Continuing in our work with Alexander, we began class today (after a brief brain dance) by walking around the space in straight lines. In order to turn, we would turn our heads and allow our bodies to follow in the new direction taking in the sensations of how the body follows the head.
Next, we worked with partners and copied one anothers walks in order to discover the false sense of kinesthetic awareness. As we walked, we tried to be as neutral as possible and our partner's impression of our walk may have shown us aspects of our movement that we were not aware of.Then, again in partners, we worked to discover psychophysical unity or the way use affects function. We asked our partner to tense a muscle in the body and to think of a difficult physical movement and observed what happened. What happened?
Finally, we worked with idea of inhibition. We asked our partners to do a movement. Then we put our hands on our partners and asked them to do the movement while they inhibited their physical responses and allowed their neck to move freely, forward and up. As we noticed in the previous exercise, just thinking about movement can create tension. Responding to a request for movement by doing nothing creates a possibility of something different to happen. Usually, when we remove what we do not want and allow the head to lead the spine, something better and more organized will takes its place. What was your experience?
18 comments:
Copying one another’s neutral walks was a little difficult; while we could verbally describe the person’s tendencies, it was very difficult to imitate their movements. I think this was because we were supposed to be in a neutral position, so we reverted back to our own neutral walks when trying to impersonate some one else’s.
The next activities were so interesting – I never realized how much everything is really, really connected and how much tension we carry just from thinking. It’s crazy how tensing a toe or how thinking in general leads to tension in the neck. I found that I really had to think about not thinking in order to keep my neck relaxed…which isn’t really relaxing at all. As soon as my focus shifted from loosening my neck, I tensed up. Even before I flexed a muscle or thought about anything specific, my partner felt a change in my range of motion just from my loss of focus. I was eventually almost able to reach my position without tension. I just had to consciously think about relaxing my neck while ignoring my movements; that was tough.
~Marcee Wickline
Before today's class I never realized how mush stress I hold on my neck and back. The first exercise of copying our partner's was difficult to make perfect. But I found it interesting to see an example of how I was walking in the exercise. I discovered that I lead with my right foot and guide my stride with my heels. The next exercise with our partner's I also found very challenging. It was very difficult to free tension in my neck and allow my head to move freely. But once I was able to do so, I noticed a huge difference- it is amazing that when I feel as though I am letting go when my neck would still be tight. Because of this it was very hard to isolate my movements without tensing my neck before I did so. -Kristen Shapton
Copying someone else’s walk was so interesting. I never really noticed how people walked but there are so many patterns and intricacies that take place. I noticed my partner didn’t move her arms very much when she walked. She always walked with hesitation and her shoulders more forward. When she copied me I burst out laughing. She had me down to a T. I walk with my hips and kind of sway. She had it down pat. It was fun to discuss what had gone down afterwards because we both really enjoyed this exercise.
The exercise about inhibition was a little difficult for me. When my partner would tense up, it was hard for me to notice a difference. Maybe we were just too tense the entire time that there was no difference. When it was my turn I tried to tense as hard as I could so that she could feel it. It kind of worked.
-Jasmine Boado
I thought the exercises we did today were very interesting. I never paid that much attention to the way I walk. It was amazing to see how people walk so differently. I was infromed by my partner that I walk with my head pulled a bit forward, which was not a big surprise for me since I carry a heavy backpack everyday and am in front of computer all the time! Now I keep paying attention to my head movements and my walk!
As for Alexander movements I felt that my body was more tense when I was thinking about moving my arms rather than the actual moving of the arms. My partner noticed the same thing and for her it was exactly the other way around. It just depends on each person's body and mind. I found it interesting to find out about the tention that was in my spine and body and now I keep noticing it when I am doing regular day to day activities!
~Afsoon Fazeli
It was so interesting to see how do I walk and copying others walk. I never thought before that I walk like that, and amazingly people walk so differently. It very funny my walking pattern. My partner said the way I walk was so relax, maybe too relax. However, I think the way I walk during the class time and I walk in usual time was quite different. I feel uncomfortable knowing that somebody was looking at me. I don’t like that feeling!
