Exploring lower half of the body schema and squatting

 

Why is it that Alexander Technique seems to significantly lesson chronic pain conditions? We are finally beginning to understand the mechanisms behind this phenomena.

First, let me tell you a funny back pain story. I once saw an old friend on the street, and in the process of catching up I told my friend that I had recently completed my training as an Alexander Technique teacher. He said “Oh! I studied that! I had a series of lessons with this lady Debbie Caplan. She was such a great person but I really didn’t understand what the Alexander Technique is and I found it very confusing and really don’t think it works.”

I knew Debbie – she wrote a book about back pain in the 1980s that is still one of the most practical books on the subject, and was one of my teachers in my training. So I asked, well – why did you go to her for lessons?

“Oh I had the most dreadful back pain. I hadn’t been able to walk for almost two weeks. I think I had about 5 lessons with her.”

Wow, OK. So…what happened to your back pain?

“O yeah. Well, actually, it went away and it’s never returned, so I lost touch with her.”

So weren’t you curious about why your back pain went away, and why it never came back?

“No, I was just so happy I forgot about it completely.”

I get it. Chronic pain is horrible and scary, and we just want to get rid of it. There are many versions of this story – some where the pain relief is not as stark and clear as this, some where other problems like anxiety and balance issues resolve but the pain levels stay almost consistently the same, but the person is not tensing themselves up all over to avoid it and so their life improves. And that improvement then supports further wellness…and in time, the pain resolves.

It’s a long haul sometimes, and I think understanding can help you, the “layperson,” stick with the work during that haul when the going gets tough.

A new theoretical framework for why the Alexander Technique works like this is slowing being built up by a group of scientists who want to know the answer to this question. They have just published a paper outlining their hypothesis in Kinesiology Review.

This kind of scientific writing can be very difficult to understand, so try this simplified version that the Alexander Technique and Science group has put together for the layperson, or just keep reading because I’ll summarize the two key points regarding pain relief for you below.

1) The Alexander Technique makes postural tone more adaptable and less rigid:

Practicing the AT redistributes postural tone from the bigger, superficial muscles of the body (which are designed to facilitate movement of the body parts in space) to the deeper muscles closer to the bones that facilitate postural integrity (uprightness to the best of one’s capacity) in relationship to the pull of earth’s gravity. When this deeper postural tone kicks in, you get sensations of spreading, expansion, lightness and ease.

2) The Alexander Technique improves accuracy, completeness, and detail of your body schema (the unconscious internal representation of your own body):

Studies have shown that chronic pain literally makes the body part affected feel smaller and courser (less detailed). It could be that this fuzzing of the body schema restricts blood flow to tissues and nerves, as well as contraction of tissue that literally squeezes the nerves causing a more intractable pain cycle. A more accurate body schema also apparently creates more effective movement strategies.

Movement in general can improve body schema, but Mobilignment™ is designed specifically to expand, explore, and stretch it. When you come to a Mobilignment™ class you will first take time to experience a more voluminous hand, or foot, or hip, before going into movement activity and dancing. This gives you a larger impression of forgotten body parts and of your whole moving body in space. This in turn increases blood and oxygen that brings healing to a hurt part. It’s way more fun than pain killers!

We are still just at the beginning of understanding. There is so much more to discover, and that is the experimental spirit that fuels all my coaching and classes.

Upcoming offerings are:

1) Weekly Mobilignment™ classes:

Dancers at heart of all ages and abilities, come exercise your neuroplasticity to its utmost with mindful movement!
Book a spot in the Monday & Wednesday Mobilignment class here.

2) 6 month facilitated Mastermind for Embodiment Innovators who want to thrive online:

Do you want to jump-start your online business and learn Mobilignment™ practices in the process? Interview for a spot in the January cohort of my DOUBLE VALUE 6 MONTH FACILITATED MASTERMIND focusing on fluid & playful embodiment online, business clarity, and financial abundance for online educators.

You can sign up for a free interview here. The November cohort is full, but there are still a few spots open in the January one.

3) Need to help with moving through and injury or just want to rejuvinate your bodymindsoul?
Book a private session ONLINE or IN PERSON.

