Stand Tall, Feel Great!

Could the Lumo Lift be used to support Alexander Technique Students?

According to the Lumo Lift marketing department, “Lift was built based on scientific research showing that when you hold yourself in an upright and open position, you actually get a surge of hormones that make you feel and become more powerful.”

I bolded the word “hold“, because anyone who has tried holding themselves in good posture knows how uncomfortable this is. Within minutes, you are back to the comfy relief of slumping. Take a look at the models in the Lumo Lift video:

Did you notice that they are all arching their backs to achieve their new “good” posture?

But what if there’s an effortless way towards good posture?

Yes, it’s called the Alexander Technique. Alexander Technique students learn how to change their posture by thinking. And, I think the Lumo Lift could be a great biofeedback support for Alexander Technique students.

What if every time you crunched over your cell phone, you got a little buzz? What if instead of arching your back and holding yourself upright, you stopped and thought:

“I have time,”

“Neck free,”

“Do less,”

“Head floating up,”

or even…

“I don’t have to pick up my phone!”

What if you had learned in Alexander Technique lessons how to turn these pleasant thoughts into real physical changes?

That could amount to an extra 1,500 practice sessions per week*.

You might find that you were learning how to “Stand Tall and Feel Great,” effortlessly.

References:
*”How often do you look at your phone?” Daily Mail, Oct 7, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

Is learning anatomy helpful?

Jessica Santascoy (who once upon a time came to me for Alexander Technique lessons because I gave an introductory talk in high heels…but that’s another story) asks, “What do Alexander Technique teachers think of teaching anatomy?”

I think it’s helpful. Anatomy helps a directional thought (like “head forward and up”) arrive at the right address. Understanding the reality of structure can free up a lot of tension. It allows us to trust our bones to hold us. At the same time, anatomy can be a chimera like anything else. It’s helpful to remember that seemingly solid structures like bones, are teaming with life, movement, electricity and elasticity. Anatomy is crucial, but don’t get hung up on anything that looks like a platonic truth.

Jessica recommends the iphone ap: Muscle System Pro III for $3.99 – which offers 3D visualization of anatomy.

And she comments:

“I remember my AT lessons with you, when you would bring out the skeleton and use it to show me how the body works at its optimum. It brought such clarity.”

 

If you’re not satisfied…

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According to my Grandma:

“If you’re satisfied, it’s OK. But if you’re not satisfied, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone. Even I get out of my comfort zone. I eat with different people every day. I call different people.

Just take a little step. Take a baby step and try something different.”

Do one thing at a time

Grandma

Grandma

According to a recent New York Times book review, “The simplest definition of meditation is learning to do one thing at a time.”

My grandmother, Phyllis Punch, who’s a young 96, said as much to me this afternoon.

Simple wishes for ease

Thinking the following “Directions” developed by F.M. Alexander will help you find more ease and spinal length.

  1. Let me neck be free (smooth, long, soft)
  2. Let my jaw be free (space between back molars, lips soft)
  3. To let my head pivot forward and up (as if nodding yes)
  4. To let my spine lengthen and my back widen

Think the Directions versus trying to do them.

Think them in sequence. The startle pattern, which is our most usual source of unpleasant tension, begins in the neck. To melt a startle, you need to start by freeing the neck.

The word “let” is very important since it implies allowing and non-doing.

You don’t want to make an effort with your thought. Thinking too hard will cause you to tense involuntarily.

 

avoid ‘text-neck’

Researchers in the UK used computer analysis to show that texting while walking causes hunched posture, loss of balance, and an inability to walk in a straight line.

Heh! I’m sure you didn’t need science to tell you that.

Anyone who texts is familiar with the ‘forward and down’ head posture. This posture can add 30 pounds of extra weight to the delicate neck vertebrae.

How to avoid text neck

Discover the joint where your head and neck join. This joint, called the atlanto occiptal joint, is located between your ears at the level of the roof of your mouth.

  • You can find it by nodding yes
  • You can free it by imagining a little bit of oil in the joint
  • You can freeze it by imagining a little bit of cement in the joint

Now imagine adding some oil. See how smoothly and lightly you can nod your head without pushing your neck forward.

Take a hold of your phone. But wait! Keep it down by your side. Notice your impulse to crouch down.

Pause.

Think up, as though you had an arrow pointing from the crown of your head to the sky. Rotate your palms forward, so your thumbs are sticking out away from your body. To bring your phone up to eye level, bend your elbows. To see the screen, nod your head gently at the atlanto occipital joint. Think up, and tell your neck to stay relaxed.

Now you’re ready to text!

If you can’t figure this out on your own, any Alexander Teacher worth her salt would be happy to help you. You can find a teacher in the US at:
http://www.amsatonline.org/teachers

References:

Texting and Walking: Strategies for Postural Control and Implications for Safety, Published: January 22, 2014. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084312

Descent of man: how texting stops us walking tall   [Retrieved Jan 25, 2014]

 

 

 

Mindful Eating

I had a pack of almonds. The next moment, empty pack and no almonds. I was the only one at the scene of the crime, so all evidence pointed to me as the eater. But if you’d asked me, I would have denied it. Presumably, those 18 grams of fat were lurking somewhere in my digestive tract.

This experience inspired me to take a Mindful-Eating workshop with my friend Augusta Hopkins.

The principals of Mindful Eating are very simple. Look at your food. Smell your food. Taste your food.  Appreciate the colors, flavors, textures, shape, and weight. Contemplate how it got to you. Who grew it? Who prepared it? Be thankful. Be amazed. Enjoy!

More practically, rest your hands between bites. Are you loading up your fork before you’ve finished a mouthful? What is the hurry?

Notice your body. Are you hunched over your plate? Are you breathing? Can you relax your neck and eat?

The result? I am much less likely to overeat if I am consciously present for the act of eating. But, I admit that I like to read The New Yorker and listen to NPR while eating. Which is why I like to combine Mindful Eating with Brian Wansink’s ingenious techniques for effective Mindless Eating.

Here’s a link to Augusta’s instructional video on Mindful eating. Never has a humble Mission Style Burrito been eaten with such loving care.

 

 

two feet one breath

Stopping is the best antidote to stress. Stop to think, to look, to listen, and to reflect. Stop and have a helpful thought like, “I don’t need to tense my neck muscles so much while texting.” Stopping is the bedrock of the Alexander Technique. Stopping is also the basis of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. It’s easy to stop. But it’s hard to have the discipline to do it. If we are working under time pressure, the last thing in the world we want to do is stop.

That’s why I love “Two Feet, One Breath” – a mindfulness technique developed to help busy physicians deal with their stress. Doctors with no time for prolonged meditation sessions practiced pausing an instant before entering an exam room. In that pause, they simply felt both feet on the floor and took one conscious breath. The result of incorporating this tiny stop into their day was less anxiety, less depression and less burnout.

The Alexander Technique version “Two Feet One Breath” might include a constructive thought like, “Let my neck be free. Let my head float up. Let my spine lengthen…” But the genius of “Two Feet One Breath” is simplicity. Simply stopping, even without constructive thinking, puts the breaks on stress. And that’s important!

Soft Shoulder

Elyse Shafarman

A good reminder from the State of California

Pause on Market St: A Living Innovation Zone.

photo(33)Here: take a moment.

This space is an experiment.
A disruption in the everyday stream,
a place for something unexpected to happen.

So, step out of the rush.
Mess around a bit,
follow an impulse,
get your hands
and body going.

See what you make of this space.