February 22, 1978
Taking a leg up on the table: we are not lifting a leg. The teacher is moving through space and the leg comes along with us. The leg is an extension of ourselves and moves through space as we do.
ACAT Training Course 2010. Photo by George Komiotis. Pictured: Front: Brooke Lieb, Dan Cayer; Back: Carly Green on table, Patricia McGinnis standing.
This is the same principle as taking someone out of the chair. We are moving through space, the [person] in the chair comes along. Before taking the leg up, always go to the head first period then take out the heel.
Taking a leg up on the floor kneeling [Jo Nichols Assistant Teacher]: the teacher must have a very strong sense of back-back and knees away, with a free sense of forward head direction. Width in the back is very important. Jo says she makes sure to spend some time each day in a squat, getting there through [position of mechanical advantage] and allowing herself to go all the way down between the legs. Come up with a strong direction of knees away, back and up.
Don't put hands on until your own directions are clear.
[Saura Bartner, Assistant Teacher]: In taking up a leg, continue thinking knees away even after you have taken your hands off. The crucial thing is not to jam the leg into the hip joint.
[Susanna Wachtel, Assistant Teacher]: Take time to wait and see what is going on with the person you are working on. Listen to it and go with it. In trying to get a release, don't go in with a fixed idea of what you are
Idelle Packer, MS, PT, mAmSAT, certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, has been creatively exploring its broad application for over 35 years. In her private practice, Body Sense, in Asheville, NC, she teaches the Alexander Technique in context of physical therapy assessment and rehabilitation. She authored the chapter on the Alexander Technique in Springer Publishers’ Encyclopedia of Complementary Health Practices (1999). Her current passion is Contact Improvisation, a somatic and athletic improvisation form, to which she has been joyfully integrating the principles of the Technique over the past fifteen+ years.