Alexander Technique
12/10/08 08:23 Filed in: Alexander Technique
When learning Alexander Technique with Patrick Macdonald in London for three years, we learned that to optimize our posture and use of the "self". To do so, I learned to allow my neck to be free, my head to gently nod forward a bit, and to extend the spine upward, the back to lengthen and widen.
However, in practice, as soon as I thought of my head going upward, I forgot about my neck being free and it again tightened up.
The habit of tightening the back of the neck prior to any activity (answering the phone, reaching with the hand, standing up - everything!) is nearly ubiquitous in the human race. As evidenced in the startle reflex, humans pull their head back as if in fear... and for some reason do so before every other movement. Watch people carefully. Before beginning to move, they subtly or grossly tighten the back of their neck, pulling the head back upon the spine. Standing up is an excellent example to observe. What do humans do when they decide to stand? They through their torso forward and down toward the floor. They pull their head way back on their spine. Now with the whole upper body hurdling downward, they jam their feet down and push their hips upward. Their poor spine is like an accordion, moving downward from above and upward from below. To stand, people throw themselves downward toward the floor. When you think about it, it's absolutely crazy.
Backs are strong. They can stand this kind of abuse for 40 or 50 years before major injury and chronic back pain begins. Statistics: One half of people over 50 have recurrent back pain.
Background: A few million years ago, humans stood up on the hind legs. This caused and continues to cause all sorts of problems. The hips of altered, making child-bearing much harder for human females than for animals. The muscles in the back of the neck have weakened, making us more prone to whiplash-type injuries. Another problem is that unlike animals, humans have no inbuilt instinctual patterns of correct use of the vehicle. While on four legs, the head is out front and leads the body into motion. If something happens in the distance to an animal's left, the animal's head extends forward and rotates toward the left to sense what is happening. Then if the animal decides to go in that direction, the natural first step is with the right foreleg, following the direction of the motion of the head.
Humans stand up so their heads are no longer out in front of a horizontal spinal column. So what part of the human anatomy ought to lead the body into motion? Many people lead with their hips, "trucking" and thinking that they look really cool.
Optimal posture and use in the human vehicle requires that one inhibits the habitual pattern of tightening the neck (stopping before going into action), giving directions for proper use ("let the neck be free, the head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen") and continuing to focus upon this "means whereby" while going into action. This is much like Krishna's admonition to Arjuna to focus upon what he is doing and thereby do it will without thinking about the results of his activities. This is the secret of karma yoga: To avoid "end gaining" and stay in the present time, doing what you have to do well with full attention.
I could go much further into the dynamics of optimal human locomotion (a favorite topic), but for our point here I need only say that a few million years is not a long enough evolutionary time to develop instinctual patterns of optimal use of the body.
Since we don't have it built in like the animals do, for humans to develop patterns of optimal use requires intelligent self-direction. So, now armed with the requisite background, back to the issue at hand: the paradox of sequence and simultaneous presence.
When the Alexander Technique student goes for lessons, s/he is given a homework project of non-doing. S/he is to lie on the back on the floor with an adequately high stack of books under the head so that the palpable portion of the upper vertebrae of the neck are slightly higher off or the floor than the lower cervical vertebrae. The teacher will feel the back of your neck and recommend how much elevation you will need - typically 1/2 to 5 inches (for those with a thick, round torso and back, more elevation is required. The knees are bent, bringing the feet flat upon the floor near the bottom. The elbows are placed wide apart and the palms of the hands upon the front of the hips. This is called "The position of creative rest". The student is to lie like this at least five minutes per day (more is better). The body is totally passive. You are not to "do" anything. Mentally, you are to repeat to yourself, "Let the neck be free, the head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen." Since you are lying horizontally, the direction of the head is actually "forward toward the ceiling and away from the body".
During the lesson, the teacher will have the student assume this position and give him/herself the "directions". The teacher will ask if the student's neck is free. The student will assure the teacher that this is so. The teacher will then gently lift the head and low and behold, the neck comes up in one piece, stiff and fixed to the head by muscular tension. The habit of holding the neck tight is so constant that we do it even while lying down and trying to relax! This awareness is frustrating! Why do we do this?
In short, we do it because when upright (sitting or standing), most every human always has their head out in front of the line of gravity through their body. As a result, we have to hold the muscles in the back of our necks tight or our head will fall down upon our chest. This results in the head being pulled back upon the top of the spine.
