by Freedom in Action | Sep 18, 2018 | Articles
We all know about the desirability of relaxation, flexibility, good posture and the absence of tension. Despite our best intentions, despite relaxation classes, fitness classes and Eastern disciplines, despite stretching exercises, posture exercises, taping and Californian know-how, we’re still tense and uncomfortable in our bodies, with aching backs, sore necks, stiff shoulders, injuries and named conditions. What information are we lacking?
There is no shortage of advice and injunctions.
We all know about the desirability of relaxation, flexibility, good posture and the absence of tension.
Yet by the end of the day your shoulders ache, or perhaps it’s your neck or your lower back. You’ve tried to improve your posture. You’ve done various exercises, stretches, treatments. They work, up to a point. Your approach is palliative, a management strategy. Things are OK most of the time, but occasional periods of more pain, or a real “back attack” get you. You see your therapist of choice, the pain mostly goes away, until next time. Perhaps you feel you are “just getting older”; some activities are a little circumscribed, perhaps knees are giving a bit of trouble, or your flexibility is decreasing.
Or else you’ve had a diagnosis of something actually “wrong” – scoliosis perhaps, or part of your spine is “too straight”, or else you have osteophytes, or disc degeneration. You have been told that “nothing can be done, you’ll just have to live with it”. Maybe you have a special exercise or stretching routine that keeps the symptoms under control, but you know you might be in trouble if you miss a day or two.
Despite our best intentions, despite relaxation classes, fitness classes and Eastern disciplines, despite stretching exercises, posture exercises, taping and Californian know-how, we’re still tense and uncomfortable in our bodies, with aching backs, sore necks, stiff shoulders, injuries and named conditions. Diagnosis of a named condition can also give the impression of permanence, so that one does not look further for a solution, not learning to exercise the choices that can make a big difference.
What information are we missing?
It should not have to be this way! If it’s aging, the passage of time, why doesn’t everyone over a certain age have these problems? And why do some very young people, in their 20’s and teens even, have these problems? Why do some of us recover more fully from accidents than others? Why do some of us remain fit and active far longer than others? What makes the difference between those who breeze comfortably through life, and those who seem to suffer successive aches, pains and injuries?
“Everyone wants to be right, but no one stops to consider if their idea of right is right” FMA
We don’t even know it is there.
The hidden part, the unseen portion of the problem, is that many of us get stuck at some point in a certain level of tension, or fixity, or distortion, or holding, which becomes built in to our habitual way of being. We become accustomed to “typist’s hunch”, “jogger’s slump”, “mother’s hip”, “driver’s neck”, “student’s shoulder” and the like. Because it is there all the time, our own individual holding pattern simply slips below the level of our conscious awareness.
Our own personal pattern
of “use” can levy a hidden strain, lowering performance and predisposing us to injury and back pain. Yet we remain unconscious of the fact that the pain we are in may be a cumulative result of strains we are inadvertently imposing on ourselves day in, day out.
Our individual movement, holding and postural patterns, comprising our way of applying ourselves across all our activities, may encompass compensatory mal-adaptations to earlier injuries or on-going adjustments that generate further strain and injury.
Our personal pattern.
Our personal pattern, for better or worse, comprises the matrix out of which all our actions are performed; exercise, relaxation, work, leisure. It is precisely in unravelling these patterns that the Alexander Technique of neuromuscular re-education sheds light and may be invaluable.
In other words, it’s the things that we don’t know that we are doing, that may be at the root of back or neck pain.
How are you “wearing” yourself?
Aches, pains and even degeneration may be symptoms of a hidden problem. Until the “conditions of use”, ie the individual’s habitual holding pattern or way of “wearing” themselves, has been adequately assessed, the diagnosis has only been partial. If there is an undiagnosed pattern of movement which involves, for example, unremitting pressure through the lower back, then until that pressure-producing habit is changed, the results of the pressure (ie pain) will continue.
Pain may start to dissipate.
