Doing things differently

Sometimes I feel very fortunate. Not only for the small things in life that can so easily be taken for granted but also for the other great many benefits and comforts. However one aspect of my life for which I feel extremely fortunate about is to have a job (if I can call it that as it's more of a vocation) where I get the privilege to work with a great many people in respect of their health, well-being and performance; specifically I work with their posture. So what? The bonuses and jelly beans come with seeing people walk out of my room 40 minutes after they've arrived, smiling and changed in their whole manner of walking and stature, just like the gentleman who has just left.

The person I refer to seems to be of a very practical nature and has only had three Alexander Technique lessons since starting two weeks ago but says he already feels the difference; today the differences were visible as he walked out an inch taller and broader and apparently feeling much more comfortable in the areas that had caused him great pain for years after his car accident.

Having tried many treatments for his discomfort, stiffness and pain after breaking a great number of bones down one side of his body in the accident, he is now finding that he actually has more control over his own physique and well-being than he had previously. He is learning this technique that brings about a freeing up of muscles and joints, as well as lengthening and widening of stature, so he is more expansive and more supple at the same time. His balance is improving as he becomes more aware of his postural tendencies and corrects the situation by letting go of unnecessary tensions.

This gentleman's practical nature is welcoming the fact that so much of this Alexander Technique is based on the practicalities. For example, we are dealing with the simple situation of standing on two feet and being properly balanced in relation to gravity. Clearly if we are off balance, we will fall over, yet most of the people I meet are slightly off balance, but stiffening in unhelpful and harmful ways to compensate. These tendencies eventually take their toll and we can become very stiff, experience pain as well as insecurity and timidity and excessive wear and tear on the body so we just don't last as long as we should.

I am happy to see this chap each time he arrives as he comes with an open mind and is prepared to experiment to see 'what happens if we do things differently'. In other words, what is it like to stand with different balance, to loosen muscles that have been tense for years, to change the way we move, stand, sit, walk? That is always our objective in AT lessons; not to do it 'correctly' or 'perfectly', but to discover 'what happens if we do it differently'. This is the way we break down habits and improve our overall co-ordination.

I feel very fortunate to be working with such people as it gives me a real kick to see them changing as they learn and gain more control over their own bodies. I feel very fortunate to get the experience of helping people feel better and learn how to maintain it for themselves. I feel very fortunate when I get a whole string of people coming one after the other throughout the day, all wanting to learn how to 'do it differently' and nearly all walking out of here in quite a different manner from how they walked in.

I'm very grateful for all my clients who come along and give me such pleasure in working with them. It's so good to see them feeling better and more up-beat and sprightly as they leave.

The door bell should ring in a minute as my next client arrives. She will be smiling too when she leaves....I hope!

A back like a trampoline

It is a strongly held misconception that a strong back involves having strong muscles in that area. But this is not entirely true.

While it is necessary to have muscles that have a degree of strength and are not flaccid, they do not need to be so very strong if our whole musculature is working effectively. Many people will go to the gym to work out and within their regime will include some work specifically to strengthen their back muscles, but even when these muscles have been considerably worked and strengthened in this way it is not a given certainty that they will support our posture during normal activities such as walking, sitting and bending. This is because the muscles get into habits where some are too tense and others are not working enough. There can be an imbalance of effort between all the muscles so no matter how strong they are individually, they do not necessarily do the job they were intended for. Look at young children of around 3-4 years old. They do not have strong backs and nor do they have 'chore strength' to support them; indeed their tummies are beautifully soft yet they have great posture.

It comes down to co-ordination and getting the muscles to work together. It will not be the case that individually strong muscles will work together in a co-ordinated way in the task of supporting us. They get strong to do the job they were strengthened for....to do the stretch, to do the 'lift' to do the exercises we did. Muscles need training. Weak backs need training; not to get stronger to excercises, but to do the job of supporting us as we walk, sit and stand. That's entirely different.

