A small ball, for instance, might be:
1. feeling the weight of the violin bow and then using the right amount of effort to move it across the string
2. working on the initial movement of the foot in a tendu and following through the metatarsals to pointed foot
3. or finding the suspension of your breath before you sing a phrase

A middle sized ball might be:
1. expanding your field of awareness and
2. understand how to connect with the other players in a string quartet or the other dancers in your piece of choreography.

And a very large ball, which is the most important ball, is to keep our overall global purpose in mind and remember what we have to offer as performing artists.

In looking at this largest ball I think we are all very fortunate to have found a profession that we ourselves are passionate about and enjoy participating in. And, we have found a profession that has the direct potential to be uplifting and life changing for many other people. We are involved in providing opportunities for people to step away from their daily lives to gain a different perspective on whatever is happening in their lives at that moment.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This event was comprised of four evenings of opera, sometimes up to six hours each night, within one week. As we, the audience, were taken on a journey through this long tale, I felt myself and saw others around me being washed again and again by the sounds of the orchestra and voices. Everyone around me was moved and touched very deeply by the experience, at all levels - the physical, emotional, intellectual and the spiritual. That is the potential that each of us in the performing arts has to offer to others.

In order to offer this transforming experience to others we have to be clear and honest with ourselves as to our individual focus and motivation. We have to know what our ball is, so we can keep our eyes on it! We need to find out what is important to us as composers, choreographers, performers, and educators, what motivates and inspires us. Where is the juice? What is essential? What is it about operating in the non-verbal, aural and kinesthetic senses that is attractive to us and is so vital?

I invite you to look underneath your immediate response to that question and to explore what is at the core of your personal ball. There is no doubt that there is something underneath your initial response that is a driving force. Steadfastly pursuing this understanding is what is going to lead you to whatever comes next. It will allow you to take what you have learned and experienced here at the University of Oregon and guide you to something very satisfying.

Let’s return to the golfer. The golfer’s aim is to get the ball onto the green and into the hole, ultimately in one stroke. The strong stimulus of this goal can sometimes become a trap, in that the desire to achieve the goal creates habits that limit the choices the golfer makes. Taking his eyes off the ball happens again and again because the golfer doesn’t recognize that there are other choices he or she can make to accomplish the goal. Perhaps he repeats his habitual actions more forcefully and in a more entrenched way as he thinks that is the only way it is going to work. This is what gets the golfer in to trouble. He doesn’t realize that he has to be available to make new choices as he sets up the shot, addresses the ball and takes the swing, choices that might even feel wrong or unfamiliar or unknown.

This same principle applies to us. We need to allow ourselves to be flexible, creative, and open to new approaches, to our desires and aspirations. Alexander is asking us to suspend for a moment our knee jerk responses to what we want to do. Stop the automatic pilot. In other words, don’t just whack the ball. Pause and take a moment to notice what you are about to do and see your various choices and possibilities.

I didn’t know what the Alexander Technique was, or even that it existed, when I left the University of Oregon, and I had no idea I would be practicing it now in New York City. By following what I love to do and sticking with that, I found my way to a profession that incorporates all the things that I find to be juicy: movement and dance, sound, vibration, the “ah ha” moment of understanding, discovery, and expansion. I now work with dancers, singers, musicians as well as others, including golfers, with their awareness in action. I work with their whole being to refine their thinking and movement coordination so they can best express themselves and accomplish their goals with more ease, balance, and fluidity.

In closing, let’s look again at what we offer as performing artists: our largest ball.

We create the space and time for people to learn, grow and connect with themselves at the deepest levels, to understand at that unspoken essential, vibrational place where we all connect as a whole. As we stay in touch with and hold that field of awareness, we create situations where others can find that flow and experience the field it creates for them. This is the field of possibility and creativity, and the field where one can experience his or her essential being-ness. This awareness is invaluable. You have a wonderful stance from which to start and the skills to make a difference in your own life and the lives of many others.

Keep going. Keep learning, keep practicing and going to class. Keep reflecting, recommitting, and reconnecting with the essence of what you do and what you want to achieve. Keep your eyes on the ball as you take you next swing, and remember your purpose for doing so, as that will sustain you through whatever comes your way.