An Alexander Technique teacher is highly trained to recognise poor habits of “use”, assessing where and how a person is introducing unnecessary strain into their way of being. The Alexander Technique teacher brings to your attention things you are doing that you are unaware of. That is, (s)he helps you to extend your choice in the way that you move, act and react. ….You learn a new way of moving; sitting, standing, applying yourself across the range of your activities with less strain, less effort and less energy. You begin to feel lighter and freer as old habits are unlearned. Pain, even of many years’ standing, may start to dissipate.
Whatever our situation, we can learn to minimise strain, and work with ourselves, rather than mechanically performing mindless exercises, stretches or forcing “right” positions, and ultimately fighting what is perfectly natural, comfortable, strain-free and sustainable.
© M Stenning, Canberra 2002
by Michael Stenning | Sep 12, 2018 | Teacher Resources, Tips
Last time we talked about the quality of your attention and asked, “Have you ever noticed the 2 typical modes in the way we use our attention?” In the one mode, discussed last time, we tend to be heavily and exclusively focused on a particular task, often to the exclusion of all else. The other extreme is when we “mind wander”. Our attention is definitely not “on the job” and we are operating on auto-pilot. An example: You decide to swing by the shops on the way home to get some milk, but then find that you are pulling up at home having followed the usual (habitual) route and having not visited the shops. This exemplifies a sort of “absence” of self, you are not really in the “driver’s seat” but rather operating out of blind habit. This may work, as long as nothing out of the usual crops up, but it is not really conscious or awake.
This is often how we perform many habitual activities, eg how we sit at work, or in the car, or how we respond in a particular situation. It becomes completely automatic, and curiously, it has a corresponding physical correlate. Your body becomes “heavy”, “dead”, un-responsive. (Again, this scenario, repeated day in and day out for years has an effect on the postures that become fixed into our way of being as we age).
Rather than this lack of focus, we want to cultivate a light, active, diffuse field of attention which is more inclusive (of our environment as well as ourselves), in which we are interested in information around us. This allows us to be more present in ourselves as well as in what we are engaged in. Eg Rather than either your field of awareness shrinking to the size of the screen in front of you, or else just drifting on auto-pilot, take an active but non-doing interest in the space around you, and the physical contact you are making with the chair. You can cultivate this much more useful, responsive and awake quality of attention.
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by Freedom in Action | Sep 12, 2018 | Tips
Something we do not generally give much attention to (nor should we have to) is our breathing. Yet years of slumping or tension create restrictions in this most vital of functions. Your breathing reflects your habitual posture. Breathing regimes which don’t take this into account do not address how we breathe when we are not thinking about it (which is most of the time!).
It is interesting to reflect that the Alexander Technique began with one man’s breathing problem. Initially he described his work as “respiratory re-education”.
When we slump or hold ourselves with excess tension or both (it is possible!), the ribs cannot move naturally or in coordination with the diaphragm. In allowing the back’s natural length without effort, we simultaneously provide the conditions in which the ribs and diaphragm can move easily and be responsive to the demands we place eg being vigorous vs sedentary. Ideally we work towards the conditions of natural springy length as our way of being. A simple way of supporting this and helping to free the breath is to practice “active rest”, otherwise known as semi-supine.
Lie on your back on a firm surface (eg a carpeted floor) with your head supported so that it is not falling backwards and with your knees raised. This already places a very gentle stretch on your back. Just lie there, with the intent to be as quiet muscularly as possible. Gradually, you may reduce muscular excess while allowing your back to lengthen and to fan out. Don’t be in a hurry, but do be consistent! (I.e. daily) As you allow length and breadth, everything involved in moving air in and out can operate with progressively less interference.
