Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Sleeping in the Alexander lesson
The sudden sultry weather has made us all sleepy after lunch. I even feel it myself despite having had my usual nap; timed for just after I've eaten and before my first afternoon client arrives. I need to be at my freshest to do my best work, even if they are a little fatigued themselves. The sun is now starting to blaze through the side window of my teaching room raising the temperature even with both windows wide open and the door ajar. I may have to resort to the air-conditioning later if it goes above 26 degrees in here. You see, people drop asleep on me if it's so warm.
Now there's nothing wrong with having a doze; you'll know well enough from my recent blogs on National Siesta Day, I am an enthusiast of the 'nap'. However there is a time and place, and during the Alexander Technique lesson, it doesn't help for either the client or me to be feeling dozy. Now, I've sorted myself out; I've napped. But my client hasn't. And while he's lying on the table while I work on helping him release tension in his shoulders, neck and back, I detect the little judder of his muscles, followed by a deeper relaxation as he drops off asleep. I wake him up and he asks why can't he have a little kip while I work on him.
Alexander Technique is not like massage or any treatment where a practitioner or therapist 'does it for him (or her)'. If you've had Alexander lessons, you'll know that you're not a passenger in the situation of improving your poise, but an active participant. We need to learn how to change our posture for ourselves; we need to learn how to be more in control of our posture so our habits of stiffening or slouching don't get a look in. We learn to think so our head goes upwards, our back lengthens and widens and we come up to our full height.. This requires us to be conscious and aware, so sleeping clearly doesn't help.
But if you're lying on the Alexander Technique table for ten minutes as part of the lesson, surely we can drop off just for a few minutes? This is a common question. The answer is actually "No." because we need to start associating the new looseness or freedom that we achieve when you're lying down, with being 'present' and awake. It's common for people to associate being 'relaxed' with being in bed or going to sleep, but when we're active and awake, that's when we tense up. In Alexander lessons we bridge the gap, so we start associating being very 'relaxed' or free with being very awake, alert and mentally active. This way the new quality becomes familiar with being busy at work; relaxed and free while being busy. It's the association that is important. Pavlov's Dog. We need to train the association of being busy with having a free neck, relaxed shoulders and free upright poise.
Also, if we are completely loose and floppy, our muscles will not support us when we stand. In Alexander Technique we encourage a release of unnecessary tension while also energising the correct muscular co-ordination to support us with far less effort than we may be accustomed to. Muscles are there to work and this is what we want; it's no use of they are completely flaccid and floppy. They've got a job to do and that involves us being awake and participative in our thinking to encourage this new quality.
But if one of my clients cannot stay awake for some reason and just keeps nodding off every minute or so while lying down I may get him (or her) off the table. But alternatively I may also let him sleep for a single minute and then when he wakes up, he'll be far more alert. Even just a few seconds of sleep can refresh us adequately to restore some vitalisation to our body and mind! By giving him what his body needs (a quick doze, and I mean very quick!) we will make far more of the lesson afterwards. (I am not such a hard task master, you know!).
Yes, it's good to nap and sometimes it's the only thing that will refresh us to participate fully in our life.
