Now available in eBook Format: What we’re reading: Back Trouble: a New Approach to Prevention and Recovery by Deborah Caplan, P.T.

Click here to purchase Back Trouble for Kindle.

by Judy Stern and Jessica Santascoy Deborah "Debby" Caplan, author of "Back Trouble: A New Approach to Prevention and Recovery," was a physical therapist and taught the Alexander Technique for over 50 years. She was a founding member of the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) and a senior faculty member.

Judy Stern, a faculty member of the ACAT Teacher Certification Program and a teacher with almost 30 years experience, was more than impressed by her cousin's recovery from excruciating back pain after taking Alexander lessons with Debby Caplan. At that time, Judy had been a practicing physical therapist for 18 years, and was excited by the possibilities of pain relief that the Alexander Technique offered. Within four years of her cousin's life-changing course of lessons, Judy moved from Gainesville, Florida to New York City to study the Technique herself, and she was mentored by Debby.

SANTASCOY

Why do you give "Back Trouble" to your students when they have a first lesson with you?

STERN

Back Trouble is a basic Alexander text easily read and understood by anyone who wants clear, accurate medical information and is struggling with back issues. I often say at the end of the first lesson that "everything I have taught you today is explained in the first 4 chapters of this book.” I then ask my students to go home a read those chapters.

I believe that learning should be addressed through multiple channels—ie: the visual sense - reading and video, the auditory sense - verbalization, and the kinesthetic sense -  touch—to achieve the most effective introduction to the Alexander Technique. I also use the photos in Debby’s book as teaching tools, and let students know that many of the questions people ask about, including the efficacy of the Alexander Technique, are directly answered in the book.

SANTASCOY

What's an essential part or paragraph of the book and why? In other words, what do you think is important for students to remember from this book?

STERN

This is a challenging question!

I believe this book offers the public a basic understanding of the anatomy and physiology of musculoskeletal pain and explains the efficacy of addressing problems with the principles of the AT.

I first saw this book in manuscript form when Debby was writing it, and threatened to “steal” the chapters on back and neck pain for my physical therapy patients, if she didn’t publish it. I am the Judy Trobe (now Stern) who Debby mentions in the acknowledgments, and I was deeply influenced by Debby.

I am partial to Chapter 5 - "Low Back Pain," and Chapter 3 - "Concepts of Good Use." They are both clear, concise explanations of challenging subjects we Alexander teachers are confronted with explaining daily. I also like chapter 9, Emergency Treatment of the Back.

If I had to choose a section to quote from, it would be "Eliminating Tension":

“Learning to do less with the body is one of the most useful aspects of Alexander’s work for back sufferers. Doing less does not mean being less active, but rather, eliminating all the unnecessary muscle tension and harmful postural habits that can cause, and prolong, back pain.

"As you begin learning to eliminate unnecessary muscle tension, you will be able to stop the tension cycle that invariably accompanies back problems. This cycle occurs because pain causes more tension, which in turn causes more pain, and so on. Many of my patients have found that by using the Alexander Technique they are able to stop this painful cycle themselves and thus avoid taking muscle relaxants and painkillers. They also feel more energetic, since they are not using so much of their energy in the form of unnecessary muscle tension.” (Caplan, 14)

SANTASCOY

The Technique is practical, and helps people change everyday habits. How does "Back Trouble" complement AT lessons?

STERN

Debby was a master at teaching people to apply the AT to daily life. This wisdom can be found on pages 75-79, "Applications To Daily Life," and in Chapter 7, "Positions We All Get Into." The illustrations say everything about what working with ease and better use "looks like." The explanations are simple and clear for the general public (no Alexander Technique jargon). Sitting, standing, and walking are the basic activities of life we all address when teaching the Alexander Technique. Debby addresses them all in these parts of her book.

JUDY STERN was a senior faculty member at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT). She taught the Alexander Technique for over 30 years. She has a post-graduate certificate in Physical Therapy and a Master of Arts in Health Education from the University of Florida/Gainesville. She was a member of the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Physical Therapy early in her career, and worked for 19 years as a traditional physical therapist. Judy has a special interest in the neurophysiology of the Technique. She has retired from private practice.