Anticipation and Preparation

One of my students is recovering from an injury to her big toe that she sustained while dancing nearly 14 years ago. She had surgery and Physical Therapy and is still recovering in that she struggles to use the right and left sides of her body evenly while she moves. She is very aware of her body and senses that when she is working unevenly she has more tension in her body, that she isn’t able to think as clearly as she is otherwise able, and her entire mental/emotional state is affected by the imbalance.

Her big discovery in our lessons together came when she realized that much of the tension she has in her body is created in response to the anticipation of knee pain that sometime occurs. She tenses her body before moving because she is trying to “do something” to prevent the potential experience of pain. In other words, she makes a sudden contraction just before moving that prevents her from her easiest and most balanced movement. If left unresolved, this contraction accumulates into a more permanent state of tension in and throughout the body. Her compensations are now affecting her jaw by creating tension more on one side than the other.

When she was able to stop the moment of contraction she could feel her weight on the floor through the injured foot more clearly and she could direct her whole body, head-neck-back more easily. The knee pain that was caused by avoiding movement in the toe is eliminated.

This act or moment of anticipation and preparation was also clear with another student as he played the piano. His piano teacher has been talking to him for a while about letting his forearm soften and be freer while he plays. It turns out he has the same pattern. Just before he strikes the key he tightens his forearm and hands breaking the flow of energy and movement into the keys. When he stopped the tightening preparation the sound he was making changed immediately. His fingers were more articulate and he could feel his weight on the piano bench.

We often think we need to “do” something extra or use more force to “make” a movement occur. Certainly some movements and activities take more force than other activities. When we don’t anticipate what is needed we allow ourselves to accommodate to the needs of the action rather than decide beforehand what might be needed.

Eiko Kanamoto, who trained in the Alexander Technique here at the Balance Arts Center and now teaches in Tokyo) used to talk about this as going from neutral into an action; “neutral” meaning the state of being when your “motor” is already running with an easy flow of directions. This allows you to move from one action to another, or one gesture to another, speeding up or slowing down without turning off your engine in between (in other words not collapsing or tightening between movements). Starting a movement from an already free and directed flow of movement allows one to continue directing smoothly through to the next activity. This way you can pick up the necessary speed and effort along the way WITHOUT jumping into the next gear before the action happens. You might end up in 4th gear if you are lifting a cement block for instance (we practice this in the training class) and you arrive there “as needed” in responses to the weight of the block.

The moment of tightening before we do an action can go by really quickly if we aren’t paying close attention. It goes by even more quickly if we have jumped ahead to the end of the activity (Alexander calls this end-gaining) in our minds and bypass the process of how we are getting there.

Look at the cement block in the photo with this blog entry.
• Imagine yourself picking it up.
• Notice what your body does even as you imagine the activity.
• Now imagine picking up the block and staying in “neutral” as long as possible.

Notice how little force and preparation you can use when doing the following activities. Notice if you are anticipating the action and see if you can bypass that moment of doing something extra.

• As you strike the computer keys.
• As you begin to get out of a chair.
• As you start to say something to someone.
• As you put your foot on the gas pedal.
• As you lift a bag of groceries.

Habits, Habits, Habits

One student recently described her learning process as having to trust thinking and moving in ways that seem to be “counter intuitive.” In leaving her normal way of doing the task to do it in a new way, she described it as feeling “quite odd” or “just wrong” even though it was so much easier to do. She was working on finding the movement of her air to support her singing voice. It was very obvious to both of us that her sound was much freer and stronger when she vocalized in the less familiar way.

Her statement led to a discussion about how her singing was markedly easier and was clearly better coordinated and “right” when she chose this new way of working. Even so, it was unfamiliar and the pull of the familiar was SO strong that she had to pay very close attention to avoid going down that road again and again- continuing to choose the less coordinated and harder way to sing.

It might seem that once one has had the experience of how easy something can be and how obvious it is that the old way isn’t really working he/she would be able to immediately change course and follow the new pathway. It would be so nice if changing habits was as simple as having a new understanding of how to do something. In fact, it requires both a new understanding and practice in applying this new understanding until we break from the persistence of the habit. In practice we have to keep on top of our actions and monitor what we are doing to bring them in to what F.M. called “conscious control.”

Another student recently said, “I’m not telling it to do that.” in reference to how he was folding (or not) his hip joints as he sat on the chair. Right – he wasn’t consciously telling his hips not to bend but at some point (conscious or not) he adopted this habit. Then, again probably without awareness, he went on to automatic pilot and has done it in a similar manner for years.

