The Alexander Method uses a set of simple phrases, something like a mantra, to help remind students of what they are trying to achieve (everyone studying the AM is called a “student” – even if they’ve been teaching it for years).
One might be tempted to shorten it to “free your neck; move your head forward and up; stretch your back” but that would be missing the most crucial, and hardest, part of AM – the part that says “Let your…“. This is because you really don’t do anything in AM, you undo it – let your body return to its natural state: long, expansive and open. This sort of change is like not thinking about kangaroos – once you get the idea in your head, its really hard to not do it. So it is with your body – once you get in the habit of moving in certain ways, and of holding tension in particular places – it is very hard to change.
The Alexander teacher assists the process in two ways: first some movement therapy for about half an hour and then some massage-type therapy on a massage table. The movement therapy consists of mostly just talking the student through a series of simple movements – with a few hands-on reminders of where the student is holding tension or habitually using their body in a less-than-optimal way. The simple movements tend to be the ones we do every day: standing up, sitting down, squatting and walking – but with more conscious intention and external feedback than we usually bring to our movements. All this mental work to rethink the core of our own movement takes its toll – it is hard work! But worth it.
I have a lesson scheduled today with my AM teacher, Amira, and expect it to be quietly intense. – like a hard workout that you don’t realize is hard until you feel it in your muscles the next day. I’m looking forward to it – no one ever said change would be easy…