A client today was saying how his golf swing left something to be desired, despite managing to play a good game. He described that during his swing, his right hip and leg did something strange that caused a slightly erratic movement. He had been told by another specialist that he had a preference towards his right side, so he was imbalanced and that his Psoas muscle on that side was over developed. I agreed with this, but also added that if a muscle is over developed on one side, then that is because it is being used more than the other side; it doesn't happen by accident. The muscles on one side are often worked more than the other, so they become more developed; it's cause and effect. If he uses muscles less, then they will reduce in strength according to the amount of use.

I watched his golf swing during our session today and could see clearly there was a tendency not to remain even on both legs and also to straighten his right leg and pull ihis hip backwards during the movement. We looked at how he should think to overcome this tendency.

He commented that he may be able to change his stance and swing, but he was concerned that the ball may go wild and fly off in wrong directions. I explained that when we change how we 'use ourselves' during something so precise as a golf swing (or playing the violin in my case, or any other instrument or sporting activity) we not only change our movement and use, but also we upset everything we have relied upon over the years, to do what we do. The new way will feel wrong and there will be a large amount of readjustment of all the parts of his body that come into use during his swing. It is most likely that the ball will go wild and his accuracy will be affected, until such time as the new way of 'use' becomes familiar and established.

When we think about one thing such as changing our stance and swing, our mind is taken away from other aspects of the swing that we have previously relied upon to get the ball in the hole. Nothing is familiar any more. However there are very great problems with trying to just 'get the ball in the hole' and not attend to the manner in which we do it, or the 'means whereby' as FM Alexander called it. By 'end gaining' we can get into all sorts of trouble. It is much better to work on the fundamentals of 'use' and let the 'end' take care of itself.

If we can give ourselves some time to work on such principles, without worrying about 'getting the ball in the hole' then we can change our manner of use so it will be more reliable. However, repetition of faulty use or a faulty swing in his case, ingrains the tendency more and makes it even more pronounced over time.

It is really worth while to practice small parts of a movement of a swing and give absolute attention to such things as keeping our neck free, remaining balanced on both feet, maintaining freedom across the shoulders and the arm pits etc and moving fluidly, without worrying about the end result. Repetition of 'good use' gets into the muscle memory and system so that we will be better off once it's established as a norm. The only way we can eradicate faulty 'use' or actions is to give absolute attention to the situation, millisecond by millisecond. It will soon become more second nature and our accuracy will return and become even better as all of the working parts become more integrated.

Yes, his accuracy may be affected by changing his swing, but with due care and attention to 'how' he is doing it, I believe he can change his swing ant it will be much better as a result. We've just got to give ourselves a bit of time to work on it.

One of my first clients this morning told me that she's going to Annecy in France for a holiday next week. How wonderful I thought, remembering the times I've been to Annecy, beside its lake of the same name near the Alps. She explained that the hotel wasn't actually in Annecy itself, but in Talloires, nearby. "You're not staying at Le Cottage, Talloires, by any chance, are you?" I asked. "Why yes, actually we are!"

Sometimes the world seems very small, very small indeed. My first visit to Talloires was in 1965 when I was a spotty adolescent. We went as a family of four; my brother and I, Mum and Dad. We swam in the lake, fished for the small local poisons, made rafts out of old timber logs and went walking in the mountains behind. In those days Le Cottage was a humble house of no grandeur or finesse, whereas now it is a very smart lakeside hotel and more expensive than we would have afforded in 1965.

We'd had the most amazing three week holiday touring France by car, taking a week to drive down to the Cote D'Azur staying at small Relais Routiers en route. We'd had a week of Mediterranean sun, sea, sand and fun. The return to the UK was gentle drive north again via the French Alps and one of the places we stopped for a couple of nights was Talloires, so we could have fun on the lake and visit the neighbouring town of Annecy with its pretty riverside houses with flower baskets and its stunning castle on the hill. Roads in those days were quiet D or N roads as it was before Autoroutes had been thought of, so pottering around by car was a great adventure.