The real answer is yes, we ARE “telling it to do that” at some level that is probably deeply buried in our habitual patterning. And if we want to change we need to create a situation where the older, less efficient habit has a chance to change.

Another student remarked that it seemed funny to tell his knees to bend – he felt as if they were remote objects out there somewhere that should already know what to do. Same thing. His habits are running his movement, and, in this case, jamming his legs up into his torso causing some lower back pain. At some point he learned, possibly through imitation, injury recovery, stress or trauma response, or some other reason, to move in this way. And in reality, his knees are not so remote. They are part of him, and he can have conscious control over how they move.

Much of the work in the Alexander Technique is bringing those habits that are often unconscious to the surface of our awareness so that we can consciously direct ourselves to change them and by doing so, maintain a better use of ourselves.

It is not necessarily important to know how we arrived at our own unique constellation of habitual movements. What is important is that we realize we can do something about them and they don’t have as much of a grip on us as we think they do. They don’t have to run the show.

One might ask if it is worth spending the mental energy on directing themselves and changing their habits. Yes of course it is.

In all of the cases above the unconscious habits are directly affecting their movement performance and quality of life. They are subtly and not so subtly determining the freedom of movement and thought.

In the first case of the singer, her vocal performance and thus her career hinges on this information.

In the second case of the new hips, the student has a whole new relationship to the ground and it has given him at least another inch in his back, frees up his neck, and literally gives him a new perspective on things (from that higher view).

In the third case of the remote knees, his whole gait changed and his back immediately started feeling better once he bent is knees. That nagging back pain stopped taking up his mental space so he could be more present with whatever task was at hand.

What a relief!

It is important not to judge ourselves as we uncover some of these habits that have been dragging us around. Students have said things like, “I’m doing THAT?” or “What am I doing that for?” or “Why do I think that (the old habit) is easier?” and so on. It is not necessary to know why we developed a certain habit. What is important is to move forward with a new awareness and willingness to change for the better. The contrast between the new and old patterns will sometimes uncover the cause of the previous pattern if it is important in the context of the new.

Take an activity that you do every day probably many times a day like sitting down. Focus on the following things and see if it becomes easier:

• There is no need to muscularly pull yourself down into the chair.
• Lengthen out your body before you sit down.
• Send your head out over your knees as you sit down, letting your whole torso follow your head.
• Make sure your hips, knees, AND ankles are all bending (all 6 joints) while you sit.

NECK FREE

During my recent trip to teach in Berlin, I realized again while working with a group of singers, that many of us think we need to hold our head on to our body. This is not to say that German singers or those living in Germany have a particular habit unique to themselves. It sounds odd to say this, as the head is obviously attached to the spine and body, but it does seem to be the case that many of us are subtly holding our head on to our body. This literally holds us down by pinching the cranial nerves (to the eyes, ears, face etc.) as well as restricting our breathing and adding weight to and compressing our entire structure. And, in the case of the singers I was working with in Berlin, it compressed their sound as well.

It also seems that when people think of keeping their neck free they mainly think of the back of their neck, the part that can be touched and seen, and they forget to keep the front of the neck and spine free up in front of the ears and behind the nose at the back of the oral cavity. Remembering the three dimensional spine and neck helps keep the natural curve in the spine and neck that are necessary for cushioning, shock absorption, and overall mobility of the body.

The first of the classical Alexander Technique directions is to keep the “neck free” which lets the head go and releases any holding of the head on the spine. It also lets go of any urge to “fix” or “position” or “hold” or “clamp” the head on the neck. Once the neck is free, we can direct the head up and slightly forward off the spine and the whole body can easily follow.

This discussion was particularly critical for the singers I worked with in Berlin. When they understood that keeping the neck free included the front part of the neck up inside the body, their sound instantly changed. It allowed their air stream to come up behind the tongue and gave a sense of the air coming up behind their eyes. Their sound was clearer, more focused, and less forced. Their whole head was vibrating and participating in the sound production.

Keeping the neck free and taking the pressure off the body is critical for all of us, even if we are not singing. It can change our speaking voice and also opens the connection between the head and the rest of the body, allowing for better oxygen and blood flow and less restriction and pressure on the nerves. It allows for more range of movement in the neck and for more possibilities of experiencing the body as a whole organism responding to gravity.

