Organization: start with yourself

"When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place, in the right way.  But usually, without being aware of it, we try to change something other than ourselves, we try to order things outside us.  But it is impossible to organize things if you yourself are not in order.  When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized. "   -- Shunryu Suzuki (Japanese Zen Master)

When I read this quote, I saw the Alexander Technique.  Our reaction to our environment is to be pulled in by it, losing our connection to our support - quite literally, the support our skeleton offers us.  Much of the time, we are pushing ourselves out into the next moment, and falling off of our bones.  Our muscles come into action, gripping to hold us up, while trying to move us at the same time.

• How often have you spoken only to wish you had taken time to think more fully about your response?
• How many times have you worried over something that never came to be? 
• How often have we missed the mark, whether bowling, playing pool or golfing, not having taken the time to allow our body to coordinate with our eyes?

While I cannot say that everything in my life is existing in the right place, in the right way all of the time, when I slow down and come to a place with more stillness and presence, I can feel tension and pain ease in my body, I can enjoy a sunny day in the middle of winter, I can delight in my cat playing "hockey" with his bottle caps.

Perhaps our internal state is more a predictor of our quality of life in any given moment than our circumstances.  How many times have you met someone who has things your wish for (a happy relationship, a beautiful home, physical health, artistic skill) and they are stressed and unsatisfied with their conditions.

Try This:
Can you find a way to be present to whatever abundance there is in your life?  Take 2  minutes now to find something in your immediate environment that reflects something you've created, or brought into your life that brings you pleasure, contentment or joy.  What is it like in your body and mind now?

(Originally Posted at www.brookelieb.com 3/13/18)

N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com

The Body Loves: Cultivate Connectedness and Balance with the Alexander Technique

by Allyna Steinberg

Love -- a feeling an intense feeling of deep affection -- is something we all we want.  We often talk about love between people. When we talk about self-love, the discussion is often focused on the cognitive level, on our thoughts. Articles on self-love frequently share tips for changing our self-talk. There is an underlying assumption that "we are our thoughts" and that our thoughts are the key to building our capacity to love ourselves and others.  What if our body was also a key to finding love?

When we take in a beautiful vista, smell our favorite food, taste the ocean air, feel our softest sweater, or hear a beautiful melody, it certainly feels to me like deep affection -- like love.  Can love be found through our body?

We are equally our bodies and more than our thoughts. Then, why not consider thinking the sixth sense?  This puts our other senses - sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing - on an even playing field with our thinking.  And it gives us a powerful opportunity to drop into our senses when our thinking takes over or as a regular practice for living with love.

What daily ways do you already have of dropping into your body senses?  Enjoying the smell of your morning cup of coffee or tea or favorite breakfast? Your morning shower? My list of daily sensory moments covering the five senses include waking up with extra minty toothpaste (taste), taking in the colors of the art on my wall (sight), noticing how my clothes feel on my skin (touch), breathing in the aroma of essential oil (smell), and listening to a song with a good harmony (hearing).   Take a minute and see if you can think of the daily ways you drop into each sense: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.  And then I will share ways to use those experiences to deepen the love they give back based on the Alexander Technique.

Once you realize the body loves, you can tap into more connectedness and balance with a few Alexander Technique tips. Alexander found that the balance of the skull on the spine is central to coordination of posture and movement and that the body works as a whole (even though we like to talk about it in parts). So how does this relate to our dropping into our body senses?

• Sight, smell, hearing, and taste – all relate to sensory organs that point to where the skull balances on the tip of the spine. The tip of the spine is located behind our eyes and nose and between our ears – so all we’re seeing, smelling and hearing can remind us of where ideally our skull balances on the spine.  When the tongue is not tense (the tip of the tongue sits inside our lower teeth and the back of the tongue suspends high and wide by our upper back molars), taking a trip from the tip of our tongue toward our taste buds we’re on our way up the ramp our tongue forms toward the skull balance. Thus everything we’re tasting can also remind us of this important place in the body. Learn more about this via my post on Is there a Neck Joint?.
   
• Touch – relates to the skin, our largest sensory organ, covering our whole body. Everything we touch could remind us of this body covering that interfaces with our environment in omni(all)-directions. This helps us embody our multi-dimensionality, which through the suspension system of our body supports the balance of the skull on the spine.  Learn more about this via my posts on Our Body Concept Matters and Thank Your Body with Dynamic Support.

The next time you enjoy a sight, smell, taste or sound, notice how that’s a reference for where your skull balances on the tip of the spine. And with every touch, notice that you can pop into a whole-body awareness.  This practice will put you on a path to creating more connectedness and balance within your body, which Alexander Technique students often experience as feeling lighter, aligned or whole.  These hallmark experiences of Alexander Technique students remind me of a deep love integrating our senses and our whole selves.  The body loves.  Tap into it.

(This post originally appeared on alexandertechniqueforliving.com)

 Allyna Steinberg teaches the Alexander Technique in NYC, Hudson Valley, NY and via online coaching sessions.  Allyna also holds a Master of Public Health degree and has over 22 years of experience supporting communities, families and youth to improve their health. Allyna has practiced the Alexander Technique for 18 years, after learning about it from an orthopedist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. She currently focuses her teaching on applications of the Alexander Technique to create relaxation and renewal in activity, heal from trauma, restore coordination through developmental movement, and reach the needs of diverse audiences including those with hypermobility (HSD/EDS).  Allyna also co-founded the Alexander Technique Diversity Coalition and offers inspirational tips on her Facebook page.

Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #4

In this series, we will share excerpts from Idelle Packer's (ACAT, 1979) Training Journal, October 14, 1977 - Wednesday, December 13, 1978. The classes were taught by Judy Leibowitz, a founding member and the first Director of Training of ACAT from 1967 to 1981. Judy was the original Alexander Teacher in Juilliard's Acting Division, joining the program at its inception in 1968 by invitation from John Houseman. Judy taught in the Juilliard Acting Division until her death in 1991.

October 25, 1977: If you look at a drawing of a skeleton in profile, you can see the arm is hanging from the shoulder joint. The joint does not connect with the clavicle... The arms hang a little father out and lower than we usually think.

Many of the tensions we have are not purely physical, but emotional. [A trainee] felt immense emotional release by letting the tensions in the shoulders go. Alexander talks only about length and width. Judy uses the word "torso" since the body is three dimensional. Widening and lengthening together is an expanding into the whole body. [A trainee] said that he felt he can't change physically unless he changes emotionally. The process of giving up something we are familiar with, causes a feeling of mourning for what is being left behind. Directions can be given sequentially but what happens, happens all at once.

As an Alexander teacher, one would energize one's own arms. Relaxation is not a productive experience for anyone who uses the body. There is a difference between "release" and "relax".

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.