JESSICA SANTASCOY is an Alexander Technique teacher specializing in the change of inefficient habitual thought and movement patterns to lessen pain, stress, anxiety, and stage fright. She effectively employs a calm and gentle approach, understanding how fear and pain short circuit the body and productivity. Her clients include high level executives, software engineers, designers, and actors. Jessica graduated from the American Center for the Alexander Technique, holds a BA in Psychology, and an MA in Media Studies. She teaches in New York City and San Francisco. Connect with Jessica via email or on Twitter @jessicasuzette.

FROM MARCH 2014: What We’re Reading: Evolution of a Technique in "The Use of the Self" by F. M. Alexander

by Brooke Lieb and Jessica Santascoy

Many students benefit by reading books about the Alexander Technique, because it helps elucidate concepts and ideas when taking Alexander lessons. Brooke Lieb, the Director of the American Center for the Alexander Technique and a teacher with over 20 years of experience tells us what she recommends for students, and how she uses it in her teaching, and shares F. M.’s 5 step process that you can use on your own or with a teacher.

SANTASCOY

What do you recommend new students read?

LIEB

In recent years, I have been asking my students to read the chapter “Evolution of a Technique” from The Use of the Self by F. M. Alexander, who originated the Alexander Technique. I give it to them sometime during their early lessons, depending on when I think they have had a clear enough practical experience in lessons to relate to the concepts and F. M.'s self-experimentation.

SANTASCOY

Why do you recommend this chapter to new students?

LIEB

I find this chapter particularly helpful in illuminating the idea that the student is actively engaged in the process, applying her or his thinking to influence what happens during the practical work in the lesson. There is a great deal of intellectual participation involved in learning, which can sometimes escape students when they first start to study, because of the tactile aspect of hands-on work.

Hands-on instruction is unique to Alexander. The intent and degree to which touch is used in the hands-on cuing in yoga, exercise, dance or movement instruction, or sport instruction, is completely different to Alexander. Also, hands are used so much less in those forms of learning.

I also recommend this chapter because it tells Alexander’s story, in his own words, and takes the reader on the journey of why and how F. M. made his discoveries, some of the pitfalls he had to overcome, and a simple 5 step process to explore.

I would encourage any student to seek the assistance of a teacher to demonstrate the process, but in conjunction with lessons, I have found that this piece stimulates many questions and interest in the work in my students. I find their questions, and their confusion has contributed to how I have refined and simplified how I illustrate these concepts through activities, the explanations and the analogies I use.

SANTASCOY

What kinds of responses have you gotten from students who have read the chapter?

LIEB

I recently sent this to a new student, after her fourth or fifth lesson, and she came in the next week with great interest in the ideas and concepts in the chapter, and also some extreme confusion about the 5 step process. Once I understood her confusion, I was able to explain the practical process, and how we were using this process in the lessons. She was confused by the fact that he talked about speaking a sentence, so I explained he was probably referring to a line of text, and that being an actor, he would be deeply invested in being “right” and successful when speaking text. Her question gave me an opening to talk about endgaining - the tendency to keep our mind and actions focused on an end result whilst losing sight of, and at the expense of, how the result is achieved.

I also refer to the fact that after Alexander saw what he didn’t feel in the mirror - that he was pulling his head back and down, he then assumed since he had now seen it once, he could rely on his feelings and was no longer pulling his head back and down. He returned to the mirror after a period of time, and realized that he was still pulling his head back and down, and acknowledged his faulty thinking: if he couldn’t feel it in the first place, why had he thought that in one moment of recognition, he had repaired a lifetime of not feeling it and could suddenly trust his feelings? This illustrates the force of habit, and that we’re not often doing what we think we’re doing. I find this revelation in F. M.'s story helps students begin to question how much they do or should rely on how things feel.

Some students begin to relate the practical work to ideas they remember from the chapter on their own, even if I have never articulated how the activity we are exploring relates to the concepts.

SANTASCOY

Do you refer to this material in lessons or relate your practical teaching to this material?