Experiment with the direction of “allowing your neck to be free” and see what happens. Give yourself the direction and then after you have your first response repeat the direction so you let go more and more and more. Notice that when your neck is free you will sense the ground underneath you more clearly. And the ability to give a gentle upward direction of the head comes very easily and is a natural response to letting the neck go.


• What image comes to mind when you think of your neck?
• What have you been considering your neck to be?
• What have you been thinking when you give yourself the direction to allow your neck to be free?
• Are you remembering that your spine and neck come up behind your jaw?
• What happened when you think of keeping your throat free?
• How does your tongue fit in to this thinking?

Where is Your Focus?

Last week during the floor class we indulged in a long, tangential discussion that is now changing the way we all work during the class. We begin each floor class by establishing a free neck, tongue, jaw, eyes, a lengthened back, and free breathing while lying on our backs. Knees are up with feet flat on the floor, as in a traditional Alexander Technique “lie down.” Our detour came at the beginning of class with one of the first movements of bringing a knee up to the chest. A student’s question led to a wonderful, revealing discussion.

The question was, “what am I supposed think about, what part of the body should I focus on, while I move my knee?”

It became clear that focusing only on the knee coming up to the chest disturbed the rest of the student’s body and disrupted his head-neck freedom along with the length and width of his back that had just been established. His neck tightened, breathing stopped, lower back arched, and his leg was heavy.

When his focus stayed mainly on freeing his head and neck along with maintaining the length and width of his back, his knee came up much more easily. The knee came up in relation to the active direction and alignment of the back and torso and was not the primary focus of movement even though it was the part moving through space. It took practice for him to move his knee while continuing to give attention to the parts of his body that “weren’t moving.” Likewise, it took practice to keep the active direction in the whole body and not do the opposite of what he was doing by pushing his lower back into the floor, which would also lead to tightening his neck and holding his breath.

As the focus of the movement became clearer, the movement became easier, and there was no sudden moment of “umph” or muscle contraction when the movement started. The movement of the knee and leg came from the ongoing flow of energy moving throughout the whole body.

This tangent revealed something we often do while moving:
We become enticed by the body part that is moving through space, and we lose track of what is happening to the rest of our bodies. This happens often and in many situations.

This “tangent” actually came at the perfect moment, because as we talked, the reason we start class on our backs and why we establish the head, neck, and back relationship (Alexander’s Primary Control) before we do anything else became clearer and clearer. And it was clear why we do seemingly simple movements at first: We do them so we can learn how to maintain the Primary Control while moving.

The discussion turned to how easy it can be to focus only on the moving part and how that can throw us off balance in almost any situation, causing us to lose the support for the entire movement. This applies to dancers moving their legs, squash and golf players swinging the racket or club, as well as to simple movements like bringing a fork or spoon to one’s mouth.

Practice:
Try it yourself while you climb the stairs: When you lift your leg up for the next step, keep your neck free, torso long and wide, and let the leg move in relation to the rest of your of your body. Allow the leg to come up to the next step while you keep your main focus on keeping your head over your supporting foot. This will keep you supported while transferring your weight up on to the higher level.

Play with how you use your attention. You have many choices. Notice which choices make the movement easier and effortless.

The Real Instrument

Marie Bessesen

Instrument n. 1 tool or implement, esp. for delicate or scientific work. 2 device for producing musical sounds. 3a thing used in performing an action. b person made use of. ………

Vehicle n. 1 conveyance for transporting people, goods, etc., esp. on land. 2 medium for thought, feeling, or action. 3 liquid, etc., as a medium for suspending pigments, drugs, etc.


While I was working with a student as she played the clarinet her sound kept getting clearer and more resonant. Seemingly small adjustments to her head and neck made a significant difference in how she was playing, which, in turn made a difference in the sound she was producing. Suddenly she stopped playing, pointed a finger at herself and said with certainty, “I am the real instrument.”

“YES” I said, “That is it!”

That is the crux of the Alexander Technique – realizing that how we move and use ourselves, and how we think about how we move, makes all the difference in the outcome of what we are doing. We are the instrument or vehicle for any thought we have and any action we perform.