A strong back is a 'widening' back.

A widening back comes about when we become free of unnecessary tension and expansive in stature. Specifically it requires the broad sheet muscle such as Latissimus Dorsi and Trapezius to span out across our backs. These muscles are effectively broad and flat but with unnecessary tension can get drawn inwards towards our spine and can be seen in a bare back as being hard ridges of muscle running vertically on both sides of the spine, rather like drainpipes. This is inefficient use of these muscles.

When I was a kid, my mother would wash our bed sheets and hang them out to dry on a washing line. When done, she'd ask me to take an end of them and tug against her to stretch out the creases before folding the sheets. When we did this, there were deep corrugated ridges along its length. However, if we were to get two other people, one on each side to stretch out the middle of the sheet, it would become flat, like a trampoline. This is effectively what happens when our flat sheet muscle is encouraged to lengthen and also fan outwards across our back.

Our back muscles need to be lengthening and widening across our back. In Alexander Technique we encourage this to happen by intending and 'directing' them to do so. We give internal 'directions' to ourselves to free up, to lengthen and widen. It's all done by thinking, nothing more. These thoughts or 'directions' tone our back muscles so they are very supportive. I know some elderly people who do not work out in gyms but have stronger backs than young people who work out daily. This is because they are using what they've got more efficiently.

Good teamwork will achieve far more than the efforts of strong individuals who are not working together in a co-ordinated manner. It is the same with our posture and the strength of our backs. We don't need strong muscles in our back and we do not need to develop strong chore strength in order to be upright and pain free. We just need to use what we've got as nature intended it. What we're doing with Alexander Technique is exactly what's happening in nature; it's just that we're bringing it about consciously and by so doing, we can get rid of the postural habits that undermine us. This whole process is a lot simpler than most people imagine.

You cannot 'do' good posture. You can only let it happen by making sure that bad habits do not get in the way of it. The right thing will do itself as nature intended. Alexander Technique enables us to do just that.

The smell of Bond

Quantum of Solace

I'm not deluded. I don't look like James Bond. But apparently I am smelling like his creator, Ian Fleming, according to the sales representative in the men's perfumery department of John Lewis. She thrust a sample into my hand. "Floris 89 was Ian Fleming's favourite Eau de Toilette and he made it Bond's favourite too! It has been re-issued to commemorate 50 years since Fleming wrote the first Bond book and to mark the launch of the latest film Quantum of Solace."

"I see."

So having returned to my office after a brief sojourn to buy a gift for someone, I'm now sitting at my computer smelling like Fleming or Bond or both and wondering if the connection will inspire my writing. I glaze over.

Did Fleming ever glaze over? It wouldn't appear so, having written many successful books and created an iconic character who is probably more widely known for being English than the Queen herself. I sniff the Floris 89 scent again... fresh, sophisticated; it's a citrus/floral melange with a hint of Sandalwood and cedar, very 1950s but I actually quite like it. Then again, it has been described as being more for an older man. I guess that's me...

If Fleming was around now, he would recognise it instantly. It might remind him of Havana and his old gentleman's club.

Isn't it fascinating how certain smells can remind us of situations so very long ago that we may have forgotten completely? How is it that a smell can stimulate all the senses so we can see in our mind's eye and feel experiences that we have not thought of for decades? It was just last week that I got a whiff of a passing scent somewhere that reminded me of the school class room I sat in as a 8 year old. It smelt of plasticine, wood, glue and paper and old fabric world maps that got hung on the blackboard. I 'saw' my elderly teacher with her mop of curls, heard her thin voice, remembered her string of pearls that once snapped so they all plunged down her cleavage; my class-mate Fergus got a telling off for offering to help retrieve them with a spoon.

Such is the power of smell to retrieve memories from the dusty files of experiences. I am reminded that our posture also hold the grains of memories. Locked in our shoulders and neck are the tensions of a million experiences. This is why sometimes when we release muscle tensions in Alexander Technique lessons we may get flashbacks to situations. We may burst out laughing for no real reason, or some tears may well up as we release emotions that have been held captive for so long. There is always a box if tissues in my teaching room for this very reason.....as well as for cleaning the nib of my fountain pen.

