I've been thinking a lot about the Alexander Technique. That makes sense since I'm about to start my second year of teacher training in the Interactive Teaching Method. I have a big exam coming up and it's almost embarrassing how much I've been studying for it. And enjoying studying for it. I've obviously got a real passion for this work. I just never know how the hell to tell people why I love it so much!
I have rheumatoid arthritis. I was pretty badly broken for a while there. I pulled myself together to a great extent, but was left with a whole lot of pain and stiffness that seemed to have nothing to do with inflammation. That is a massive topic on its own, but in my search for things other that might be helpful, the Alexander Technique was once more nudged into my thoughts. I'd avoided it for years because I thought I was going to be told to sit up straight and never slouch. I was so wrong!
I started having lessons in 2010 and went to two residential ITM Summer Workshops before joining the ITM Teacher Training course in September 2012. These are some of the things I could say, given my current level of understanding, about what the work has done for me and why I love it:
By developing an understanding of how our thinking drives and creates our movements, we also develop skills and tools of thinking that can be used to choose the paths we take through life. Sounding a bit too esoteric?
I'd developed the typical Rheumatoid Robot way of walking and moving. In almost everything I did, my overriding thought had been, "Protect! Don't move! Protect, protect, protect!" I'd turned my entire muscular system into a sort of exoskeleton. Pain will make you do these crazy things. These choices do have their place. But what about when these strategies are no longer needed? What if you're stuck being stuck? Using what I've been learning through the Alexander Technique I've gradually been able to stop so much of that. It hasn't been easy, but it's been completely worth it.
I came to the work with a medical problem, looking for help. I've learned to separate out my understanding of what is disease and what is my reaction to the disease. The Alexander Technique doesn't treat disease. It doesn't manage pain. But it's perfect for helping you to stop doing things that make your life harder, things that you may not even know you're doing. That's why people choose it to help with their singing, or golf swing, or playing a musical instrument―just about anything.
Take some possible goals or intentions that I might have in mind during a day: to walk, protect against pain, act like an arse, sing, play the guitar, pick up a cat, start a business, fly to the moon... If I don't let the very idea of my goal launch me hell-bent, directly at it, then I can choose not to do it or I can make a plan about how to do it. If I have a plan, I have a much better chance of improving the outcome. If I actually follow the plan, a step at a time, I have an even better chance. This works whether you're trying to change something you've always done a certain way, or if you're trying for something completely new. It's all about the thinking. The ideas. The plan.
My life is improving. I'm improving it. That's all part of the plan.
I have rheumatoid arthritis. I was pretty badly broken for a while there. I pulled myself together to a great extent, but was left with a whole lot of pain and stiffness that seemed to have nothing to do with inflammation. That is a massive topic on its own, but in my search for things other that might be helpful, the Alexander Technique was once more nudged into my thoughts. I'd avoided it for years because I thought I was going to be told to sit up straight and never slouch. I was so wrong!
I started having lessons in 2010 and went to two residential ITM Summer Workshops before joining the ITM Teacher Training course in September 2012. These are some of the things I could say, given my current level of understanding, about what the work has done for me and why I love it:
- It's changed my life. ----Yeah? So what. Halitosis can change your life.
- I'm becoming unstuck, no longer waiting for something to happen in my life so things could get better. ----Have you been paying too much attention to all that motivational shit people post on Facebook?
- I move more easily, with more freedom and less pain. ----So it's a sort of physical therapy, then? No. Not at all.
- The distant goals that always seemed too hard to reach are now becoming less distant and more certain. ----What's that got to do with...? Oh, never mind.
- Upon seeing my best mate's dad for the first time in a year he said, "You're looking well! You're walking well! You're looking younger!" ----Okay, THAT'S cool.
- I'm a better person. Less of an arse. ----Well that's definitely a good thing. You really were a bit of an arse.
- I'm happier. ----Umm. Where have you stashed Kath?
- I'm ----STOP! I'm confused. I thought the Alexander Technique was about posture? Or breathing or something? And what has moving with more ease got to do with being less of an arse?
By developing an understanding of how our thinking drives and creates our movements, we also develop skills and tools of thinking that can be used to choose the paths we take through life. Sounding a bit too esoteric?
I'd developed the typical Rheumatoid Robot way of walking and moving. In almost everything I did, my overriding thought had been, "Protect! Don't move! Protect, protect, protect!" I'd turned my entire muscular system into a sort of exoskeleton. Pain will make you do these crazy things. These choices do have their place. But what about when these strategies are no longer needed? What if you're stuck being stuck? Using what I've been learning through the Alexander Technique I've gradually been able to stop so much of that. It hasn't been easy, but it's been completely worth it.
I came to the work with a medical problem, looking for help. I've learned to separate out my understanding of what is disease and what is my reaction to the disease. The Alexander Technique doesn't treat disease. It doesn't manage pain. But it's perfect for helping you to stop doing things that make your life harder, things that you may not even know you're doing. That's why people choose it to help with their singing, or golf swing, or playing a musical instrument―just about anything.
Take some possible goals or intentions that I might have in mind during a day: to walk, protect against pain, act like an arse, sing, play the guitar, pick up a cat, start a business, fly to the moon... If I don't let the very idea of my goal launch me hell-bent, directly at it, then I can choose not to do it or I can make a plan about how to do it. If I have a plan, I have a much better chance of improving the outcome. If I actually follow the plan, a step at a time, I have an even better chance. This works whether you're trying to change something you've always done a certain way, or if you're trying for something completely new. It's all about the thinking. The ideas. The plan.
My life is improving. I'm improving it. That's all part of the plan.