Lisa’s AT Story

My Alexander Technique journey began in 2013 when I had free time at 7:00 on Monday nights for the first time in many years. Normally, I spent Mondays teaching violin lessons all afternoon then hurrying to orchestra rehearsal, but I’d developed some overuse pain that wasn’t responding well to physical therapy. I decided to take a short break from orchestra and try the Alexander Technique, something I’d always been interested in anyway.

In my first lesson, my teachers, Catherine and David, handed me a small metal spring and asked me to compress it. “What happens when you push down on the spring? What do you notice? What happens if you stop pushing?” This simple illustration was a metaphor for the spine. “Who’s doing the pushing, or pulling down, on your spine?” As I played with the spring and considered this idea, I felt a sudden lightness and expansiveness. The other students in the class told me I had just gotten taller by releasing tension, all on my own!

That first lesson remains one of the most important days of my life.

I had found a real, clear way to change MYSELF. My coordination would restore to its natural, optimal design…if I learned how to ask. I continued to study the Technique with Catherine and David and Cathy Madden, and they taught me that the mind and body are united, how the head-spine relationship determines how we move as a whole, and how to carry this new way of moving into my violin playing and any other activity. A decade later, I stand 1.5 inches taller, feel more clear, joyful, and purposeful. The Alexander Technique is the most empowering, practical educational tool I’ve ever learned.

So, what’s the secret? How does the Alexander Technique work?

Here’s a quick primer: The most important joint in our body is at the top of the spine, where your head and spine meet. Do you know where that is? Put your fingers in your ears and nod delicately. It’s way up there, inside your head, between your ears. That joint only nods.

Next, scrunch up your neck and try moving your arms or fingers. What do you notice? Now, starting with the joint between head and spine, un-scrunch. Restore to design. Continue moving your arms. What do you notice?

Chances are, it was a lot harder to move your arms or fingers while your neck was tight, and you felt some relief and lightness when you un-scrunched. When the head and spine are in a fluid, moving relationship, your whole system works better. However, when we interfere between head and spine–and, over a lifetime, many of us do for various reasons–we can cause a chain reaction of stiffness and stress in our entire body. Sometimes these interferences become habitual. Sometimes interfences are due to structural issues or old injuries.

The Alexander Technique is a simple, yet powerful, tool for restoring to your design. The “Technique” part is learning how to ask to coordinate and create a new pattern. When you create a new pattern using the Technique, you’re actually activating inhibiting neurons that turn off old patterns. You’re tapping into your neuroplasticity!

Interested in trying it for yourself? Click here.