I returned to this region of France just a few years ago when doing small tour with my partner; 5 days in the Ardeche further south where shrubs and trees are stunted and the ground is bleached ochre by the sun, then a week in Le Chartreuse, a mountainous region where the Maquis resistance fighters hid from the Germans during the second world war which now is a National Park and wonderful walking country (not to mention the delicious green Chartreuse liqueur produced at the secluded monastery....a beguiling tipple capable of blowing your head off). And finally we had a week in the lower reaches of the Alps, just above Talloires and Annecy. We drove specially to Talloires as I remembered the name of the guest house that my family had stayed at almost 40 years before and I wanted to renew the memory. And there it was; grander, larger, but still in the same location. My raft had disappeared and there are now more sun loungers and waiters around, but it's the same place. On this return, I pictured my Mum and Dad there, sitting beside the water as my brother and I played. How strange it seems to revisit a place where memories and history tell you that events have occured and lives lived, and here we are again....living the same life, but now moved on. That was then. Now is now.

And here I am today, now in my Alexander Technique teaching practice giving an Alexander Technique lesson to a client who will be at Le Cottage, Talloires, next week. Memories are fun. Planning and looking forward to future events is also fun. But really there is only one time to be in and that is 'Now'. And 'now' is fun too..... That's the place to be. The more we are 'present' the more fun and enjoyment and depth of experience we get at this moment, which in turn will provide stronger memories for some future time when we press the pause button on the 'present' to remember an occasion once more. Ah, Talloires, I remember it well....

Apparently wild garlic is not so readily available to chefs unless they have access to a vegetable garden or some in the wild. But as we went on our Sunday walk from our door across the Dorset countryside we came across such vast amounts of Wild Garlic growing at the sides of the paths, it's clear why Mat Follas chose it as the name for his restaurant. One path we took from Beaminster over the hill towards Mapperton had a half mile of its borders covered with the typical white flowers and broad slender leaves. I'm sure we smelled of garlic after the walk, without even eating any. We will soon be experimenting by chopping the leaves (not the bulb) into our own cooking. It smells slightly sweeter and more gently than normal garlic. We'll try it this weekend as we receive our first guests at our new home.

Further on the walk on the hills above Maplash the path meandered through some woods with the most wonderful bluebells. It was like an enchanted garden. There is nothing to lift the spirits more than such a quiet and beautiful spot, with sun glinting through the leaves, to reconnect with the soul and enjoy nature. I freed my neck, smiled and walked on through....

In my work as an Alexander Technique teacher I help people overcome postural habits, where muscles and co-ordination have got into a set pattern of habits that characterise our posture and govern how we move and how much effort we make in doing the simplest of tasks. But retraining our muscles and co-ordination in Alexander lessons we can get out of habits that in the worst situations can cause a great deal of pain, discomfort, anxiety and loss of ability and reduced performance in all fields of activity.

But here I am with post-project blues missing my daily interaction with Russell who has expertly steered us through to completion, and I realise that my brain 'muscle' is just as prone to get into habits as my physical muscles! Habits of thought are just as powerful as habits of posture and physical tension. So it's time to move on; to move out of the mode of house renovator and to recommence all those activities that can give me immense pleasure, but it takes a certain amount of mental switching over. For instance, my violin has barely seen the light of day for weeks, my photography has come to a complete standstill, but now I have a brand new darkroom at our house (yes, old fashioned darkroom for camera film development and printing pictures in wet chemicals!) I am almost ready to get back into it. But how rusty I feel!

The violin almost feels strange in my hands; I'm clumsy and less proficient with the minimal practice I have afforded it in recent months. Goodness knows how my darkroom skills have fared but I shall challenge those at the weekend, I hope and do some inaugural prints with my new facilities.

Also, after a rather lengthy spell away from writing blog entries, I hope to settle back into the pleasant occupation of writing some musings and drivel, mainly for my own amusement, but if you're at all interested, then please do drop by occasionally. I'm sorry for the recent lapse in writing, but I hope you don't hold this against me!