Another new experience that we tried in class was amazed me as well. When my partner does my movement, I couldn’t concentrate without closing my eyes. I think it much helper to close my eyes because I could only focus my movement and my physical responses and allowed my neck to move freely. However, when my partner asked me to move my hand without doing it, I can feel the tension on my neck as well as my partner felt when I asked her. It was so amazing for me to experience this. However, as I move my partner, I also can feel the tension she got when I ask her to move her hand without moving it. I think it was hard at the first time when my partner and I try to move our hand slowly. Both of us feel tension was still there. But after the second attempt, we can feel our tension wasn’t there anymore.
Pitchaya N.
During this class I knew what to expect from the reading but I found it very difficult to translate what I read into the class.
In actuality when I went home and reviewed the article again I found that my first attempts at this technique reflected the frustration the author of the article described:
"When I concentrated either on myself or on the goal that I wanted to reach, something happened outside my field of attention to frustrate my attempt."
This is what I felt especially during the partner work when we were suppose to do an action while keeping our neck released and our head leading forward. It seemed that every time I attempted to move, or in this case not move, I could feel the tension in my neck before I even felt like I could attempt the process.
I realized that we were suppose to find that point where we make a decision in movement...something that seems as simple as raising your right foot a few inches off the ground doesn't seem like it should take much effort or thought, but it is because it translates through the body quicker than we can physically note if we are not paying close enough attention.
I couldn't even accomplish raising my foot when it was my turn, to do the movement but not do the movement. If that was the goal of the exercise simply to not be able to do the movement, then I succeeded. But I think it would have been equally as important to be able to maintain the stretched released feeling in the neck and commmence with our chosen action.
I think that this has become so second nature that "I fell into my old pattern of tension and got ready for the effort" as soon as I was told to to the action...I think it may have been a need to open my mind up more.
I find the Alexander technique kind of weird but interesting. The reason I think of it as “weird” is because this is the first time I have ever heard of it and am still not used to it. Having missed the first Alexander day, I was caught off guard when we had to walk around the space in straight lines with our head leading the way. I have always taught our feet lead the way and the rest of the body follows. But now that I know the reason behind it, it makes sense, especially because everything that we do connects to the brain. Copying our partners, I thought, was a fun activity. I was shocked when my partner demonstrated the way I walk. Apparently, I walk with my left shoulder higher than my right shoulder! She said my left side seemed tense when I walked. At first, I was a little embarrassed … who wants to walk lopsided?? But then I realized that this is probably because I always carry a heavy handbag on my left shoulder. I hate backpacks so I put my textbooks and laptop in my handbag, and I carry this heavy thing around for ten hours a day on Mondays and Wednesdays because I have class so many classes on those days. Now that I know what I look like when I walk, I want to change it. This activity helped me become more aware my being and my daily habits. I thought the tensing a muscle and thinking a difficult thought activity was interesting. I chose to tense my toes because they are farthest from our neck/head. I didn’t think my partner would feel anything on neck, but she did. She said my neck moved even more when I was thinking of a difficult activity. When she said that, I immediately thought about the quote that I read in the Alexander article: “I found that I could inhibit a further increase of tension and allow the muscles to lengthen; and that as long as I did this I could carry on a rational conversation in spite of my inward agitation … F.M. Alexander called this process ‘keeping in touch with your reason’ (Jones, 14). Now I understand why whenever I feel angry and think of bad things, my neck and my whole body just tense up. But when I relax these thoughts and control my emotion, I feel lighter and better almost immediately.