Sometimes people talk about Alexander’s main discovery as being that of primary control (head, neck, and back relationship and direction), and I agree that it is very important. I think however, the most important discovery he made was prior to that specific discovery when he realized that he was causing his vocal problems by what he was doing and that he could actually change himself by paying attention to how he was moving and reacting to a stimulus. He didn’t say “oh, that is just how I am” or “things can’t change.” He took the time and initiative to figure out how his participating in the process made a difference. He realized he was the true instrument and he set about figuring out how to “play” his own instrument in the best way possible. That realization led him to his discovery the primary control.

Having an external measure, such as the quality of sound while playing a musical instrument, gives immediate feedback about how we are using ourselves. It is a lesson to all of us about how our own use makes a difference in what we do. And although many of us aren’t playing such an obvious external instrument, we ARE in a sense “playing” whatever we do. We are interacting with our environment and there are outcomes and consequences to HOW we do that.

You can use his own voice for example as your musical instrument.

Try an experiment with your own voice to see how this all works. The next time you speak to someone, think about the fact that you are creating those sounds and vibrations with your body. This may seem obvious but many of us haven’t stopped to think how we are producing the sound and how we might do it “play ourselves” better. We do what is familiar and what kinesthetically “feels” like “our voice” and unless we lose our voice or get a sore throat, we generally go on automatic pilot and just talk. Notice what happens when you give a thought to the following:
• Leave your neck easy when you talk. Include your three-dimensional neck and the part of your neck up behind your jaw.
• Make sure the air is moving out while you speak-- This doesn’t mean make a breathy sound. It means make sure your air is vibrating your vocal cords rather than making the sound by muscularly pinching your cords.
• Leave your tongue alone. Obviously it is necessary to use your tongue while forming consonants and vowels. Otherwise make sure it is not pushing down in your mouth or on your jaw. This will allow the air to move more easily up and over your tongue on the way out and you won’t be pressing down on your vocal folds.


The invitation of the Alexander Technique is really then to explore how we go about things and how, when we refine our instrument and thus refine our interactions with our environment, we “play” our entire instrument- the full mind-body. The challenge is to learn how to play yourself in the best, most efficient, most effective, useful manner to serve your chosen actions. (Yes, the AT will help a bank robber be a better bank robber – the choice of what you do with it is up to you; that is another discussion.)

As you start to play your own instrument you will experience how amazingly subtle we can be with our awareness and how amazing it is that what we perceive as such a small change or shift in how we do an activity can make such a large difference in the outcome (like what was happening with the clarinet player). This is totally fascinating and can open up a whole world of awareness and perception that is enormously satisfying and useful.

And then a most fascinating thing often occurs. The act and process of playing, continuing the discovery process and refining the means of doing an activity, becomes the goal. The outcome will occur and improve, but the juice, the rasa (essence), is in the flow of the action and activity rather than just the accomplishment.

Handwriting

Pen and Paper

Surprise, surprise, some people are still writing long hand. The topic of handwriting seems to be in the air as I just heard a piece on writing on NPR today! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100980086. And, a student came in yesterday wanting to work on just that. Her goal is to write long hand for as long as she would like (often many hours) pain-free. (She is in the middle of a dissertation that will become a book – deadlines are looming). She writes everything out on paper before entering it in to the computer (writing at a computer is a topic for another time) and does all her edits long hand too. Although this is probably much more time with pen and paper than most of us are spending, it is still worth considering and discussing.

Writers who still handwrite find that it provides a different sense of time in the writing process that allows for different ways of thinking, perhaps providing more time for contemplation than writing at the computer. I imagine there will always be people who handwrite and that manner of writing will always be around.

Here are a few ideas to consider while handwriting even if you just jot down a few notes to yourself on a napkin or on the back of an envelope.

Most of us operate in a set, habitual comfort zone of force and pressure while we do an activity. We have developed a “feeling” or “sense” of what it is to do something and we routinely carry out tasks in that familiar way. However, because we use that familiar amount of force doesn’t mean that it is necessarily the appropriate amount of force needed to do the task. We often end up (unknowingly) setting ourselves up to use excessive force to accomplish simple tasks, even tasks as simple as handwriting.

The next time you pick up a pen check to see how you are picking it up.
• Are you aware of the weight of the pen?
• Are you using more of your arm/hand more than necessary? For example, is your shoulder involved in picking up a pen? Did your wrist tighten?
• What happened with your elbow? Did it bend?