So with spring well and truly budding, the weather most pleasant and a garden at our new home flourishing, I can reflect on all this in between my clients for Alexander Technique. So as another person is about to arrive for her lesson to improve her posture, I'll must go and get on with the day in hand. See you soon. :-)

I am always happy to hear how people's lives have changed beyond the obvious 'getting rid of back ache' or 'reduction in headaches' or the 'knees that don't ache any more' or the 'better confidence and improved speaking voice in meetings'. When they discover something else that was not the reason for taking lessons in the first place, then you know it's getting into their system; it's improving their life on fundamental levels. I think of the entrepreneur lady who came for back and neck problems and found her acidity and digestion improved, and the chap who came with a bad back but who had broken his elbow 30 years previously and had been 'permanently bent ever since, now finds it is straightening.

I've been playing the violin for around 4 years and my recent endeavours have been much improved by a step back from playing music to really working on my own poise, balance, ease of movement. For the last eight months I have been absorbed in such fundamentals as freeing my neck more, paying attention to my balance, so I don't lean, going 'up' within myself so I lengthen and widen in stature as I play. I had found one or two habits creeping in that I wasn't too happy about. Hence the 'step back' to work on fundamentals. My last violin lesson was in August last year...eight months ago. I told my teacher (who is wonderfully understanding) that I was going to do this and he let me go, to go and work on it. I returned just two weeks ago for another lesson and he said that he'd never heard me play so well, that every aspect of my playing had improved. I was chuffed. Thank you!

For the last eight months I have been standing between two mirrors, angled so I can see different sides of my self as I play. This way I get to see what's really going on. This is the way that F.M. Alexander worked in the 1880's when he evolved his technique to help himself. He found he couldn't trust his feelings as the mirrors clearly showed that he was not doing what he thought he was doing. These days, Alexander Technique teachers guide their 'pupils' with their hands, so they get the new experience; the teacher acts as a mirror. But I have been using the mirrors in F.M.'s manner to help myself.......and I've learnt so much! You may think I'm mad, standing between mirrors for eight months, but it's only a fraction of the time that Alexander did for himself; his experimentation lasted many years and I am blessed with a little knowledge of how he did it whereas, he worked it all out for himself!

Mirrors never lie. You see what is.....if you have the eyes to notice. You've got to not look at the balding head, the moles on the face, the belly that's had too many dinners. You've got to be objective and see what is truly happening. Then by using Inhibition to avoid just pulling your shoulders back or sucking your guts in, to use Alexander Technique directions to change how you are. It's an indirect approach where we use a process, rather than aiming for the end result.

So, like my tennis playing pupil who has experienced changes beyond her expectations in another field, I am using the technique that I teach to others to help myself improve at my own chosen activity of playing the violin. It's helping so much..... It does take time, but by giving it plenty of time it pays huge dividends.

If we change our manner of 'use', in our poise and movement, we change how our body functions. This helps us internally with breathing, digestion, circulation, reproductive organs as well as personal confidence and sense of well being. It also helps with everything we do.

I'm very pleased that my violin teacher tells me that I've improved so much...not by practicing the music, but by practicing how I 'use' myself when playing the instrument. He simply said...."Carry on, it's great." So I shall.

Soon I will return to learning more music and I will bring to the task a better performing Noel and I'll do a better job at it, as my own 'use' is improved during the activity.

"Pull your shoulders back, man....and stand up straight!" Can't you hear a Sargent Major shouting this? And haven't we heard our parents tell us similarly when we were young (or even not so young!)...to stand up or sit up straight?

We all know that upright posture is supposed to be better for us, but sadly just pulling your shoulders back, sucking your guts and bracing yourself is just not the way.

When we pull ourselves up 'straight' like this, we use a whole lot of muscles in ways that are not intended for upright poise. We use the wrong muscles and wrong muscle fibres in our endeavour to straighten out our banana shaped posture, but after a short while we begin to collapse again into our slouch as we become tired. We're back to 'Square One'.

