Alexander Atama Yoga

How often do you talk about the head in your lessons?

Although Alexander teachers could quite possibly bore their students to death with the topic, other educators may talk of breathing, tummies, spines, ribs, pelvis, legs, arms, elbows, knees, etc., but the head?

Very little.

And yet, why not?

Because most people don’t know what to think about it. In fact, most people don’t even know where their head is. Ask someone to draw a head; people usually draw an emoji-like drawing with the eyes at the top. 

Wait.

The eyes are at the bottom of your head, not the top. The face is not your head. Your head houses your brain, and your eyes are below your brain.

In terms of the evolution of movement, we basically began with a mouth – i.e. an entry hole for food with an exit hole at the back. Life then was all about the filling and emptying of tubes, and it still is. For that, we developed muscles, nerves and finally, a brain to guide our mouth to the next meal.

Seen this way – our head-brain has a natural position as the leader of our movement. A human head-brain represents about 10% of your average body weight – it has a mass of approximately 5 kg. Think about that as a huge bag of rice - or a large bowling ball – sitting on the top of you all day. It’s having an influence, whether you know it or not.

For years now, I have been encouraging my Yoga students to invent “Atama Yoga” - Atama “頭” means “head“ in Japanese. Well, I decided to invent the first Atama Yoga Asana…

*** SALUTATION TO THE HEAD ***

1. First, do some exercises to measure the size of your head-brain so you realise it. 

2. Once you know its size, locate the area in space that your head-brain is occupying.

3. Start walking while imagining your head-brain in this area of space. Be meditative.

That’s it! 

NOTE: You can not feel that head-brain space – there is no proprioception in the brain – that’s why you’re imagining it. Like imaging the Eiffel Tower. It’s a simple image of your head-brain in your mind, placed in the location where it actually exists.

Now, go for a long walk while practising this Atama Yoga.

Atama Yoga harnesses the power of FM Alexander’s first and most significant discovery: that head movements govern vertebral coordination. Read more about that here:

https://atsuccess.com/blog/2024/02/everything-forward-moving.html

The change is subtle. It is not going to jump out at you – but if you can consistently continue mapping the spatial location of your head-brain as you walk, after a period of time, your coordination starts undergoing an inexplicable transformation.

***

If you have any feedback on Atama Yoga, I’d love to hear it.  Just reply to this email and let me know if I can publish your comment…