February 8, 1978

Judith Leibowitz: “In the exhalation, the diaphragm comes up, allowing the ribs to fall down. When back and up, we can get open breathing period when the back is narrow, it is hard to get that free movement. We don't exhale enough. CO2 level[s] in the blood determines our rhythm and breathing. It is a volume to volume exchange of gases. We are looking for an easy, rhythmical breath. We deal with those things in the body that don't allow a free breath to take place, such as a narrow back, also fixing in the throat and neck.

Everything works together. Many ways to get to difficulty. Each teacher finds ways that work for them; as students, take in everyone’s solutions. No one teacher can do it all. We teach out of our own biases. Come with an open mind to what everyone else is doing.

Widen across front and back, arms coming from the spine and sternum, release all the way through fingers. Put fingers on opening across chest and upper back, letting go on lower back and widening. Freeing neck, not doing anything.”

As Judy felt a release in the person on the table, she moved the person's hands who was holding the head of the person lying on the table.

“You might not have felt it, hands tell me there is an impulse. I am there I go with it. Eventually, you will feel, if you are with yourself and feel it enough times, otherwise you lose yourself and feeling, and don't know what you are looking for.”

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.