Then when we are told to improve our posture "Stand straight!", we pull our head even further back, making the situation even worse (increased pressure upon the intervertebral discs). Principle: When something is wrong and you directly try to change it to make it better, it usually gets worse. Without first stopping that which is wrong, attempting to correct any behavior just adds even more tension to an already tight system.
Shakespeare said, "The fool who continues with his folly shall become wise." In this context, I interpret this to mean that you must observe yourself without any effort to change what you observe for awhile before any true improvement becomes possible. Trying to change without really knowing what you are doing in the first place, and then stopping it, always fails.
So how can you learn to let your neck be free? Practicing the "apprentice piece" of Alexander Technique by assuming the position of creative rest and giving yourself the directions. With feedback from your teacher, you learn to experience that can let your neck be free when you decide to and give this direction. However, as soon as you think of anything else (such as allowing your head to move forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen), the neck immediately becomes again tight. You can give the directions sequentially, but the first is lost as soon as the second begins. Mastery of the "apprentice piece" involves learning the continue to think "neck free" while thinking "head forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen". This is made less difficult by being in a horizontal state of "non-doing".
Here is the challenge for the student: To continue to think "Neck free" WHILE giving further directions. This is the apprentice piece of the Alexander student. My teacher summed up the correct giving of directions like this: You must give yourself the directions "one after another, all at once". This is our paradox of numbers that are a sequence but also all exist simultaneously. This is the same paradox of the spheres of the Tree of Life that come into existence in a sequence that is also simultaneous.
The "master piece" of the Alexander Technique student it to continue to allow your neck to be free while directing your head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen WHILE going about the activities of your daily life. This change of posture and use will have wide-ranging positive results on all levels (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual). Subjectively, it feels like a heavy overcoat, that you have been wearing all of your life without knowing it, had been finally taken off. There is lightness and grace in motion. You don't tighten any muscle any more than is minimally required for the activity in which you are involved. It is the ultimate way to be lazy.
By learning to observe your behavior without attempting to change it, your self-awareness increases dramatically. By learning to stop undesired behavior, the chance for positive change opens up to you. By focussing continuously upon the "means whereby", and ignoring the end result, you can eventually initiate truly new behavior. These principles can be effectively applied to all aspects of life.
If you will provide your body with the nutrients it needs plus the detoxification it needs... and direct it as learned in Alexander Technique, most of the typical ailments assailing humanity will not arise at all. And you will be able to guide your ship of destiny to your chosen goals.
--Dr. Robert Frost
However, in practice, as soon as I thought of my head going upward, I forgot about my neck being free and it again tightened up.
The habit of tightening the back of the neck prior to any activity (answering the phone, reaching with the hand, standing up - everything!) is nearly ubiquitous in the human race. As evidenced in the startle reflex, humans pull their head back as if in fear... and for some reason do so before every other movement. Watch people carefully. Before beginning to move, they subtly or grossly tighten the back of their neck, pulling the head back upon the spine. Standing up is an excellent example to observe. What do humans do when they decide to stand? They through their torso forward and down toward the floor. They pull their head way back on their spine. Now with the whole upper body hurdling downward, they jam their feet down and push their hips upward. Their poor spine is like an accordion, moving downward from above and upward from below. To stand, people throw themselves downward toward the floor. When you think about it, it's absolutely crazy.
Backs are strong. They can stand this kind of abuse for 40 or 50 years before major injury and chronic back pain begins. Statistics: One half of people over 50 have recurrent back pain.
Background: A few million years ago, humans stood up on the hind legs. This caused and continues to cause all sorts of problems. The hips of altered, making child-bearing much harder for human females than for animals. The muscles in the back of the neck have weakened, making us more prone to whiplash-type injuries. Another problem is that unlike animals, humans have no inbuilt instinctual patterns of correct use of the vehicle. While on four legs, the head is out front and leads the body into motion. If something happens in the distance to an animal's left, the animal's head extends forward and rotates toward the left to sense what is happening. Then if the animal decides to go in that direction, the natural first step is with the right foreleg, following the direction of the motion of the head.
Humans stand up so their heads are no longer out in front of a horizontal spinal column. So what part of the human anatomy ought to lead the body into motion? Many people lead with their hips, "trucking" and thinking that they look really cool.
Optimal posture and use in the human vehicle requires that one inhibits the habitual pattern of tightening the neck (stopping before going into action), giving directions for proper use ("let the neck be free, the head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen") and continuing to focus upon this "means whereby" while going into action. This is much like Krishna's admonition to Arjuna to focus upon what he is doing and thereby do it will without thinking about the results of his activities. This is the secret of karma yoga: To avoid "end gaining" and stay in the present time, doing what you have to do well with full attention.