And looking at this gentleman on the left, he may think he's standing up 'straight', but look at him in more detail. His back is arched, so he's bent in the middle, his head is severely pulled back, there is masses of tension between his shoulder blades, in his lower back and legs and it's painful to look at.

However if we were to observe a 3-4 year old child we would see an example of upright poise that appears effortless and causes no strain or discomfort; it can be sustained all day without tiring. Now why is that?

All vertebrate mammals, including horses, dogs, lions, cheetahs, cats and the Meerkat motif at the top of this page have a natural instinct for poise. It's in their genetic make up after millions of years of evolution. Humans have a very similar instinct that gets us on our feet as a child and we learn to balance with upright stance. We also have a very free neck, relaxed shoulders. It's all instinctive and working naturally. This instinct is with us until we die.

But if we look at the chap in the photograph, he certainly is not doing what a child would do; he is using a vast amount of effort and is distorting his poise too.

As adults we have probably developed a lot of postural habits, that may stiffen us and also cause collapse at the same time. If we were able to get rid of our postural habits we could allow our natural instinct for poise to help us. This is what we do with the Alexander Technique. Someone having lessons in the Alexander Technique is never shown 'how to stand or sit', but is helped with the hands-on work from a qualified teacher, to learn how to let go of the habits we have. "If we get rid of the wrong thing, the right thing will look after itself.", said FM Alexander.

The Technique does not involve making effort to hold ourselves up. Far from it. We learn to not stiffen, to let go of tensions. But by thinking in the right way, we stimulate our bodies natural response to gravity, to take us upright to our full height. We only need to think it and our muscles will oblige. The Meerkat sitting at the top of my page is only wishing to see into the distance and his 'postural muscles' oblige him by bringing him up tall without any sense of effort.

Improving your posture should not involve making any particular effort, but to overcome our habits we do need to use our mind. We learn to think the right thoughts that encourage our body to come into better balance, tall and broad. We let our body sort itself out. We are actually doing exactly the same as what is happening in nature with vertebrate mammals; animals such as cats, horses and lions.....as well as our own children. The only difference is that they are doing it instinctively (without harmful habits that interfere with their poise) and we are doing it consciously by tapping into our instinct. We think, but we DO NOT make effort. We'll leave that to the old fashioned military school.

:-)

THE OLD PHONE (A great story)

When I was just a young boy, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct time.

My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy.

I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.

A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear: "Information."

"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's home but me," I blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked.

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open the icebox?" she asked.

I said I could.

"Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.

After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts.

Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"

She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Wayne always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."

Somehow I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone, "Information Please."

"Information, "she said in the now familiar voice.

"How do I spell fix?" I asked.

All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me.

Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.

I spent five minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information Please."

Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well. "Information."

I hadn't planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?"

There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."

I laughed. "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time?"

I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your call meant to me. I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls."

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.

"Please do", she said. "Just ask for Sally."

Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered, "Information." I asked for Sally.

"Are you a friend?" she said.

"Yes, a very old friend," I answered.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."

Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Wayne?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you."

The note said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean."

I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.

Whose life have you touched today?

Why not pass this on? I just did....

Our traditional trip north to Sheffield to stay with relatives was capped by a couple of days in Derbyshire for walks, hot teas, roaring log fires and crisp frost. I had taken my Hasselblad equipment to do some 'serious' photography and maybe even get a suitable image for next years Christmas card. These are still 'in the can', awaiting my next visit to the darkroom. However I also had my small digital Leica for snaps and took these three images on our walk through the beautiful Dovedale and across surrounding hills.

Winter is one of my favourite times for photography as the sun doesn't rise so high in the sky and the fog and mist may linger with a thick frost. It's great to go out walking when your boots crunch, crunch in the frost and snow underneath. And it is also great to come back to the roaring log fire to thaw out with Christmas cake and tea.