I wonder if Ian Fleming used a fountain pen. Probably. But more than likely to write hand written notes than his books which he typed on a clunky typewriter.

The bell has just rung indicating that my next client has arrived....and I'm still smelling of 89..... However, I'm ready to help my client release a few unwanted tensions and improve his posture. He'll look more like James Bond than I ever will when I'm finished with him, that's for sure.

Can

I caught myself thinking CAN'T the other day. It was an unusual experience; most foreign and rather unsettling. Thinking 'can't' is not something I do much. Usually I think 'CAN'.

Such attitude or thinking can appear during times we are 'trying' to do something new or difficult. We may experience failure at our attempts to 'get a hole in one', knock down ten pins in one, ride a hundred miles in a day or be in two places at once. In my case it is during my third month of experimenting with my violin vibrato and attempting to get smooth transitions from note to note with continuous finger-tip impulse vibrato. Learning an instrument at the age of 4 years old is quite a different thing from learning as a mature if not aged adult! The physical results of our efforts may give evidence to a 'can't do' situation. But nothing can be further from the truth.

We may not have done what we intended on that particular attempt, or even during the last ten attempts. But this does not mean that we 'cannot' do it. It's just that we ,may not have done so yet.

CAN is a word I like. It's such a good word. just three letters.....It's like .....YES.

If we're 'trying' to do something and are not achieving it, the last thing we should do is 'try harder'. Trying harder just sets up a whole lot of effort and unwanted physical tension; effort that just gets in the way of achieving our goal. Even if you're attempting to push a broken down car or pick up a heavy box, it's not a question of making more effort; it's likely that you can achieve more by improving your balance or better co-ordination of muscle use. (To get this, you may need some experience of Alexander Technique.)

So often though it's about how we are thinking. Thinking CAN, sets up a whole positive attitude about our task and our abilities. But how can you think CAN, when all your previous experiences tell you that you 'can't'? One answer is to look at HOW you are doing it. Break it down into smaller stages; do it in slow motion to observe in minutiae what you're actually doing rather than what you 'think' you're doing. This is my approach with my violin playing. By slowing the smallest sequence of notes down into slow motion so I can see what's happening and also experiment with giving my muscles the positive experience of doing the task correctly in slow motion, helps get the whole thing into the muscle memory. When the correct finger movement is in our muscle memory, we can speed it up and "Hey Presto!" we're doing what we wanted. But it's unlikely that we will achieve our aim by just 'trying harder' at doing the activity at normal speed. Indeed we're more than likely to just ingrain our faulty muscle use even more so it becomes habitual!

Sports people use Self-Administered Visuo-Motor Behavioral Rehearsal to achieve their goals. It is a tested technique that has been used for years and can be applied to almost any activity, not only sport. See yourself achieving your task, scoring the goal, raising the cup, jumping the high bar or whatever you like. In my own case, I visualise myself in minute detail playing the violin in the manner I want. I 'see' the fluid movement of my fingers, the graceful movement of my 'shifting' arm and hand, the poise, I 'hear' the sound. I visualise or rehearse the feeling I'll get when I HAVE done it. I visualise the experience I will have afterwards....feeling great.....thinking "that was easy!".

To achieve goals that at first seem 'impossible', give lots of time to 'seeing' yourself doing the thing. Also work on your technique by breaking it down into small chunks that can be worked on separately. Do them in slow motion.

If you catch yourself saying "I can't do......", put a coin in a swear box. There is one word that I would like struck out of the dictionary.... You know what one it is.

CAN. That's a far better word.

Beauty in a handshake

"Hi! Pleased to meet you!" I smile as I take his hand. In a matter of two seconds I have learnt something about this person in subtle ways than if I may not have learnt if I chatted to him for half an hour.

