Your body and mind on holiday

Most of us can let go and relax once the presents are opened Christmas dinner eaten. “You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares”.

So true, but it does give an opportunity to observe and reflect on our daily habits. Here are some ideas.

Mindfulness
Observing our mental and physical habits is not demanding, so I encourage you to give it a go. Just don’t try to change lifetime patterns at once.

Habits
You will no doubt identify habits that are not useful. Don’t rush to change by moving position – start by simply asking for less tension, length or freedom. That’s how you will get the mind and the body working together.

Alexander Technique specialises in creating new habits that will serve you well over a lifetime. You can find more about this in my earlier blog posts.

Let’s discuss this again in the New Year. I also look forward to face-to-face explorations with those of you planning to come for lessons.

Arms
Think about release right to your fingertips.
Try it while preparing food, driving, reading, typing at a keyboard, or just lounging back.
Ask yourself where is it tight, and where might release come from?

Legs
Think about release to the toes.
Does it help if your feet are evenly placed on the floor?
Which leg is taking most weight?
Again, ask yourself where is it tight, and where might release come from?

Resting the back is great for desk-bound people

Challenge yourself by lying for a few minutes on the floor in “constructive rest” position. It will relieve back and neck strain from sitting at a desk for too long. You will become aware of areas that tense up.

Do it frequently

I can recommend semi-supine, also known as constructive rest, at least daily. Sometimes I do it for 5 minutes, sometimes 20. I am amazed by the different things I learn each time. As I recovered from a minor operation recently, it helped put me in tune with my body.

Lying there

You lie with your head on a few books, knees up off the floor and hip width apart, feet pointing straight out, and hands loose on your tummy. This all contributes to opening up your body. Change things if you are not comfortable. Book height should allow front and back of your neck to be free.

Raising the head on books encourages a very slight lengthening of the neck. Having knees up flattens out the curve in the lower back. Placing hands softly on your tummy allows the shoulders to open. In this position, the deep postural muscles of the back can resume their proper supporting role; the large superficial back muscles can let go.

Most of us have lost the ability to lie as freely as this child.

So use books and place hands on the tummy.

Image: Maryna Pleshkun/shutterstock

Getting onto and off the floor - principles are important

Detailed instructions are given in many books, and on-line guides. If these confuse you, remember key principles of Alexander Technique – the head should lead the body in and out of the position; and allow the neck to be free.

What to do once in semi-supine

For at least some time, have your eyes open and restful but not fixed. Try and remain alert without moving – if cats can do it, so can we (says Elizabeth Langford).

Observe your body. Think about possible changes, rather than ‘doing’ them.

-          your breathing

-          the points of contact with the floor

-          areas of tightness

-          differences between the left and right side - arms, legs and torso

-          where your joints are – check in an anatomy book or on-line - and how released or tight they feel

Benefits supreme

There are many benefits from regular use of semi-supine. I have grouped them into four categories.

1.       Frequent practice will bring more rapid release of unnecessary muscular tension.

2.       If you remain mentally alert, instead of falling asleep, you will freshen up, and be ready for activity again. Your mind can quieten. If you listen to music, you can still focus in repeatedly on what is happening.

3.       It gives you a great reference point for daily activities. In standing or sitting, our bodies are constantly rebalancing to stay upright. Most of us subtly over-use some muscles and under-use others. You begin to notice something different each time – a release across the shoulders, tension in one leg, a soreness across the lower back.

4.       Our breathing and voice can benefit. The rib cage muscles release, along with the back muscles, because they are connected to the spine. Release in the neck and jaw can free the voice.

5.       Should you take Alexander Technique lessons, semi-supine reinforces what you learn – an increasing ability to identify habits and associated tension, inhibit those habits, and give yourself alternative ways of doing daily tasks.

What about lying the other way up – in prone position?

Yes, this is valuable for achieving much the same benefits. Missy Vineyard gives detailed instructions, and argues that it has some advantages over semi-supine. I have been trying 5 minutes in semi-supine and then 5 minutes in prone.

Barbara Conable argues that humans are designed for short bursts of activity, with periods of rest in between. So she recommends at least five minutes of semi-supine several times each day. But do try longer sometimes, perhaps 15 – 20 minutes. Sometimes it takes this long for me to really feel much release.
 

These people just couldn't wait till they got home

 

 

Caveat

This information is not a substitute for the advice of a teacher of Alexander Technique, which will be tailored to your needs. If you have a medical condition, talk to your medical practitioner first before attempting it.