Hope you had a good break too. I intend to be blogging more frequently now that we're into 2009.

Frosty Pines

Lane to Dovedale

During an Alexander Technique lesson earlier this morning I asked my client 'not to do anything'. He replied "What, now?" He was asking me if I meant he should not do anything at that precise moment. So I said "Yes, don't do anything!" So he immediately did something with his muscles to brace himself and hold some sort of 'good posture'. It's a baffling thing, that when I ask some people to 'not do anything' they make a great deal of effort in the process. This is of course the exact opposite of what we want; I want them to release tension, not make more.

Inhibition is the keystone of the Alexander Technique. It is only by inhibiting our responses to stimuli, withholding consent to a movement or action, that we actually have the opportunity to change 'how' we do it. Only when we pause for a moment do we have that split second to make a choice against the habits of a lifetime; but by so doing we can actually make huge changes in how we feel, perform, function as a healthy human being.

In the Alexander Technique lesson, I may wish to move a new client from sitting to standing. We do this in quite a controlled way so that we can overcome habitual tensions and retrain his musculature out of the bad postural habits; we wish to eliminate the harmful tensions that get in the way of our natural poise, the poise we had as young children. So I want my pupil to 'leave himself alone', to not help, to not stand up in his usual manner so he gives me the chance of moving him in a different way, with less effort and better balance, to move while lengthening and widening in stature. He cannot possibly know 'how to do this' for himself as it is outwith his experience. At least it's outside of his normal experience yet he would have moved like this as a young child. We are simply refreshing his ability and eliminating the harmful posture habits that interfere. Get rid of those and it will all work beautifully well. So he needs to learn to inhibit; to stop. Then we establish the Directions of release, lengthening and widening, then he allows me to move him by inhibiting his reactions or desire to help.

So I ask my pupil to not do anything as I move him from sitting to standing, and as a new pupil he may say "What, do you want me to stand up, now?" And I explain that no, I do not want him to stand up in the way that he knows how. I am going to 'stand him up' in a way that he does not know. That is quite different. Only when he 'leaves himself alone' and does not try to do it, will he give me the chance of giving him this new experience. So I ask him to 'Stop'; to do nothing. That does not mean stiffen. It means, do not do anything at all. "Leave yourself alone." But so often in the first lesson or two, they have immediately jumped up out of the chair, using vast amounts of effort and stiffness; far more than necessary. And if they 'try hard' to do it better, they'll use even more effort, because we are indoctrinated to believing that 'trying harder' means making more effort and this could hardly be farther from the truth.

In Alexander Technique lessons, we want to find 'neutral'. We want to discover more quietness and stillness in our muscles. We want to find more freedom and to use less effort when we do move. Even sitting can involve half the effort most people make yet still remain sitting upright.. We should approach it differently and ask ourselves "What happens if I do it differently? Let's experiment. Every time in the Alexander lesson we want to experiment with doing things differently; not as our old habits may determine. Let's make choices against our habits. It is only by using our conscious mind that we can change the habits of a lifetime and we'll regain so much of what we had as young children it's likely we'll be surprised at how good it can be. Yes, life can be that good.

If you're having Alexander Technique lessons, experiment with doing less. Let the teacher move you; put yourself in neutral and see 'what happens if you do it differently?; Do less. You may be surprised at how much better you'll feel and function.

We've been having such great weather recently, not that I've seen much of it as I'm so very busy with teaching the Alexander Technique I've barely had time to get out of my office. But I did manage over the weekend when we went to one of our favourite places for a long walk. Sunday was glorious; the frost was crisp and all shone and sparked in the sun that barely lifted itself much above the tops of the hills. The light was oblique from an angle that side lights everything like a stage set.

The early morning is my favourite time of day as I'm most productive. It is also my favourite time of day for photography as the light is so dramatic. In summer I need to get up around 4.30am to get this sort of light and it's short lived as the sun soars upwards so quickly and soon everything is 'top lit'. But in autumn, winter and spring the sun doesn't go so high and we may even get frost like now, or dew and all is fresh and alive with vibrant energy in expectation of a new day. I also get to lie in bed a little longer as the sun rises later.

