I love walking to the lake to watch the sunrise. Or some days I catch it during a run. Other days I drive there with a warm cup of coffee. However I get there, it’s worth making the time to go and practice being quiet so that I can notice what’s there. One of the most fascinating things is how much light there is before the sun comes up. Light spreads across the sky and the lake, gradually touching more and more things closer to where I’m standing on the shore.
You don’t have to look directly at the sun to notice its effect on the earth. In fact, I would encourage you not to look directly at it! You can be aware of the light without looking at the source. In the same way, you can be aware of the effect of your thoughts of releasing and directing without straining to focus on yourself. You can notice the quality of ease and freedom in your movements, the change in your breath, and your openness to your environment without looking to make absolutely sure that changes are happening.
April 8, 2019 - The sun was just beginning to rise over Lake Michigan, but it had already colored the clouds, the lake, and the sand.
By improving your overall coordination and quality of ease, you can indirectly improve specific coordinations. It’s easy to get stuck working directly and specifically on a problem and find yourself frustrated and out of ideas. This week, we’re each sharing a way that we were pleasantly surprised by a benefit of studying the Alexander Technique that we had not been working specifically on. Kateri: I’ve experienced many unexpected and useful changes throughout my study of the Alexander Technique, moving far beyond my original motivation to take lessons. While I originally took private lessons in graduate school to help with my headaches and jaw tension, I noticed after my first year of study that the bunions on my feet had entirely disappeared. My balance and coordination changed so much over the course of my lessons that I didn’t realize an improvement to what was once a very painful issue for me. My sister was actually the first one to notice how different my feet looked when I was home on summer break at the end of that year. Alexandra: One of the ways that I’ve benefited most from the Alexander Technique is the change in my level of social anxiety. I never intended to work on it, so when I noticed the change I was genuinely shocked. For years, when I thought people were going to be looking at me (and obviously judging me), I would start to sweat. I would hold my breath and get very tense, and my vision would get a little blurry. My way of getting through social interaction was to stay tense and try to ignore what I was experiencing. I felt I had no choice but to push myself through it. Part of the way through my second year of training, I noticed that by allowing myself to stay more open, I wasn’t experiencing the same level of those awful symptoms. I wasn’t holding my breath or getting blurry vision because I was learning to recognize my reactions and think more clearly through them.
Alexandra & Kateri
Left: 2020; Right: 2017
Aside from the obvious change in the way I present myself, what do you notice? I can see the effects of my social anxiety in the picture on the right. My neck and shoulders are tense and I’m holding my breath. Even my smile is too tense.
Comments