I could go much further into the dynamics of optimal human locomotion (a favorite topic), but for our point here I need only say that a few million years is not a long enough evolutionary time to develop instinctual patterns of optimal use of the body.
Since we don't have it built in like the animals do, for humans to develop patterns of optimal use requires intelligent self-direction. So, now armed with the requisite background, back to the issue at hand: the paradox of sequence and simultaneous presence.
When the Alexander Technique student goes for lessons, s/he is given a homework project of non-doing. S/he is to lie on the back on the floor with an adequately high stack of books under the head so that the palpable portion of the upper vertebrae of the neck are slightly higher off or the floor than the lower cervical vertebrae. The teacher will feel the back of your neck and recommend how much elevation you will need - typically 1/2 to 5 inches (for those with a thick, round torso and back, more elevation is required. The knees are bent, bringing the feet flat upon the floor near the bottom. The elbows are placed wide apart and the palms of the hands upon the front of the hips. This is called "The position of creative rest". The student is to lie like this at least five minutes per day (more is better). The body is totally passive. You are not to "do" anything. Mentally, you are to repeat to yourself, "Let the neck be free, the head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen." Since you are lying horizontally, the direction of the head is actually "forward toward the ceiling and away from the body".
During the lesson, the teacher will have the student assume this position and give him/herself the "directions". The teacher will ask if the student's neck is free. The student will assure the teacher that this is so. The teacher will then gently lift the head and low and behold, the neck comes up in one piece, stiff and fixed to the head by muscular tension. The habit of holding the neck tight is so constant that we do it even while lying down and trying to relax! This awareness is frustrating! Why do we do this?
In short, we do it because when upright (sitting or standing), most every human always has their head out in front of the line of gravity through their body. As a result, we have to hold the muscles in the back of our necks tight or our head will fall down upon our chest. This results in the head being pulled back upon the top of the spine.
Then when we are told to improve our posture "Stand straight!", we pull our head even further back, making the situation even worse (increased pressure upon the intervertebral discs). Principle: When something is wrong and you directly try to change it to make it better, it usually gets worse. Without first stopping that which is wrong, attempting to correct any behavior just adds even more tension to an already tight system.
Shakespeare said, "The fool who continues with his folly shall become wise." In this context, I interpret this to mean that you must observe yourself without any effort to change what you observe for awhile before any true improvement becomes possible. Trying to change without really knowing what you are doing in the first place, and then stopping it, always fails.
So how can you learn to let your neck be free? Practicing the "apprentice piece" of Alexander Technique by assuming the position of creative rest and giving yourself the directions. With feedback from your teacher, you learn to experience that can let your neck be free when you decide to and give this direction. However, as soon as you think of anything else (such as allowing your head to move forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen), the neck immediately becomes again tight. You can give the directions sequentially, but the first is lost as soon as the second begins. Mastery of the "apprentice piece" involves learning the continue to think "neck free" while thinking "head forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen". This is made less difficult by being in a horizontal state of "non-doing".
Here is the challenge for the student: To continue to think "Neck free" WHILE giving further directions. This is the apprentice piece of the Alexander student. My teacher summed up the correct giving of directions like this: You must give yourself the directions "one after another, all at once". This is our paradox of numbers that are a sequence but also all exist simultaneously. This is the same paradox of the spheres of the Tree of Life that come into existence in a sequence that is also simultaneous.
The "master piece" of the Alexander Technique student it to continue to allow your neck to be free while directing your head to go forward and up, the back to lengthen and widen WHILE going about the activities of your daily life. This change of posture and use will have wide-ranging positive results on all levels (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual). Subjectively, it feels like a heavy overcoat, that you have been wearing all of your life without knowing it, had been finally taken off. There is lightness and grace in motion. You don't tighten any muscle any more than is minimally required for the activity in which you are involved. It is the ultimate way to be lazy.
By learning to observe your behavior without attempting to change it, your self-awareness increases dramatically. By learning to stop undesired behavior, the chance for positive change opens up to you. By focussing continuously upon the "means whereby", and ignoring the end result, you can eventually initiate truly new behavior. These principles can be effectively applied to all aspects of life.
If you will provide your body with the nutrients it needs plus the detoxification it needs... and direct it as learned in Alexander Technique, most of the typical ailments assailing humanity will not arise at all. And you will be able to guide your ship of destiny to your chosen goals.
--Dr. Robert Frost