But this is almost as wintery as it gets in UK as we don't get much snow except on the highest ground and further north. I miss it. But here we are, living in 'today' and not harking back to old times. Sunday was magical and I had my small digital camera with me to snap this little shot looking back down a path we often take, from the woods below up to Ibstone above with its quaint church. The church is a good quarter mile outside the village, where the village used to be in fact in the 15th century. But the conurbation grew further over. Apparently the villagers intended to move the church by dismantling it and rebuilding it on a site closer to the village. But when a storm raged and lightening struck the intended site, they decided to leave the church where it was, and still is. They renamed the place the church was to have move to as Hell's Corner as it was believed that the lightening strike was the Devil's work.

Ibstone Church, Oxfordshire

So we often stop to sit on a wooden bench beside the entrance of Ibstone church, to catch our breath and take in the peacefulness of the churchyard. I regret not having my manual cameras with me that I use for black and white photography. Not having held one since August having been so busy with the refurbishment of our house in Dorset, I miss the close involvement of picture making. This snap is as close as I get these days. But the situation will be remedied when we move into our house and my new darkroom is built. "Darkroom?" I hear you ask, "When digital does so much more and better?" Well yes, but that's another story. I just like old fashioned methods where pictures are 'hand made'.

But stopping for a rest is good. Not that we ever get exhausted doing our walks. But I enjoy sitting down, as it changes my 'use' of legs and back. It allows me to refresh how I am, to restore my poise after climbing the hill, to get centred and let my head go upwards and my back to lengthen and widen. Then we move on after a few minutes, feeling restored, expansive and ready for much more.

This technique enables us to deal with our postural habits; complex as they are and unknown may be their origins. Where did our stiff neck come from, or the tendency to slouch, sit in a twist, lean forwards or backwards when walking, arching our back unnecessarily, holding our breath, stiffening our shoulders or grinding our teeth? Unless we suffered a specific injury that we can date, it's likely that we have no idea where our postural tendencies have come from. All we know is that we've had them as long as we can remember, and maybe our parents have the same tendencies too......'Like father, like son'.

We could sit and analyse our situation for hours, weeks and years, but I'm not sure what benefit that would bring us. No matter what happened to us and what influences caused us to adopt certain postural habits, they are all in the past. We are viewing our situation from Today, not tomorrow or yesterday and we're living today with the outcome of our past experiences and the habits we've got are right now. The past is behind us and the future won't come until it's the Present.

We were not born with bad postural habits and unless we were handicapped as a child, it's likely that we had great poise until we were about four years old. Then the habits set in, from copying parents and friends, stress or injury. This technique gives us a practical method of taking more control over our body and to eliminate harmful postural habits. We gain awareness of what we are doing; how is our balance, how are we moving, standing or sitting? It's right now that we're interested in. Although we may have some concern about how we will be in twenty years time and wish to avoid problems later in life, the only way we can help ourselves is to ensure that we are 'using our body' in the most efficient and healthy way today, so that it does not wear our or deteriorate prematurely.

During an Alexander Technique lesson, it is quite normal to get a new experience of moving with less effort, of being in better balance, or lengthening in stature as we move rather than stiffening and shortening. Sometimes a client will say "Wow, that was different!" The tendency will then be to try and copy what happened so they can do it again. But that won't work.

The reason why they got this 'great experience' was because we set up their musculature so that before they moved, they were in balance, free in their joints and lengthening and widening. When they moved, they inhibited harmful tensions and continued to lengthen and widen during the movement. What they did a few minutes ago that gave them this new and exciting experience is in the past. The only way they can have this 'great experience' again is to use the same process that brought it about last time. In other words, they can't just copy the experience, but they need to set up the whole muscular situation where they are in good balance, free in their joints and lengthening and widening before they move, while they move and after they move. They can only deal with the present moment. By trying to copy what we did earlier or by trying to hang onto a 'great experience' they are living in the past and will cause stiffness. In life, we are constantly dealing with moment after moment and each one is unique and can only be Present.

