Alexander Reminders Arising Out of Trees

We were learning a new part of a form in Qi Gong class this morning, one where one of the hands moves across the body around the waist and then the alternate hand does this.  Some of us in the class were leaning over, perhaps unaware or perhaps helping the hand doing the movement.  Master Li pointed this out and then I heard the birds.  The trees were so tall in the area we were in and as the birds sang out I spontaneously rose up to hear them better.  As the class went on I let me ears lead me forward and up.  I smiled at yet another reminder from nature about this important aspect of movement delineated by FM Alexander.

As the class progressed the birds continued to remind me to think "up" as I learned these new moves.  To be wide and open, to listen to Master Li's verbal instruction, but to also learn from the graceful way in which he moves.  Unfortunately a recently discovered hernia began to garner my attention and soon I sat out the rest of the class, focusing my energy on this area with hope that it may heal.  As I type I hear the birds singing their nightly lullabies and am again reminded to be forward and up, long and wide.  Be free, be open and sing. Ever grateful for the reminders however they arise.

Photo by Noel Pennington

Are You Choosing Your Thoughts With Care?

Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. 

 William James

Of course this presupposes that I am aware of their thoughts.  My intention is to know when I am opening my guitar case.  This knowing requires awareness of the moment and my actions, which for me means I find my breath.  As I follow the breath, the thoughts begin to slow.  As they slow I then introduce new thoughts.  These thoughts frequently fall under the category of Alexander Technique Directions, which introduces an ease and freedom into movement.

By introducing freedom into my movements, less stress accumulates in my system, allowing greater expressiveness and less opportunity for injury.  Particularly the class of injuries known as repetitive use injuries which plague many musicians.  Amazing that simple thoughts can be a form of preventive medicine and these same simple thoughts can make one a better musician. 


Most of us have a poor understanding of how to use our bodies to get out of a chair, much less to have an effective understanding of performing a skilled task.  These simple thoughts that begin to lead us to freedom via the Alexander Technique take time, and may be just about impossible without the assistance of a teacher.  But then life is too short to try to do everything myself, so I accept I need help.  So choose your thoughts with care and learn how to take better care of yourself.  If you are a musician your next thought might be - find an AT teacher today.

Photo by Tony Fischer

What Is the First Wrong Thing

Stop doing the wrong thing and the right thing will do itself -  F. M. Alexander

The aim of the Alexander Technique is to introduce harmony in how we use ourselves by cultivating freedom in the relationship of the head and neck.  In AT lessons, the hands of the teacher guides us into this freedom.  A feeling of lightness and ease ensues.  After performing an AT lie down I can generally sense this for myself.  FM Alexander put forth directions we are supposed to think to allow this freedom to arise.  This is much more elusive.  Difficult even.  Why is this so? 

Today as I sat down to practice guitar I found my breath, then began working with the AT directions.  Certainly I have found value in this and have conducted countless AT experiments over the years. Much ongoing valuable instruction, and a real desire to reliably introduce this freedom that comes from the technique has been crucial.   This morning I heard myself ask when and/or where does the wrong thing begin?  Momentarily I was stunned, then some quick answers arose - habit, faulty sensory awareness, and even a general lack of awareness.  Still where does it begin on this day?  Does this lie within the body or the mind?  In my view these are inseparable, and the problem is that they are frequently not operating in harmony.

The first wrong thing I'll posit is a lack of attention.  Plain and simple, not being where I am.  The good news is that this can be transformed. The second wrong thing is holding onto or going for a position I think is right.  The third wrong thing is not being able to sustain my awareness of myself over time leading me back to the first wrong thing. 

To the degree that I've had success with AT, I attribute to great instruction from the likes of Frank Sheldon, Sandra Bain-Cushman, David Jernigan, Pedro de Alcantara, and William Conable.  Missy Vineyards book How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery has been invaluable.  As has been my practice of Zen.  Just sitting, observing my thoughts and generally choosing what thoughts I want to manifest while following my breath is the key for my use of the Alexander Technique.  I just need to remember to pick up the key and apply this work over time. Then pick up the key and apply again; and again ...

Photo by Joao Vincente

Opportunities to Cultivate Freedom

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out. Thich Naht Hahn

During my morning sitting, I came into a relationship with my body.  Developing this relationship can take many forms.  This morning as I sensed my body, I began using the Alexander Technique directions.  Using these simple thoughts of allowing my neck to be free, my spine and back- long and wide, my shoulders wide, and my legs long to introduce freedom in my body.  I moved on to other aspects of my sitting practice and then towards the end of the sitting the Alexander Technique arose in my mind again.  Soon I will be standing.  How will I arrive there?  This is a basic activity we do every day, move from a seated position to standing.  This is also an activity addressed in ATclasses & lessons to illustrate and facilitate freedom in our movement.  The next question that arose was "how many times today will I get out of a chair?"