- F. Widjaja
Throughout class on Tuesday I realized that there were many things I often do without even noticing. When walking I tend to sway my hips slightly and also walk with my feet slightly turned out (I’m guessing this is probably because I dance). Yet I actively tried to think about staying as neutral as possible when I walked. However, when my partner mimicked my walk, I quickly noticed the common habits I’ve formed in an activity as simple as just walking. I also was surprised to realize that just thinking about tension actually caused tension to occur. I really became aware of every part of my body continually being in sync, and how even just thinking about something caused my body to physically change in accordance. For example, just thinking of lugging my backpack around all day makes my shoulders hunch forward slightly and causes my spine to curve. I struggled slightly with isolating my movements, and simply allowing my head to move up and away from my shoulders, however there were a couple moments of clarity when it seemed as if it became much easier to do.
-Emily Stromme
i have to admit, i was unprepared for this class. while i did the
readings, i was still sick and did not realize that just standing still
and not engaging my neck could be more difficult than not. In the
readings the author spoke of moving effortlessly by being able to release
his neck and i had a really hard time tapping into that feeling. instead
i actually found myself loosing balance and wondering what i was doing
wrong. I am glad i am writing this after thursdays class however
because i did feel an improvement and found that on thursday it was
easier, and even right now i have been experimenting telling myself to
relax my neck all day. i think the biggest problem for me is that i have
a very short attention span and because of it i tend to have a harder
time focussing and ridding myself of habits because not having habits
tends to give me anxiety. Mirit
Due to a recent injury to my foot and knee, this class was very difficult for me. When we observed and mimicked our partner's walk, I knew that I wouldn't get quite as much out of the exercise because I currently walked with a slight limp and it wasn't my normal walk. I would have liked to have seen how I usually walk but perhaps one of my friends from the class will repeat the exercise with me outside of class once I am fully healed. However, it was still interesting to do the exercise. I mentioned to my partner that I had injured myself this weekend but never said which leg was hurt. It tried to walk as "normal" as possible but of course something was still sort of off. I liked that afterwards my partner was able to tell me exactly which leg was injured.
Next, we slightly moved our partner's head like we did in class the week before. My partner moved me first. She said I was resisting too much - something I remembered feeling from our last class. Then I guess I started loosening up, but I felt a bit dizzy when she was done. When it was my turn to move my partner, I tried to move her the same way she did me. But then Louis came by and said that the movement needed to be much smaller. Now it makes sense why I had felt so dizzy!
The last exercise we did was probably the most confusing one we've done all quarter. I tried explaining it to a friend who had missed the class that day and realized it was still confusing, even after doing it. First of all the directions were hard to understand. It took me a while to figure out when I was actually supposed to do the movement when my partner said to do so, and when I was supposed to not do it (I think I'm confusing myself even as I write this!). Second, it was extremely hard to do the movement without using my neck, even while thinking about my head being free, forward and up. This is definitely one of those exercises that should be taught one-on-one and not in a group setting.
-Lauren Cook
Today's class was really interesting to me. The whole idea of the mind controlling the body's movements in such an intense way that if you think about something it tenses your whole body up fascinates me.
When we picked a partner and walked around following our partner to mimic their walk, it really opened my eyes. My partner mimicked my walk, and in doing so revealed that I was walking around with my shoulders down and forward and my feet shuffling. I wasn't picking my feet all the way off the ground. I had no idea of this until I watched her and then it was very clear. I noticed myself shuffling my feet throughout the day, and each time I tried to pick them up and walk properly. This was helpful. My partner had a limp because she recently hurt her knee. When I mimicked her, it was interesting to see how much her limp impacted the rest of her body's movement. She would swing one arm more than the other, slouch her shoulders a bit, and of course limp.
The last two exercises we did, moving our partners heads like we did last wee, and then the movement exercise, were confusing. When moving my partners head, I found out that I had been moving her too rapidly and with too big of motions. This was causing her to feel dizzy. Not good! Then Louis came over and instructed us to use smaller motions, which she did on me, and it worked much better. The final exercise was too complicated. My partner and I were very confused. We did not really understand the directions, but when we finally got it, it was still difficult. It was hard to tell when you were supposed to move and when you weren't. I found it very difficult to stop my body from moving when my partner said "move." Overall, today's class was fun!