That is Now. By dealing with our situation now, we help give us good experiences 'now', and also do our best for helping our future.

I catch my breath as the realisation suddenly dawns on me that it's time to write some Christmas and Seasons Greetings cards. Or should I send emails? E cards are becoming so popular now for obvious reasons; they're cheap and quick to send. However, call me old fashioned, but I still like writing to people....with pen and paper. I so love the feel of a good fountain pen in my hand and writing with wet ink that takes time to dry. There is something very therapeutic and meditative about writing by hand, putting it into an envelope, sticking a stamp on it then posting it in the mail box on the street. "There! Done." It's on its way.

Over the years the number of cards that I send has increased; indeed it is well over a hundred and could approach two hundred if I did not edit the list, which is what I've just done. And rather than leaving the whole lot until the last minute, I'm writing a few each day, with meaningful messages to each person. It is only by doing just a few at a time do I have the energy and inclination to write more than a brief greeting. To think takes time. So I give myself time to think, by starting writing well before they need to be sent. The pile of written cards is growing and probably in a week or two's time I'll take them all down to the mail box and fill it up single handed.

A year or two ago I took it to the endth degree and hand wrote all the envelopes, feeling that only then was I connecting properly with my friends. "If it's worth sending, it's worth doing properly." But now I succumb to the ease of computer generated labels from my database. I console myself by thinking it's the message inside that counts, not the envelope. (I'm still not sure about this....)

It's cold today and ice lay on the cars and streets as I left home at 6.00am. There is nothing more confusing and unsettling than writing Seasons Greeting cards when it's warm and mild outside. It's December and the weather is doing what it should do. Anyway, I love a cold snap, and so does the garden. It might also kill off some of the germs and bugs that have been putting people into bed. At least the ink in my pen isn't frozen.

So with not so many minutes before my next client arrives for Alexander Technique lessons, I just have time to write a few cards right now....

When death comes to a family and a close relative passes away it is always a shock, even when it is expected. If the event is anticipated owing to a long term illness or injury, the passing always hits you. This is what my own family have been experiencing in recent days. The funeral was on Friday last week where we were able to pay our last respects and give our personal farewells. In some respects the service was a form of closure, so we can now draw a line under it and get ourselves back to normal life. But is that truly the case?

My own mother passed away quite a few years ago and despite having 'got back to normal life', I now experience life without her, but I also have a sense that she is 'with' me. As we 'draw a line under the passing', it does not mean that we forget, because how can we? Life may return to normality in many practical ways, but the passing of a loved one does not mean that they are absent from our life; they are probably in our minds and hearts almost as much as they may have been before, but how we perceive them has changed. We can no longer have a discussion, laugh together, play or argue, we cannot do each other favours and kindnesses, we cannot touch them or link arms with them, hug them or tease them. And likewise we no longer receive their attention. I cannot do any of these things to my late Mum nor to our other close family member who died recently. But this does not mean that they do not exist for us on some level, possibly a very close level.....for the rest of our lives.

Remembering or thinking of someone does not mean that we hang onto the past. The past is gone. Our experiences with this person are now behind us and we cannot relive them or revive them. But the memory of them colours our own life now and it would not be how it is now, without having had the experiences we had with them. But where we are now, is TODAY and this moment NOW is the only time we have. The past is behind us and the future will not come until it is in the Present. Now is all we have.

With the passing of a close friend or relative our life does move on and I for one am grateful for the enrichment to my own life for the associations and sharing of experiences, of having the privilege and good fortune to have known them. This is what's with me now. They were with me in person when they were alive and now they are with me in the form of a great many experiences that colour my own present existence and I am grateful for all of that. And they will continue to be with me. My life now is richer for it and as I smiled with her, I also continue to smile, as I get on with my life today.

Thank you.

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!

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.