For Those Who Are Serious About ...

Teaching. 

You, Others.

Even teaching Music, Yoga, Teaching, any Professional, Hobbies – there is one thing more important than anything else. Do this, and you are guaranteed to gain many health benefits.

Attend to your head/spinal relationship.

Most students react to that thinking “oh, that is boring. Who wants to think about that all the time?”

Well, students already do. Directly or indirectly.

How many times during the day do they feel uncomfortable? 

You know – the times that of stretching your neck, adjusting your sitting position or massage a sore spot? These are all moments devoted to head/spinal relationship; or Posture. A time that is not useful. Because even with these interventions – a student’s physical condition stays the same. 

Over time Posture will be tending towards getting worse, not better. It’s what the old man meant when he called his last book: “The Universal Constant in Living.” 

The older I get, the more I love FM’s book titles!

Well, here’s an example of what happens with my obsession these days...

Today in class, a Pro student complained that her arm was getting sore when she played the flute for too long. My first comment yo her was that the reason for her soreness is not about playing too long, it’s about what she is doing right from the start of playing. Think FM speaking, FM reciting.

She played her flute - I watched her play - and it was apparent to me why her arm would hurt.

There’s a group of muscles called the Rotator-Cuff muscles that run between the scapula (shoulder blade) and humorous (upper arm). Arms – at the glenohumeral joint - often dislocate, so the Rotator-Cuff muscles aid in keeping your upper arm in its socket. 

Unfortunately, those Rotator-Cuff muscles can easily become zealous at their job! They end up jamming the upper arm into its joint socket so forcefully that it starts hurting when you move the arm too high. To play the flute, she raised her arm high and started pulling it into its socket. The is the beginning of “cold shoulder” – in Japanese they call it “50-year-old-shoulder” It’s a common postural problem for older folks.

What did we do in Pro class? Three things:

1. Analyse first what is happening – this I briefly explained to my trainee as above. 
2. Built a holistic movement map that includes her arm the way it is designed to work.
3. Used my touch to communicate a new movement for her whole self and arm while playing the flute.

In the case of point 3 – touch is critically important. An arm movement could be for anything – an exercise, reaching for a book, holding a cup of tea.

An Alexander teacher’s touch guides students; it doesn’t tell them. There are “bully” teachers who think they know better than Nature and use their hands violently to manipulate a person into their preferred image – I don’t invite teachers like that to my Pro class.

But I do believe it’s my job to guide, suggest, encourage and open a way to move according to a plan designed not by me, but by 550 millions years of trial and error!  My trainee’s arm – when she ‘guided’ it according to a holistic plan - resulted in zero pain. The experience goes with the understanding – it is combining both that makes a change possible.

Teaching Alexander’s Discovery is a labyrinth of adventure. It’s something that is at the core of my thinking in ThinkingBody Online – a course I created for my trainees, but gives teachers a feast of ideas, exercises, downloads and suggestion to refresh your practice. We need input, stimulation to keep growing. ThinkingBody can supply you with that.

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