January 19, 1978

We worked on the use of the self as a totality in movement, being attentive to the tendency to get fixed in the small of the back.

As a group, we looked at our mirror image face on…. Judy wants us to have a clearer image of our objectives, as we are in movement. The image of our spine hanging between our ears, pelvis suspended from the sacrum (lower spine; loose bones, loose muscles; all of the spine is hanging as we walk. Nothing is fixed. Length is making room for bones, front and back.

In [position of mechanical advantage], arms are not weight bearing. We do not hold the position. Legs can be free to move (less weight bearing), when we have direction of the knees forward. Knees forward and inhibition of jamming upward toward the hip joint.

We can have the thought of width front and back as we move.

As we work, we are finding out what works for us. In our private lessons we are encouraged to bring out particulars of what we want to work on. When we bring up a problem, we are ready to deal with it.

We worked on: concept of freedom in the body, as we bend our knees and put our hands on someone.

Flexors have to open and get long, for the full upright position.

The concept of the whole torso lengthening and widening rather than the word back. The pelvis is part of the torso. The buttocks is part of the thigh, a different focus than torso. All movement can be loose, nothing fixed, as we have to be able to get out of any one position comfortably. Freedom of the torso allows for movement in hands and arms (not fixing in the lower back).

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.