by Freedom in Action | Sep 12, 2018 | Tips
Semisupine – the formal daily practice of Semisupine is something we recommend as time dedicated to being still (ideally 15 – 20 mins daily), yet wide awake, attentive, and engaged in schooling your intent. There are a couple of times of day when you can very constructively extend this : when you first get into bed before going to sleep, and when you wake up but before getting out of bed. When you go to bed, lie on your back, head on pillow, knees raised, and give yourself a moment to come to neutral, and then review your directions – your intent to allow a free neck so that your whole torso can lengthen and fill out. This way you take a moment to “unkink” before sleeping, perhaps letting go of any disturbing thoughts in the process, and reviewing and recommitting to your intent for length and space as the last thought to take into sleep. On awaking, adopt the same position described above for a moment or two before arising, again setting your general intent for the day (free neck, length and space) and setting yourself on the right track from the first. More
by Freedom in Action | Sep 12, 2018 | Tips
A period of lying down each day should be thought of as an invaluable adjunct to all the attention and constructive thought you can give your use of yourself during the rest of your day. Your most comprehensive guide to Semi-Supine is the “Practising Poise” CD.
Lie on your back, with your knees raised and your head supported so that it is not falling backwards. Your Alexander Teacher can show you your correct support height if you don’t already know. Have your feet slightly more than hip-width apart, and comfortably close to your bottom, so that a minimum of effort is required to keep your knees aimed at the ceiling. Your hands can rest lightly somewhere on your lower chest or abdomen.
There are a number of overlapping reasons for lying down in semi-supine: to facilitate release throughout your musculature, to practice not tightening, to practice constructive thinking, and to practice making a connection between your intent and what you are actually doing….
Although it is best to aim for a “lie” lasting between 10 and 20 minutes, it is better to lie down for even just 5 minutes than not to lie down at all.
Lying down in the knees up/head supported position is a procedure whereby you can practise inhibition and direction (stopping and thinking). However, there are other occasions when it might be a good thing to do. One is if you are experiencing discomfort or pain in your back or neck, as it may have a palliative effect. The other is if you are fatigued. Lying in this position is mechanically a very constructive way of resting, and a short period spent in this way can prove quite reviving.
When you first start to lie down, your mind may be very busy or stimulated by all that you’ve recently been doing and thinking about. This can make it difficult to quietly attend to undoing and giving your directions. In these circumstances it’s worthwhile spending a few minutes just letting yourself quieten down. It may even be useful to have some quiet music to help, or your “Practising Poise” CD.
You are now ready for “Giving directions” – intent without “doing”
Your THINKING makes a difference! Your clearly focussed intent is the most effective tool you have for taking care of yourself.
Quietly run your mind’s eye around the contact that your back has with the floor. Resist any temptation to wriggle or adjust your position.
Instead, see if you can think your way out of any discomfort….
Quietly think your way around your body, giving your directions:
Allow your neck to be free, ie allow the muscles that run primarily up the back of your neck and attach to the back of your head, to soften and unclench and to lengthen; releasing right up into the back of your skull.
Allow your head to release forward and out around the end of your spine; your head hinges at the top of the spine, which is on a line precisely between your earlobes; you can soften around this head/neck articulation in such a way that your head is freer in relation to your neck and back.
Allow your back to lengthen and widen, ie allow the muscles that run along the length of your back to soften and unclench, and allow your back to “fan out” around your abdomen, and also through your shoulders and elbows.
Allow your legs to release out of your back. Invite the muscles that run from your hip-bones to your kneecaps to loosen. Allow your hip-bones (the front of the pelvis) to fall away from your legs, softening across the hip-joints and allowing the pelvis to meld with the rest of your back. Remember that your pelvis belongs to your back, not to your legs.
You are lying down in order to practice thinking, to practice focussing your intent, and to practice making the connections between your intent, ie what you want, and the way you are using yourself. Give time. (You are the only one that can do this!)
If you find that your attention has wandered, quietly bring it back to the contact you have with the floor, and to the business of giving your directions.
In letting go, however, you are not seeking to become floppy, or relaxed, in the conventional sense which often implies collapse. Your bones are still weight-bearing, and the muscular wrapping still needs to maintain a toned, energised state now, no less than when you are active. Your directions can help you energise and activate yourself, and distribute your energy in a strain-free way.
©M Stenning Canberra 1997
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