Técnica Alexander: Honouring The Space Between

Técnica Alexander: Honouring The Space Between

Still taking notes to be added later

I started working at a job from 5pm to 9pm Monday to Friday.
This meant that I had hardly any time and very little energy to keep blogging.
I have though still been taking notes on paper and plan to add them to this blog soon.
I have now finished this job ,it was just too tiring.

Monkey with Nili

Today started with me feeling quite sore again (getting really sick of this)

I laid on the fit ball again for a short while.
Helped again.

I had a turn with Robert (a qualified teacher).
Just one of the nicest and most comfortable people I have ever met.
He gave me a table turn.
I asked him some questions about how to get out of a pain hole.
He suggested that one needs to accept that the pain is there.
The though the projection of primary control allow the pain the dissipate through the whole body.
This does make sense.

We then had a group turn with Nili.
She took us through the monkey posture.
I must admit I have never done the monkey like this before
To start with we ran through the primary directions, then simply dropped in space down only, then stopped and ran through the primary directions again.
Then we moved forward but not from the hips, from the feet really.
We then continued to move down.
We found that unless we really allowed the head and neck to go forward and up then we could not go down much further.
We then did just that, and in fact we actually put the head down (sort of) and we found that we could down down in space very far indeed.
We then did the same experiment with feet wide, then closer and then next to each other.
It was quite amazing.
We learnt that the concept of forward and up is totally in relation to the back and not to space.
I also experienced again the idea of thinking up through my front, this stopped my pulling down that I tend to do.

We then had a group session with David.
We firstly started with putting a 5 kilo bag of sand on our heads to give us some idea of the weight of our heads. This was interesting and showed us how important it is to have correct balance.
We then looked at walking.
I discovered that I tended to pull back in my upper back and that my concept of what is a straight back is actually pulled back back and neck and head.
When I was in a straight position it really felt like I was stooping over.
Interesting.
A good day of learning, but was very tired by the end of it.

Day one with Nili from Isreal

Wow, what a new experience!
Nili has quite a reputation and I think well deserved.

I started the day feeling really crap, tight sore and tired.
Not a good way to start a big day..I have a job interview today also.

I had some own time downstairs to begin with, and I made use of the fit ball again.
This did help.
I had thought of maybe investing in one of these for home, we will see.

I then had a turn with Nili.
I can sum up the experience in 2 words.
"Miles More"
Direct you head forward and up ..miles more.
I must admit I really like this.
Really stretches the thinking. Lifts the lid.
Also "use your imagination" was mentioned.
One thing about Nili's style is that you never wonder about what she wants...I love it.
Also I discovered what up through the front of the body meant. I kept dropping down.
Although still sore, I felt a lot better after this turn.

I then had a group session with Nili.
I was "the student" to 2 more experienced teachers while we waited for Nili to come around.
Once again, "Mile more" was said and I went forward and up miles more. Wow.
I don't think I have ever been so forward and up before. It was really nice.
I felt really spoiled today, I probably had close to 1 hour or more of turns in total.
"Way more" and "escape from my hands" were two new phrases and I think they worked well.
Also the comment was made, to make the student work and not just rely on the teachers hands, I though this was interesting.

We then had a group lesson with Jenny.
This was interesting.
Two students sat across from each other and one placed hands palms up on from of them, while directing of course.
The other student then places their hand on the hands of the other.
The first student then moves the other students hands around.
Jenny very kindly then offered to use part of this lesson to help me get ready for my interview. I was feeling a bit tired so I laid on the table while the other students took my arms and feet and Jenny took my head and neck.
I felt really good to leave for my interview.

btw, it is about 34 degree in Melbourne today....ouch.

A short week.

I started the day feeling quite sore.
I did some work with a fit ball, lying on it on my front and thinking about freeing up my back and shoulders and also my lower back.
Also thinking about breathing into these areas while on the fit ball.
It seemed to force my breathing onto my back, forcing it a little to move, when normally it was fairly tight. Did hurt a bit doing it, but it also helped.

I had a turn with Margaret.(yes you guessed it, another lovely and kind teacher)
She has come from a pain background also so I find a lesson with her quite helpful.
She gave me a table turn and she helped to ease my body quite a bit.

We then had a group session where we practiced a performance we plan to do at the graduation at the end of the year, while teachers put hands on.
This was fun.

We then had the official performance session.
We had ours with Jenny.
I worked on speaking again, and this was interesting.
I noticed and others noticed that I tended to prepare to speak even when the other person had not finished speaking.
I discovered there was also a tendency for me to nod my head etc with a thought to give the speaker the impression that I was listening. There was unnecessary tension associated here also.
I think this speaking in conversation habit will be a tough one to break but I think very worth while.

A tough few days

We have just had a few days off from school over the Melbourne cup weekend.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
We were back at school today Wednesday.

I am sorry to say that I was sore the whole time.
I think maybe the work David did with me on Thursday may have left me in a state of adjustment soreness (if that makes sense)
Although during this time I also did make some interesting discoveries.

I have gained a new appreciation and understanding of "forward and up"
I think had the idea of up but not really an understanding of the idea of forward.
I found this gave me a new sense of release.

Today I had a turn with David.
He managed to get me closer to a better state.
The we had a group session where we got into pairs and played with lifting one foot while standing.
The doing the same while in monkey.

Then we had a yoga session.
I found this excellent and helped to free me up a bit.

Ouch ouch ouch

I have to be honest about today.
I woke up quite sore and aching.
I sometimes find that the pain is one thing, but what is does to my energy and mood and thinking is a whole other game.
When I am in this state, I fall into a state of just wanting relief.

I started today at school with a lesson with David.
I certainly did feel better as usual after and during this lesson.
David mentioned that with tightness or pain in an area it is important to not let yourself be distracted by the particular area you think the pain is in as most likely the are that needs lengthening is elsewhere.
The best thing to do is the think length in the whole back.

Next we had a group lesson with Jenny.
We continued on from last week and worked on going from a position of all fours to using a chair to get up against the wall. Then doing a whispered ah and also directing our arms outwards along the wall. This really was a monkey against the wall.
I felt this was very good more me.

There was then an opportunity to do something individual due to extra turns.
I took this opportunity to have a turn with Michael.
After a good length of time (approx 20 mins) I felt so much better especially a real sense of calmness and clarity in my mind. There was some deep level massaging going on across my whole body. Very profound.

Lastly we had a performance group session with David.
This was the first time I had a performance session with David.
I must say it was very good indeed.
I was doing some speaking (trying to work on my gasping and rushing and running out of air)
He asked me to lay on my front with a blanket along the middle of my body from my pelvis to my shoulders. This stopped my stomach and chest from moving so much in breathing and almost forced my breath into my back. This was very good as I do tend to hold on especially in my upper back/shoulders area.
I felt some serious releasing in this area.

After school today, I feel totally buggered and quite sore in a deep way.
Although hard to see at the time, I think this week (especially today) has been quite a move forward. Pain like this seems to usually come before some extra release.

I meant to put onto the blog yesterday some simple instruction for the whispered ah that Anne (Anatomy Teacher) gave us. Here they are:
Breath in nose (don't force it in)
Allow jaw to drop open and open mouth
tone the soft pallate (best achieved by thinking of something funny)
While breathing out , think of the whole torso being involved in the activity.
Do this a few times in a row.