When you start to write, what amount of force are you using to move the pen across the paper? Make sure you have a pen that has the potential to move easily across the page. (My dad reminded me that while using a fountain pen if you used pressure on the tip the ink would come out too quickly so you had to regulate the amount of force used. This was before the invention of the ballpoint pen that allows for much more pressure).
• Are you pushing down into the paper with pressure to form the words?
• Is your hand tightening while you write across the paper?
• What is happening with your mouth and jaw?

Do an experiment. See what happens when you:
• Use only the amount of force necessary to hold the pen. This is most likely less than you are using now.
• Hold the pen with your fingertips.
• Move the pen with just your fingertips without tightening your shoulder, wrist and elbow.
• Keep space in your palm. Sometimes it helps to put a small ping pong ball inside your palm while you write so you can’t squeeze your palm.


• Continue to be aware of the width across your back to your other arm, elbow, wrist, and hand while you write.

Also stay back from the paper. Make sure you sense the spatial distance from the page back up to your head and eyes. That will help you keep you from leaning in to the paper so that your neck, shoulders, and back can be easy and support your arms while you are writing.

I remember when I first started taking Alexander Technique lessons. I would write something down and I couldn’t remember if I had written it down or not. For me, the memory of writing something down was so associated with the amount of force I was using, and the action didn’t seem to imprint on my brain unless I used that same amount of force. In this instance, the connection between the mind and body was SO clear to me. Once I realized what was going on I could work with it. I could continue to use less and less force with the goal of not having any “set” amount of force needed but to accommodate to the needs of the particular pen and paper I had a the time.

Extra tip: let the light and words from the page come toward your eyes. Leave your eyes easy and remember the understanding of the words takes place in the visual cortex of your brain at the back of your skull rather than with your eyes – they just receive the light.

Going Up Stairs

Last week when I heard on the news that it was the day for the Empire State Building Race I immediately emailed my student Ben Oliner to see if he was participating in the 86 flight race as he did last year. A few minutes later I received an email that he had won the race for amateurs. (Who knew there are professional stair climbers.) Ben is a professional squash player so is in exceptionally good shape physically. In any case, racing up 86 flights of stairs is no small feat. Go Ben!

Ben and I agreed that his work with the Alexander Technique helps him with both squash and the stairs. He literally flew up the stairs taking several stair steps at one time keeping his focus on going up up up – following the lead of his head.

Although most of us go up the stairs one step at a time, the same head leading- body following principle that worked for Ben will work for us non-racers. The head leading and the body following is one of the main principles of the Alexander Technique.
This is the same principle that applies to a fish as it swims or a baby as it crawls. The whole body organizes itself around the eyes and the head.

Try this while you are going up any sort of step; a curb, subway steps, stairs in your house, or 86 floors in the Empire State Building.

The key is to take a moment to notice what you are doing and to think about what you are doing BEFORE you take your step. Notice what you are doing with your head and neck. If you are preparing to take the step by tightening in any way or shrinking in stature, chances are that you are going to feel heavy and you will have to push with your legs to get you up the stairs. (Obviously your legs and whole body are muscularly engaging in some way – but there is a difference between pushing with your legs to go upstairs and letting your legs carry your torso from one step to the next). If you are shortening yourself, you are effectively pushing yourself down into the ground and making yourself heavier. Then you are trying to go up the stairs with a heavier body and are pushing up against a downward pressure that you are creating. It doesn’t really make any logical sense to do such a thing, but that is exactly what most of us do when we go up even one step.

Try using yourself as an experiment and see what happens when you keep yourself free and easy in the neck, gently send your head up, and let your body follow your head up the step. Allow yourself to move in a new way and see what happens. This really works.

You may not fly up the stairs like Ben did but it WILL be easier. Perhaps one of you will give him some competition next year!

One more thought: Make sure your tongue is also easy and free and not pushing down along with your head and neck.

TMJ Alternative Treatments; response to NY Times article by Jane Brody

Here is some of my response to Jane Brody’s article on TMJ in the Tuesday 2/3/09 NY Times.
We can start the discussion about the Alexander Technique any place and since I have been working on a response to the article I thought I would post it here as well. I think it is very important that the Alexander Technique be seen as an educational process rather than as a therapy. Alexander students are invited to participate in the process of discovery so they can take away concepts and experiences to integrate in to all of their activities.  