LIEB

Most definitely. I often reflect after the experiential part of a lesson, that what we were emphasizing was inhibition, direction, awareness, or the unreliability of how we interpret our kinesthetic sense. Having read this chapter, I find the student is more inclined to make connections to what we are doing in the activities we explore in the lesson to the practical application of the concepts they have read about. It is where the idea becomes a concrete, lived experience.

I often use the 5 step process in early lessons to teach a student how to receive my hands-on work, and to recognize the difference between allowing me to guide her or his movement, and how the student can initiate movement on her or his own. Students are able to understand the idea of doing less in upright work, and thinking more actively and participating more in table work after reading this chapter in The Use of the Self.

The 5 Step Process Applied to Public Speaking

Let’s imagine that you are going to give a presentation next week. You’d like to appear poised, elegant, and connect with the audience.

Think of a sentence that you might begin the presentation with, such as “My name is…”

1. Pause before you speak the sentence. Don't say it yet.

2. Instead, say the Alexander Directions to yourself: I free my neck to allow my head to balance delicately at the top of the spine, to allow the torso to lengthen and widen.

3. Continue to say these directions until you are fully engaged in the intent and purpose of the directions, and more committed to this new state in your system than achieving the result of speaking.

4. Then say to yourself, “I might say my first sentence, I might not.” The point is to recognize how the thought of giving a presentation may tighten your neck (and the rest of your body), and the first sentence may act as a stimulus (a trigger), that starts the tightening. But, just the thought of giving a presentation might make you tighten, so if you tell yourself you might or might not start, you are gently persuading yourself to not go into habitual tension.

5. Decide:

a. not to say the sentence and continue to direct b. to do something completely different, like “lift your hand instead of speaking the sentence” and continue saying the directions c. to say the sentence and keep saying the directions

Practicing these 5 steps will help you notice your habits, and decide to replace them with the new, efficient habit which is more easeful. When you’re easeful, audiences connect with you more because they sense that you are enjoying yourself. (These directions and the 5 steps have been modified by Brooke Lieb and Jessica Santascoy. The 5 steps as written by F. M. Alexander are on pages 45-46 in The Use of the Self.)

What other habits can you work with using this 5 step process?

N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification from 2008 until 2018, when ACAT ceased operations, 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

JESSICA SANTASCOY is an Alexander Technique teacher specializing in the change of inefficient habitual thought and movement patterns to lessen pain, stress, anxiety, and stage fright. She effectively employs a calm and gentle approach, understanding how fear and pain short circuit the body and productivity. Her clients include high level executives, software engineers, designers, and actors. Jessica graduated from the American Center for the Alexander Technique, holds a BA in Psychology, and an MA in Media Studies. She teaches in New York City and San Francisco. Connect with Jessica via email or on Twitter @jessicasuzette.

From March 2014: Giving Up Good Posture

by Dan Cayer

I started meditating long before I ever heard of the Alexander Technique. Now, my experience as an Alexander teacher has profoundly affected how I sit on the cushion and even how I approach meditation altogether. A week ago, I taught a workshop at the Interdependence Project called Posture, Pain, and Meditation Practice. My experience there inspired me to write about "good posture."

If we look at a meditator like this, from my perspective as an Alexander Technique teacher I can see a few imbalances which are likely making this posture uncomfortable. The low back is arched, the chest is lifted, the neck braced to keep the head from falling back, etc. But mostly what I want to tell this person is, "Don't try so hard to have good posture!"

Working with the tendency to stiffen the torso during meditation.

A Punitive Approach to Posture

What most of us associate with good posture is that oft-uttered admonition from mom, "Sit up straight." For many of us, there is a "snap out of it!" element to this impulse. There we were, daydreaming and slumping, and Whack! We were chastised to sit up straight. There might be a little shame or guilt lurking about in the moment between being reminded to sit up straight and our attempt to do so. As if it were immoral or embarrassed to be in the posture we were in.

What's not clear from the sit up straight recommendation is where you sit up from? What part leads this movement and where do we get support from? Lacking this important information we tend to lift our chest and arch our back to be more upright.

Dan demonstrating how posture begins at the top of the spine.