No idea.  What if I set myself the task of pausing before standing; come back to a relationship with myself, utilize the AT directions and move to standing with awareness?  Might I then step into more freedom throughout my day?  So far I have remembered twice and am soon to rise again, hopefully with awareness.  I'll leave a comment at days end as to how often I remembered.  There is no right answer.  The practice of cultivating of freedom, waking up in any moment, is what is pertinent.  Do to the nature of interbeing, as I cultivate this freedom, it will spread.

Photo by Tom Landretti.

Little Directions

Tuesday night I was able to rejoin the Alexander Technique class with David Jernigan and others after an absence due to participating with The Field and then traveling.  Another student who has been working with AT for a few years now brought up a practice that he, David and I undertook 18 months ago.  For the first 5 minutes of our day we would work with AT.  For me this took the form of sitting on the side of the bed and thinking through the AT directions.  Three minutes into this practice today, I noticed my right shoulder & arm just let go. Just a little shift, but merely through offering thoughts of direction to my body Was the shift due to something held in my sleeping posture or just a habitual manner of my overall use?

Moving to the kitchen to make coffee, I again directed my thinking via AT.  Appeared so easy when not encumbered with the concerns and actions of my day.  The term "little directions" arose at this time.  Little as in a brief time to apply the technique in the mundane activities of life.  Seems I can find freedom in my use a bit easier than when guitar in hand I aim to make music.  The actions of playing an instrument are certainly more complex than sitting or standing and there is the emotional concern of how do I sound or why am I not making progress with this musical section.  One premise of AT is that how we do one thing is how we do everything.  Hence freedom in a simple act interpenetrates the more complex actions we undertake.  And merely by a little thought, a little direction before moving.

Later in the day as I moved to my guitar practice, I paused and directed again before opening my case.  My wish was to open my case to freedom and allow this to inform my playing.  As I worked on a few different parts from various pieces I was patient, pausing to direct frequently.  With this heightened awareness I saw that I was trying to help my hands rather than allow them to execute the musical phrases.  Helping took the form of leaning into a phrase with  my upper body; tightening my right thigh or gripping the floor with my feet.  Get out of the way, but how?  Little directions - forward   up   long   wide   . Direct out of the way; away from habit and pause again.  Direct my way to freedom a little bit at a time.  Smiling as I see a habit of holding onto life when I need to let go to life freeing up just a little.


Photo by Fiona McAllister

Walking With Alexander

This morning I practiced meditation with the Still water Mindfulness Practice Center.  A wonderful way to begin my day, especially on a gig day.  The extra added support and energy provided by a group of practicioners is nourishing.  When the period of sitting meditation ends there is always a brief period for people to unfold their legs and stretch before we stand and begin walking meditation.  I sit in a chair due to vein issues I developed years back.  As I saw the bell inviter reach for the walking bell, I thought how am I going to get out of this chair?  An opportunity to practice the Alexander Technique from a calm and clear state of mind and body.


I directed my head forward and up and continued to practice this simple act along the directions we have worked with in class and lessons over the years.  Smiling as I faced the community, the thought arrived that I could incorporate AT into my walking meditation this morning.  The practice of walking meditation is a practice where each step is taken mindfully.  One step on the in breath and one on the out breath.  During each breath one is invited be aware of the breath, the step and a thought such as peace, love, or joy.  I usually use this practice to manifest positive attributes in myself.  Today I worked with walking meditation and AT in this manner.

Breathing in - I know I am breathing in ( or simply "in)
Breathing out - I know I am breathing out ( or simply "out")

Breathing in - Forward
Breathing out - Up

Breathing in - Long
Breathing out - wide.

I walked for about 5 minutes in this manner, repeating the triplet of directions while maintaining awareness of my steps.  Thinking-in-activity would be the Alexandrian concept behind this.  For me this was easy as the practice of walking meditation is deeply rooted in me.  Due to the slowness of the steps, this is possible for anyone wishing to experiment with AT directing while walking.  I kept this somewhat alive as we sat again and had a reading and brief discussion.  As I left the building and saw the beautiful day unfolding, while my steps were now 3-4 to each breath, I again kept the directions alive.  This is a way to practice walking meditation outside in public view.  Still slower than many pedestrians hustling to school and work, but not drawing attention to oneself.