Dear Ms. Brody,

Recently I read your article on TMJ in the February 3, 2009 edition of the New York Times. Your explanation of the condition seemed very accurate to me. It is fascinating that TMJ symptoms show up more in women than in men. Did any of the studies give a reason for this phenomenon?

I would like to take this opportunity to offer a suggestion. The next time you write about TMJ (or any other condition involving chronic pain or tension) it might be interesting and helpful to your readers if you could include among the options for helping the situation the concept of re-education. In the case of TMJ, the possibility of re-educating the patient's use of their jaw, as well as an explanation of the functional movement aspect of the TMJ situation would be useful. When education is stressed a person can take some responsibility for the situation and take action to prevent it from happening again in the future.

As a teacher of the Alexander Technique I have grown to understand that the way in which people move their jaws makes a huge difference in their TMJ issues and in how their body functions as a whole. I see, as well, that many people can learn to make different choices about how they are moving their head, neck, tongue, and jaw and these different choices then lead to relief of some, if not all, of their TMJ symptoms. The Alexander Technique can directly teach the ability to “rest” the jaw and to find the appropriate amount of muscular tone needed in order to move the jaw and use it for chewing.

One might think that the jaw is only able to move in one way; it is my experience, however, that people manage to perform a great variety of movement patterns with the jaw, especially in combination with the tongue, neck, head, and face, leading to a great variety of states along the spectrum between balance and imbalance. Just as one can have more or less coordinated ideas and habits about how to walk or run, one can also have more or less coordinated ideas and habits about the use of the jaw when speaking, laughing, or eating. One example of the simple ways in which a movement pattern and mental understanding can affect the body's structure can be seen in how a person chews. It is not necessary or desirable to the body's optimal functioning to tilt the whole skull back when opening the jaw to take a bite (like
a 'pac man' who moves its upper and lower jaw at the same time). That action often pinches the back of the neck, puts stress on the jaw and causes a tightening up of that entire region of the body. In the Alexander Technique the student learns to understand how the jaw functions and learns to move it in a way more corresponding to its structure.

I find that if a student is in a cycle of chronic tension it can be very useful to look at how the student approaches the movement of his or her head, neck, tongue, and jaw. Although massage may be useful in relieving muscle tension and provide pain relief, in my experience, it can be even more helpful follow up that relief with a discussion and “coaching” on how to develop a better way of moving the head, neck, tongue, and jaw.

Releasing can be seen as the first step – a state of release from which a freer movement can take place. The released state enables an essential moment of awareness and gives the possiblity of making a new choice. If, having found relief from immediate tension, one then moves in the same habitual way, this familiar choice leads one right back into the pattern that caused the situation in the first place. If, on the other hand, one becomes aware in that moment of relief and chooses a different movement pattern there is a much greater chance of longer-lasting relief and of utimately not ending up in the same TMJ situation again at all.

The Alexander Techinque gives the student both the relief from the stressful pattern and offers an education on how to improve his or her use in any given moment, leading to long-lasting change and in some cases, dramatic relief from long-held movement patterns and painful conditions. The focus on education is what makes the Alexander Technique different from other types of body work.

This work is most often done in a one-on-one setting by a certified teacher who has gone through a thorough training of more than 1600 hours. The teachers works both verbally and hands-on with light touch to give relief to the student. This interaction also brings the student's awareness to the array of movement options available to them that can result not only in pain relief, but also, in many cases, in a much more balanced and graceful use of their own bodies in day to day situations.

I have been a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique for more than 25 years, teaching privately and giving workshops and master classes here in New York City, as well as abroad in Europe and Japan. Because I believe this technique would be a great interest to you and your readers, I would be more than happy to offer you a complimentary lesson at my New York studio to help you experience the Alexander Technique first hand.

Thanks for your interest.

All the best,

Ann Rodiger

Floor Class

Ann Rodiger developed the Balance Arts Floor Class to present movement through the lens of the Alexander Technique. She has combined her knowledge and experience of the Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Feldenkrais, Yoga and various dance techniques in creating the class.

This class is designed to:
*Work with the whole body coordination to find your balance and center through an extended session on the floor.
*Focus on your breathing, ease, coordination and directions.
*Work slowly and carefully to build your awareness of your limbs in relation to your head, neck, and back.
*Increase awareness of joint articulation.
*Integrate what you have learned to standing and walking.