~Melissa Eckstrom
This was a great class. Initially we tried to move around the whole copying other's walk was pretty much fun. I guess it was just hard for me to mimic other people especially if that person is of opposite gender (especially when my partner was more flexible then me). However, it was illustrating to see my walk and it inspires me to walk more relaxed.
The second half of the class was indeed confusing. When I was working with my partner I was doing one of the steps wrong (raising my leg instead of just *thinking* about raising my leg). However we corrected it later as soon as Louis came by. However, the fun part began when Louis actually worked the whole "technique" on me. It was about ten different times that he would have asked me to think about performing the action. Initially it was very hard to keep the neck relaxed and perform the action (whose tension Louis was sensing quite well). However it wasn't until the last two that I was about 50% able to keep my neck relaxed and still think about performing the action. This was such a great feeling. I could clearly see how effective the Alexander's technique is and how hard it is for us to be release the tension in our neck (and relax it) while performing major activities. I really wanted to repeat this until I am able to keep my neck relaxed automatically and without actually *telling* my brain to relax it while performing activities.
Moreover, I am very thankful for Louis for the above as well as emailing the few pages of the book (which is very convenient). The Alexander's Discovery chapter (quite interesting how Alexander taught himself with two mirrors) was very illustrative, and begs me to notice my actions carefully as well as correct them (and I totally agree with the Sensory Evidence chapter after having experienced the Alexander's technique).
Finally, someone is the class mentioned that as we walk we tend to keep our necks relaxed. As I was thinking about that, I hypothesized that this would be very natural. This is because we need to be alert of our surrounding when we walk to perform any actions, and we need constant input to our eyes and be able to sense surroudings very quickly. This would be true of performing activities that require balance. I did really like to overlearning Alexander's technique (like most of us overlearn driving or biking and don't have to think about it while performing it).
This class was challenging but also enjoyable.
We started off with mimicking the walk of the partner. I saw my partner mimicking my walk and it was very natural. My partner told me that I walk freely and walk in relaxed manner. I was grateful to hear that since I never noticed my walking style before. I observed and mimicked my partner's walking and I found out that her head is down and shoulders are little bit forward. I described her walk and she responded me that it may caused by her heavy backpack. Overall, this exercise was interesting and very new to me.
Second activity was challenging for me and my partner. We sort of did not get it at the first time. We both moved each other's head too rapidly and strongly. Louis corrected us to do it gently and to perform a small move. I tend to be more tense when I actually move my body and my partner was more thense when she thought about to move body. It was different reaction for both of us. I did not know what was the purpose of the movement in the class so I asked my friend to do it for me at home. I think I am starting to get the idea of this exercise better. Good exercise! for like me whoes neck is always so tense.
I really enjoyed the alexander excercizes we tried. When we were doing
the plie one afterward I felt like I was hanging from my head with a sort
of floating sensation, a lightness
Jessica Holtzner
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I especially enjoyed copying and watching walking patterns of my partner. I would like to explore this kind of practice further, I was thinking about drawing somebody's walk, or having several people try and imitate it independently of one another. Although interepreting my partner's interpretation of my walk was very interesting and more than a little revealing to me, I'm not so entirely sure which part of her walk was based on my ambulature and what was something she naturally did. I would also like to see what a completely average male and female (I'm thinking the two are noticably different) walk is, and how my own walk compares to the norm. This part of the class had me fantasizing about fancy technology for measuring walking patterns and three dimensional graphic models.
-Eugenia Prezhdo
Partner work during this class was a great indication of the stress my body was currently under, even at seamingly neutral times. I had very strong reactions when I thought specific thoughts, and sometimes had trouble even isolating muscles. Needless to say, I struggled with making sure my one motion didn't affect the rest of my muscles and tensions. I felt relief paying attention to my partner's actions, and even felt a little anticipation and emotion spikes when she chose to do or not do as I said.
I didn't realize relaxing my body takes so much work. ;)
-Eugenia Prezhdo
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