Now if only I could keep the AT directions alive while typing.  Progress not perfection I suppose.

Photo By Paul Davis.

AT Lessons From My Surroundings

I've been practicing in different physical spaces the last few days and am finding the spaces or objects within them speaking to me of "wide." This thought of wide has not been from my actively directing my thinking via Alexander Technique but just arising from the environment in which I am playing.

In El's Hermitage, I notice a Buddha  carved from wood on the shelf, in a seated position with shoulders that were just wide.  Not stretched, not out of proportion just wide.  I paused to observe this, allowing this statue to inform me.  The space itself was adequate; not large by any means, just enough.  As I noticed this Buddha again,  I saw the "forward & up" of his being.  Perhaps my first AT lesson from a statue.

In the home of another friend I was provided with an empty room to practice within.  A carpet covering most of the wood floor and two windows with shades.  At one point, I noticed how wide the window was that I was facing.  Another piece of wood inviting me to allow my shoulders to be wide; which spread to my feet and  my right hand.  No need to fix nor hold any of the muscles in my body.   Allow the neck to be free, and all of me to be long & wide.   As I worked with a slow melodic phrase, I noticed how I could allow the rests between the notes to also "be wide."  No need to rush the next note, allow the space between notes to be as wide as needed, just as I can allow my back and shoulders to be wide.

The seeds of AT have been planted, nourished and arise in various ways.  Where will the next noticing arrive from?  

Hear My Train

Stepping into the backyard the whistle of a freight train reminds me that life is moving forward.  Reminds me that I am alive; that I am listening.  How long will I remember life today?  How long can Ijust listen?  Truly listen?  Without judgement; without adding in a story; without complicating lives around me?  Can I just be?

The train reminds me that I do not need to hurtle along through the dark, down habitual pathways without pause.  That I can and will pause.  That I can and will allow the thought to let my head be forward and up to direct this day.  To release my spine and encouter this moment as if for the the first time.  Smiling as I recognize that this truly is the first time I have lived this moment, truly the only time I will live this moment.  The train has passed now, but I need another whistle.

How quickly the thinking scrambles to the habitual.  Incessant noise in the background of life, instead of directed and useful.  Now I must be my own whistle to release the habitual thinking process and to choose what to think.  To choose how I live this life.  This takes practice and direction from those that have been before me.  Choice is possible, but requires waking up and listening to myself.  To choose in the face of developed habit requires help from the beyond.  Finding my breath as a harmonizer for the body/mind complex the chatter softens.  Choosing an Alexander Technique direction, a gatha from my Mindfulness practice, or what my aim is brings me back to the here, to the now.  Brings me back to the platform of possibility where I may introduce change into my being, into our world.

Can I continue to direct my thinking as I ponder this process or will Jimi's vocals from "Hear My Train a Comin'" take me down a different path.  Is one path better than another?  Listening again, listening to myself briefly hold this question.  Better to be alive; truly alive on any path, than habitually bopping along even the best one.  Jimi's intensity releases somewhere into the complex of neurons and matter known as the brain.  I know he'll be back.  I know I'll invite him in when I need that release from my state that music provides.  But here on this morning, I do not need to go right to habit.  I need direction and in these early hours I am free enough to choose for moments at a time.

Perhaps I should open the door again.  Hear what stimulus life is offering and choose a response.  How many doors will I open today?  How many times will I open to life?  An ambulance is traveling nearby.  As it get closer to my home, I notice an urgency arise.  Someone I know?  Grateful now that the ambulance has passed my street, but I wonder how to keep the urgency to be truly alive - alive?
Smiling as 'practice' arises in my mind. 

Releasing One Small Habit

When I woke on Monday, there was a familiar tightness in the area of the right elbow.  A stiffness was present in part of the right side of my neck and as I moved my arms about, a tightness in  a muscle of the upper right arm.  Some position I had assumed during my sleep had aggravated the muscles and tendons that comprise my condition of "tennis elbow."

Part of the great relief from the Bill Conable workshop on Saturday was having this situation alleviated.  Now I knew it was possible to have freedom in my right arm, I had experienced this on Saturday and Sunday.   So what to do?   I needed to pay attention to my whole use of myself and to direct my thinking.