And yet, sitting up straight never feels that comfortable or satisfying. It feels like we are barely hanging on to this upright posture and it's just a matter of time before we are deposited back into our familiar slump. I would argue that part of the reason we fail to find a comfortable, upright posture is due to the very intensity of our pursuit. When we strive to sit up straight, we neglect such essentials as our breathing, a free neck, and relaxed shoulders to name a few. By the way, I found this photo when I googled "correct meditation posture," and there are loads of other photos in a similar breathless effortful hold.

Good Posture Is within Us Already

But don't take my word for it, here is Suzuki Roshi talking in Zen Mind, Beginners Mind:

"People ask what it means to practice zazen with no gaining idea, what kind of effort is necessary for that kind of practice. The answer is: effort to get rid of something extra from our practice. If some extra idea comes, you should try to stop it; you should remain in pure practice."

It's not that we give up our intention to have a healthy posture. Rather, we accept that good posture can be found within us naturally, just as meditators believe that Buddha nature resides within. If we realize that our posture can be uncovered just like the natural qualities of our mind, it transforms the way we approach our bodies. Good posture emerges when there is a lack of interference.

The last word goes to Roshi:

"We do not need to polish something, trying to make some impure thing pure. By purity we just mean things as they are. When something is added, that is impure."

This post was originally published at dancayerfluidmovement.com

DAN CAYER is a nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. After a serious injury left him unable to work or even carry out household tasks, he began studying the technique. His return to health, as well as his experience with the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of pain, inspired him to help others. He now teaches his innovative approach in Union Square, Carroll Gardens and in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He also teaches adults to swim with greater ease and confidence by applying Alexander principles. You can find his next workshop or schedule a private lesson at www.dancayer.co

The Alexander Technique Can Help us With Discomfort Caused By The Computer

by Melissa Brown

As we work and socialize remotely these days, we do a lot of sitting at the computer. Many of us have even added “zooming” to our daily routines. As a result, we often feel stiff and sore. Shoulders, necks, upper and lower backs can start to ache.

The Problem
The problem is simple: when we sit at the computer, we usually pull forward into our screens, crane our necks and slump. Then our muscles begin to ache. To try to undue the slump, we attempt to sit in what we think is “good posture” - a military kind of pose, pulling the shoulders back and tightening the abs. Unfortunately, our “good posture” is just a new uncomfortable tightening that we can’t sustain.

The Alexander Technique can help us find a comfortable, balanced state where we are sitting without pulling ourselves around. In the Technique, we are exploring an easy, free use of the body, where the head is poised on a lengthening spine, the torso is lengthening and widening, and the joints are open and spacious, not tight and/or compressed.

The Set-up
Computer
Your screen should be at eye-level so you can sit comfortably without craning your neck. If you have a laptop, you will need to place some books underneath it to raise the screen up. You’ll also need a separate keyboard. I got mine for about $50 at Staples. If you have a monitor, just make sure that you don’t have to constantly look down or up to see the screen.

Legs
You will want to sit with your feet on the floor and your knees lower than your hips so your legs can fall away from your hip joints, giving you more space in those joints. (If your chair is too low and your knees are higher than your hips, the thighbone will fall back into the hip joint and compromise that spaciousness.) This may require using a different chair than the one you usually sit on.

Arms
Whether you are using the keyboard for typing or the mouse for a zoom meeting, have your hands at an easy distance from the keyboard and mouse. You want to be able to reach them without leaning in, craning your neck and/or slumping.
In order to avoid crowding in the joints of your arms, you’ll want your keyboard and mouse to be positioned so your wrist is below your elbow and your elbow is below your shoulder joint when you are typing or clicking. This allows the arm bones to flow out of the joints.

If your desk does not allow for the wrists to be below the elbows, see if you find a higher chair where your feet can still reach the ground.

The Technique
To find the poise and ease that that we want, we need to stop tensing our muscles and tightening our joints and we need to gently coax our bodies into a new and more beneficial organization. Be aware that if we work too hard in an effort to change, we risk creating a new kind of tension. So be easy with yourself.