4) Need to rejuvinate but still struggling financially during this dreadful pandema-recession?
Check out my YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

Much love,

Clare

 

 

Are you you are feeling Zoom-fried? Does your work set up feel more and more uncomfortable the longer you work at home?Even the most sophisticated embodiment teachers are reporting Zoom exhaustion, and they have worked years on their skills, so don’t feel bad. There is hope! I’ve been teaching embodiment online for 5 years and leading webinars for online educators since the COVID pandemic began. I want to share with you a few simple tips that will help you reconnect with the wonder and joy of your body, which is an endless resource.

Learning to use it, however, requires a shift in attitude and a willingness to change behavior.

George Russell, an expert chiropractor, said to me in response to one of my newsletters about joy being more important than expertise: “I’m not interesting in finding a “teacher.” I’m not interested in mastering a system. I’m living in a world of wonders, and I want to walk around some.” It’s this state of wonder that we are missing as our movement life has narrowed during COVID. It’s up to us to re-claim it. If you are determined to do so, please read on.

Here are some of the things people say during and after my webinars:

“It’s strange to feel better after a Zoom meeting instead of worse!”

“I think some of my exhaustion has been because I’m learning so much about myself and this new medium, not because there is anything wrong.”

“I want to be able to help my students stay in their bodies when they’re in my classes online – I don’t want them to have to learn a whole new embodiment form like Yoga or something. Now I feel like I have a few tools that I can use to help them right away.”

Alexander Technique has always offered powerful tools for adapting, changing, and letting go of habits that no longer serve us. Letting go of what is familiar (like connecting with humans in person!), however, also brings grief. Yes, there is joy at discovering new ways of connecting to our own bodies, finding out what is really important to us during times of stress. But also grief. Both are present in my webinars, and both are present these days as I absolutely thrive in my online classes and private coaching.

Thriving and grieving are good friends. Nothing to be afraid of.

Connecting through our computers is possible, but it is different. It fools us into forgetting the ground we are standing on and the parts of our bodies that cannot be seen on screen. Much of the stress, visual burnout, and exhaustion we experience comes from our vulnerability to these stimuli, fueled by our beautiful desire to connect with one other.

Our unconscious responses to the computer itself, which distorts perception in many ways, are often the cause of disconnection, frustration, and feelings of isolation. If you accept this, you can give yourself some time and space to deal with it.

Here are some simple resource you can tap into for relief right away:

– 360 DEGREE HORIZON:

seeing the horizon line/ground in your own space as your main focus or as the background to the image of the computer. This lets your body know where the ground you are standing on is, where “up” is.

– YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MOVE:

Move your body gently – it won’t distract people. Movement brings sensation, and helps you remember that your body has volume and exists in three dimensional space outside the screen.

– LET YOUR ATTENTION WANDER AWAY FROM THE SCREEN:

Allow time and space for the world that contains your computer, even if it means you miss a movement on screen. You can look out the window and still hear what people are saying – your body is amazing! 

– GET COMFORTABLE WITH BREATHING THROUGH A PAUSE: Allow time between speaking, listening, and being heard. There is a time lag inherent on Zoom that confuses us. We tend to jump in and squish it. What if that time could be used to remember your body and the space it has around it?

Stepping away from our screen a little bit goes against instinct because we have been taught to sit still and pay attention.  Participants in my webinars have found that instead it makes us feel more rather than less connected. Some people find that if they let their visual and physical attention wander while in meetings, they hear everything and are actually more able to stay connected and retain content of the meeting or class.

Our body is our real home. Remembering that the camera is seeing us, in our room, in our whole body, takes an effort of awareness – it’s new. It takes time to be able to practice these simple things in each others presence. The payoff is huge, however. If we ignore our body, we suffer greatly. If we include it, we are so much more able to get energized and truly connected.

If you’d like to get some individual coaching on this please reach out using the link below. You don’t need to be an Alexander Technique master to try these things. They are simple things I can share with you right away, and you will be able to share them with friends and clients too! It’s a great value:

PERSONAL THRIVE ON ZOOM/WORKSTATION CONSULT:
A 45 minute assessment of your relationship to your computer and Zoom, normally a $100 value, now for $75. Satisfaction Guaranteed 🙂 Go here to book your session!