In our society where it would be intrusive and over-personal to physically touch a stranger, the handshake is accepted as part of a normal introduction. When we greet friends there may also be a handshake or usually a hug or kiss on the cheek, but in the situation of meeting someone for the first time, such familiarity would be an affront; yet the handshake is accepted custom.

Human touch is one of the most powerful stimuli we can experience. It sends shock waves and energy through our body. In England we have the most reserved of natures, but we are strong on using the handshake as a means of introduction. Two people simultaneously reach out their hands and 'BANG' electric currents and energy communicate. We engage momentarily with someone in a most personal way; through human contact, even though other forms of touch are taboo.

This causes me to think about what is it about me that the other person picks up, albeit subconsciously when we shake hands. Naturally this is only one part of a greeting; there is the meeting of eyes, or not as the case may be; there is a smile, grimace, frown; there can be an air of competition, one-up man-ship, superiority; or there can be interest, pleasure and attraction or joy. Shaking hands is only a part of our greeting, but the manner in which we do the shake of someone else's hand can tell whole stories.

Do you notice how someones hand feels when you shake it? I do, and that's not because I'm an Alexander teacher. What is there to notice in such an exchange? There is the contact; do the palms meet, is the hand soft and spongy or hard and tense; is it firm and solid or weak and insecure; is there a warmth in the greeting or just formality; is it vigorous or gentle; bone-breaking or like a wet fish; do the fingers reach out around the hand or hold you as they would a piece of paper? We probably also pick up on the emotional state and demeanour of the person.

I usually find shaking hands such a good experience, or at least interesting. I enjoy a gentle firmness in contact, palm meeting palm, fingers reaching out around the hand, softness in muscle (not tense), a generous shake but not too vigorous. I enjoy a handshake that feels like they mean it. It does not want to be over long, but it is also nice when it exists for more than a quarter second.

Is there a 'right' way of doing a handshake? Probably not. I think there are just different ways. All handshakes are individual and have their own characteristics. They can be a very powerful experience so I like to offer a hand that does not display any overt tendencies, but has warmth and security; one that comes from my heart and that is meant. I don't feel that it should be 'noticeable' for any undue amount of effort, trying or self-consciousness. But a little care and consideration can make the experience for the other person a good one. And this is also the impression we give of ourselves.

Renewed acquaintance

There has been something missing from my Alexander Technique teaching room for many weeks and it's only today that I have truly taken note. Such has been the nature of recent busy days; being occupied with giving lessons as well as managing the building work on our new house from afar and everything else that squeezes into our lives, that the omission has not previously registered itself fully on my mind.

But now the situation has been rectified.

For the first time in as many weeks as I can remember, yellow chrysanthemums grace my window sill and how pleasing it is. How can I have gone so long without their presence? How can I not even have noticed?

There is something about real cut flowers, or a plant that brings life into a room. It brings the outdoors, indoors. Their lively pertness reaches upwards towards the light, their petals waver in a slight breeze from the partially open window, their colour reflects around the room casting a soft glow and luminance and I feel very 'not alone'. They give me company. Now I am not going as far as my late mother who in the early years of her illness could not pass a vase of flowers without stopping to say, "Oh, hello! How are you today?" But I do feel their quiet energy and appreciate their life and presence.

I am very grateful for the radiant colour and freshness these yellow chrysanths bring to my teaching room. When I am working on my clients, invariably in the middle of the room so that we can experiment with standing with improved balance, walking and sitting and means of bending, I can see the flowers on my window sill out of the corner of my eye and they are a very gentle but very definite source of uplifting joy. They exude happiness.

When they pass their best and their 'time has come', I shall let them go with ease and gratitude. I shall also immedately go out and buy some more.

:-)

Rendezvous Asda car park.

Well, it turns out Fiona likes chocolate. We also got our stone slab samples for our garden terrace. At least some things turn out well!

:-)