That morning at work, I sat in front of my computer.  I noticed a slight pulling in the right side of my neck.  Pausing to observe, my head was slightly tilted to the right as I looked at the monitor, pulling & shortening this area of my neck.  Meanwhile my right arm was also "shortening" to accommodate my relationship to the keyboard.  Later while carrying a few sheets of paper back to my office, I noticed that my right arm was "shortening" again.  Back at my desk, I went to close my right hand and saw that when I would go to close the hand there was a "pulling back" of the arm and a slight "scrunching" of the right shoulder.

Carrying a cup of coffee with elbow bent, I again saw this "shortening."  Is this a result of strategy I developed to "protect"the injury?  More likely this is a pattern of use that has been unconscious to me and contributed to the injury.  I took this information to my Alexander Technique session with David Jernigan last night.  Through the use of his hands and suggestions my freedom in this area was once again restored.  The possibility of this habit of shortening being let go is real, but I need to cultivate the awareness to allow this to manifest.

When I came home I went to play guitar.  Pausing to direct my thinking,  I came back several times to my arms are long.  Thinking about my recent work with negative directions, the thought "I am not a short guy" arrived.  Laughing as my 6'4" frame played with this direction.

In the 45 minutes that I have been writing this, I have paused several times to notice how I was using myself at the computer.  In taking the opportunity to direct my thinking and introduce a small measure of freedom I have noticed small scrunchings  and tweakings of myself and let them go.  But habits are persistent and as my awareness withdraws from my use, the habits reassert themselves.  As Thomas Jefferson said "The price of freedom in constant vigilance."  I have my work cut out for me.

Waves of Change

I am not compressing myself as I type is the direction that just manifested as I moved toward beginning this blog post.  So easy to become lost when catching up with email, Facebook, etal after having lost power at home due to nasty storms in this area Friday night.  Wishing that I could have again began my day with a dip in the Atlantic Ocean and Qi Gong in the surf but alas live moves on.

I have found that vacations at the beach is a wonderful opportunity for me to devote more time to all the pursuits in my life that nourish me.  Meditation, Qi Gong, exercise, music, and the Alexander Technique coupled with an environment that inspires hope and joy throughout the day.  Awed by the sheer immensity of the Ocean, I am invited back to the present moment.  How can I not be inspired to think "up" when the sky is so beautiful? How can I not be inspired to think "forward" when I have time to reflect, nourish, and be with the people who mean the most to me? Allowing the stress and strain of everyday life to float away, while allowing waves of reflection to fill my day.  How can I not think "Wide" when the horizon is nothing but life sustaining water? Not only the ocean of unimaginable width, but also of a length that spans between continents and is not "fixed" in a position?

As my arm reaches through the water, I notice my length as I swim.  Floating I sense my spine, subtly shifting and adjusting to the energy of the ocean moving about me.  My sense of the space about me heightened.  A space that is alive with energy and life forms I can not sense.  The ocean expands me as I respond to the moments of it's waves.  I like to stand in chest high water and while directing up allow my hands to float up as if I were playing the guitar. I have been playing with AT in the waves like this for years.

This past week, I have added the negative direction - I am not playing the guitar, as I play with my arms in this manner in the sea.  Part of the beauty of this experiment with bringing my arms up in the ocean is that due to the waves constantly pushing against and shifting my feet and torso, I can not being my hands up in a habitual manner.  The ocean's inhibition of my habitual use of this action is light, fun, and free.  After several days of this, I introduced the thought - I am playing the guitar, while bringing my hands up through the surf.   Just enjoying the possibilities and being open to this inquisitively playful experiment positively impacting how I actually do play the guitar.   Smiling, floating, and continuing to direct as the waves splash about me. Ahh, wishing I was back there now, but grateful for where I am.

In the  evening, when I approached my guitar I thought of how might I incorporate these experiments of movement in the ocean with how I bring my hands and arms to the guitar.  I found myself thinking, now how did that feel?  Laughing as I saw once again the trap we all fall into when applying the Alexander Technique, perhaps more clearly this time than ever before.  I do not need to access what the "freedom" felt like, but to access that thinking that led to this freedom.  To pause, inhibit, and then direct my thinking.  Currently my use of negative directions is bearing fruit.  I am finding that introducing the " traditional" AT directions, after the negative directions for instance - I am not compressing myself - offers a different and perhaps clearer path to my movement freedom.

The search terms I used in searching for a photo to accompany this post also turned up photos of ice.  Chuckling as I thought may my movements be like waves of freedom, not stuck in my habitual frozen patterns.  I wish this for all of you also.  How are you experimenting and introducing change with the Alexander Technique?