Though the Alexander Technique is a practice and it takes time to apply its principles, here are just a few ideas that you can try on your own:

First, you want to let yourself find the support of the chair. You can place your hands under your gluts to find the sit bones - which are the knobby bones on either side of the tailbone. Keep the hands there for a few seconds and then gently pull the bones out to either side. This may help you feel more balanced in your seated position. Then, see if you can release any excess tension in your leg muscles. Let your feet soften and allow them to find the support of the floor.

Release any tension that you sense in your neck and jaw muscles. This will help you stop pressing your head down onto your neck and creating downward pressure on the torso. It will also allow your head to gently poise on top of your spine so your whole spine can begin to decompress upward and your back can release into its true length and width.

As you extend your arms to make contact with the keys or the mouse, see if you notice any unnecessary work in muscles of the shoulders and the arms and if so, let it go.

While you sit, you can choose whether or not to use the back of the chair for support. If you do rest back, make sure your feet are still touching the floor and you can reach the keyboard easily. I often place a firm pillow at the back of the chair behind me so I can reach the keyboard easily. You can actually use the support of the back of the chair or the pillow to help you release your back into length and width.
It is also very important to take breaks and stand or walk around the room at regular intervals.

Melissa Brown is an nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and a graduate of American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT). In both her group classes and private lessons, Melissa works with students with physical limitations and pain as well as with people who are simply looking for better posture and more ease in movement. She also really enjoys teaching actors and other performing artists.
If you have any questions about the set-up for the computer or how to apply the Alexander principles, please feel free to email Melissa or visit her website .

Melissa teaching a student

Seeking Enlightenment?: The Alexander Technique may help you get there, faster

by Brooke Lieb (originally published here)

Many years ago, I was teaching a first lesson to a young woman. Her first statement was “I am an Evangelical Christian.” Her first question was “Does the Alexander Technique promote any religious or spiritual ideology that will conflict with my beliefs?”

I told her no, because the Alexander Technique is not a philosophy or a religion. It fails a key element of cults, in that Alexander Technique promotes the individual learning a process for assessing and revising belief systems through self-exploration. F. M. Alexander implored the teachers he trained to teach and innovate based on their own lived experience, not to copy him.

That being said, many people who study the Alexander Technique are also on a path that includes meditation, mindfulness or some spiritual practice. Sometimes, the Alexander Technique turns out to be the catalyst for getting on such a path.

I am a big fan of the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching. I recognized in my early 20s that movement and dance were the most effective and direct way for me to reach a meditative state. I don’t study any particular philosophy, and enjoy learning from and experiencing many forms of mindfulness.

A dear friend recently (October 2019) gifted me Michael Singer’s book “The Untethered Soul” which draws on many spiritual and philosophical traditions, particularly Buddhism.

As I read the book, I was reminded of the stories of seekers spending years studying, meditating, going on retreat, all in search of spiritual enlightenment. I got the impression that this enlightenment required decades long practices, was elusive and required sacrifice and deep practice to have a lived experience.

I cannot speak to what is true or possible, but as I was reading Singer’s book, his choice of words and descriptions of non-attachment and enlightenment sounded an awful lot like my lived experiences of non-attachment, achieved through my Alexander Technique practice.

Singer talks about releasing an inner struggle, learning not to identify as my thoughts and feelings, even as I experience them. He writes about choosing happiness, as a point of view, and learning to reduce self-created suffering. At the same time, he acknowledges that we will experience the gamut of human emotion. It is our relationship to it that determines our degree of struggle and resistance in the face of the reality we are in.

This could seem lofty, elusive or grand, but in practice it’s down to earth for me. Since I started lessons 36 years ago, I have used the Alexander Technique to notice how I tighten, stiffen, react and resist life on every level (body/mind/spirit) and how to lessen those tendencies, without waiting for or needing the circumstances to change.

I’ve used my Alexander tools through health scares, the death of loved ones, economic uncertainty, relationship challenges, the common cold, injuries, pain, performance anxiety, panic attacks, celebrations, bouts of anxiety and depression, at parties and on and off throughout most every day.

I expect to continue to react, resist and tighten to life, but I know that living the principles of the Alexander Technique has transformed my experience, sometimes within moments, minutes, hours or mere months, depending on the situation. It doesn’t have to take forever to have a lived experience of non-attachment and to reduce the degree of struggle and suffering.

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