References

Here are some of the books I used in compiling this blog. It is interesting to read the many ways in which semi-supine is described. I have copies of the first book for sale, and can possibly get others for you.

·         Karen Chapman and Kate Morris (2010) Yoga and the Alexander Technique. (Self-published) Karen Chapman, Albion Queensland. pp.36-40. A great introduction to semi-supine, with useful instructions and an outline of the benefits.

·         Barbara and William Conable (1995) How to learn the Alexander Technique : A Manual for Students 3^rd Edn. Andover Press, Portland, USA. p.113.

·         Pedro de Alcantara (1999) The Alexander Technique : A Skill for Life. Ramsbury, UK. pp. 47-8. He makes it seem very easy and worth doing, and even talks about being able to make phone calls and read while in the position (of course, once you have mastered it!)

·         Jane Heinrich (2005) Voice and the Alexander Technique : Active Explorations for Speaking and Singing. Mornum Time Press, Berkeley, USA. Pp.49-51,80-85. Heinrich includes exercises for voice while lying in semi-supine.

·         Elizabeth Langford (2008) Mind and Muscle: An Owner’s Handbook. 2^nd Edn. Garant, Antwerpen Belgium. pp.195-9. She gives a very cogent explanation of how the position can help undo the awkward things we may have asked our bodies to do during the day. The lengthy steps to getting in and out of the position need to be tempered by her advice to do this quickly and naturally.

·         Missy Vineyard (2007) How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live : Learning the Alexander Technique. Da Capo Press, Philadelphia, USA. pp.41-48. An innovative look at both semi-supine position, and its opposite, lying in prone position – both means of releasing the back.



My big floppy feet

Some of us are carried into adulthood by big floppy feet that became part of us as teenagers. Alexander Technique continues to change my walking habits.

Distinctive walking styles

Look around, and you will see that everyone walks a little differently. Even though her eyesight is very poor, my mother can pick me out from quite a distance away. My feet splay out, while the knees tend to come together. I also bounce along. Wearing thongs, my heels tend to fall off the inside edges.

Recent advice

At an international meeting of Alexander teachers in Germany, I recently had a lesson with Glenn Swift, a teacher from Western Australia who also teaches internationally.

After observing me for a few minutes, Glenn suggested that I change my thinking about my feet in a subtle, but very effective, way. He realised that my thinking centred on bringing the feet inwards so the toes aligned with the knees. He proposed instead that I think about how taking the heels further apart might change the alignment. As we discussed this, Glenn used gentle hands to guide me in and out of the chair. Immediately, I knew we’d made a big break-through – I noticed that my lower back was widening rather than narrowing.

The feet move with the rest of us

Glenn was the person who a year earlier had encouraged me to work with Alexander’s full set of directions – allow the neck to be free, in such a way that the head moves forward and up, and in such a way that the back can lengthen and widen. I find it very useful to occasionally work with these directions, and remind myself that the directions are thoughts, not physical actions.

Here are some additional pointers that I have found useful, especially when standing or sitting :

·         Allow release at the hips and ankles

·         Knees move forward when standing, so the thighs don’t tense

·         Knees move over the feet, not inwards

·         Think about softening in front of the ankles

These are suggestions to play around with. Seek medical advice before trying them if you have pain, and ask an Alexander Teacher for lessons.

Why the hip joint matters when sitting

It helps to know where your hip joints are – in order to sit well and avoid pain.

How a fellow traveller described his problem

In Vietnam, a traveller we met talked about recurrent pain in his lower back. He attributed this to years of training for competitive snow-boarding – a sport in which one leg is consistently placed in front of the other on the narrow board. His muscular development around the pelvis was consequently distorted.

What I saw

He and I were together only briefly– we shared a meal together.

I was struck by how he sat. His lower back was rounded, and it was as though his legs were about to fall off the front of the chair – the typical slouch of the teenager.
In anatomical terms, his pelvis was tilted acutely forward - taking the hip joints with it. This position was placing enormous strain on his lower back muscles, and over time this would have repercussions for the entire muscular-skeletal system.

My tentative suggestion

I pointed to where his hip joints really are - closer to the bottom of the pelvis than to the crest, and about a hand-width apart.

Then, with a gentle hand on his back, I asked him to try pivoting forward and back from these joints. He could do this quite easily, especially if he thought of leading the movement with the head.

I believe that he learnt something important from our few minutes of conversation.

Qualification

This blog is about the usefulness of body mapping and applying the principles of Alexander Technique. Alexander teachers are not trained to diagnose or cure medical conditions.