For Clients

Constructive Rest

This is a brief description of an Alexander Technique rest position. Please see any book on the Alexander Technique for more information and photos. You will need a phone book or a similarly high stack of soft-covered books for your head. Use this two or three times a day throughout your ten-series, and then whenever you feel yourself getting stressed out thereafter. This position, with the help of gravity, forces the body to lengthen — especially the ever-shortened psoas, helping it lengthen and fall back. This is why we have you in this position most of the time we are working with you.

Lie on a firm surface, preferably a carpeted floor. Place your head — but only your head, not any part of your neck — on the appropriate height of books. Place your elbows out to the side with your hands on your abdomen, hips, or upper legs. Place your feet on the floor slightly wider than hip distance, knees pointing straight up to the ceiling. (Or place your lower legs on a chair or couch so the knees make a right angle — known as the silver bullet for back pain in the Egoscue Method, the book of the same name by Peter Egoscue.)

Now, either just rest (yes, that helps) and/or think about letting your neck be free. Let your back lengthen and widen. Let your arms lengthen. Let the hands lengthen out through the fingers. Let your legs be free. Let the upper leg lengthen. Let the lower leg lengthen. Let the feet lengthen from the heel to the toes.

Any time you feel like you've lengthened — i.e. the position feels cramped — just lift your head (preferably with your hands) off the books and place it down again, and/or lift your hips off the ground and place them down again. Notice how the back starts to lie flatter and flatter on the ground. Don't worry about losing the curves of your back — trust me, we are all way too curvy. Lying down, the back may be able to lie totally flat on the ground. Again, let it happen. Undo all the tightening you've accumulated throughout your life.

This video may be the slowest video in the history of lying down, but it describes the book height wonderfully and shows the position. You will have to get over the fact that the backmagician doesn't blink.

Breathing Awareness

Here is a brief description of the breathing awareness I prescribe. Further below is an experiment to discover the possibility of greater breathing freedom — it is not intended as a recommendation on "how to" breathe. These can be done any time during the ten-series. I recommend them as a general tool to add total relaxation and freedom to your repertoire.

Breathing Awareness

Become aware of the movement caused by breathing. Maybe you notice your chest moving. Now ask yourself: is there another place moving because of breathing? Maybe your shoulders, or somewhere else. Ask again: is there another place moving because of breathing? Possibly your arms. Ask again: your shoulder blades? Your abdomen? Your lower back? Your head? Your lower arms, hands, lower abdomen, hips, knees, upper legs, lower legs, wrists, ankles, feet — and so on.

Please do not consciously manipulate the breath in this exercise. If you can't seem to notice any movement caused by breathing, take one exaggerated breath and then begin from there.

Breathing Awareness 2

Here is a way to discover the possibility of greater freedom in breathing. I add this as a general reminder to the usually-taught belly breath of yoga. Yes, the belly moves in breathing — but the lungs are in the chest (really the upper cavity delineated by the diaphragm, the thoracic inlet, and the ribs). The diaphragm moves and creates pressure in the abdomen, expanding the lung area by moving downwards; the other place the lung cavity can expand is by enlarging the rib area itself. Again, I don't recommend trying to breathe more into the upper chest, only letting the breath open these areas. Let is the operative word — it means letting go of something you're already doing, namely holding the rib cage fixed.

Step 1 — Side breathing. Place your hands (or have a friend place theirs) on the sides of your ribs. Notice and/or let the breath move the hands apart. You can do this all the way from the lowest ribs (usually right at the hip crest) up to under the arms.

Step 2 — Front-to-back breathing. Place one hand on your sternum and one on your spine between the shoulder blades. Notice and/or let the breath move your two hands apart. Often we steal from Peter to pay Paul, so be very aware here — both hands should move apart.

Have fun breathing! And please don't manipulate the breath. Let the body be free and the breath will do itself just fine. Your whole body will be moved by breathing. As the body gets freer, more of the time, the breath becomes subtler and subtler. It literally moves every cell in your body. Now the question is — can you feel it?

Foot Experiments

These are for after your second session, and periodically from then on. As Ida Rolf said, "we die from the ground up" — so everyone can stand to improve how their feet function. I call these the if your foot were a paw, wouldn't life be great experiments. They're adapted from ideas in Elizabeth Langford's excellent book Mind and Muscle: An Owner's Handbook, which I happily recommend — described here in my own words.

One theme runs through all three: your feet already know how to meet the ground. The practice is noticing the extra preparation you add — and leaving it out.

1 · Seated. Sit in a chair with both feet resting on the floor. Lift one knee just enough that the foot clears the ground, and let the foot dangle — completely loose at the ankle, like that paw. Then lower the leg and let the floor decide how the foot lands. The habit to catch is arranging the foot on the way down: pointing it, flexing it, setting it up to land "properly." You're not aiming for any particular landing — you're practising not interfering. Switch legs, and alternate a few times. A mirror can help you spot tensing you can't yet feel.

2 · Standing. Same thing on your feet. Rest a hand lightly on a counter or chair-back so balance isn't competing for your attention, and keep the lifted foot and ankle as passive as you can manage. Don't stare down at your feet — looking down pulls your upper body out of its own coordination. If you want to check what's happening, the mirror beats craning your neck.

3 · Walking. Now walk across the room at different speeds, still leaving the airborne foot alone. Most of us were drilled to "pick up your feet" and strike heel-first, so be patient — this one takes a few tries. When the feet are genuinely left to themselves, you may notice the landing change with pace: at an ambling pace the front of the foot may touch first, quicker small steps land more all-at-once, and a long stride brings the heel down first. Then try it all again in shoes and notice what changes. There's nothing to prove — just observe.

Watching yourself neutrally is the hardest part — the moment you check on your feet, you've changed what they were doing. It can help to give yourself a genuine errand across the room, or to recruit a friend as your observer. Chances are your feet have more finesse than you've been giving them credit for.

Informed by Gravity

This can be done any time you're pain-free enough to stand for five minutes, and could be done daily during and after your sessions.

Some would say this is the ultimate goal of Structural Integration: to be informed by gravity in a positive way. I'd be one to agree. What does that mean? If you're a carpenter you may have a plumb line to literally see gravity. For the rest of you, just follow along.

Start by standing (this can also be done sitting, but it's much harder to get the first time that way — make sure you're on your sits bones. Do try it sitting another time, and whenever you find yourself sitting). Let your ankles be free. Do you notice you start rocking back and forth? Do you notice you don't have to "consciously" catch yourself from falling forward or back? You've discovered gravity, and the body's built-in reflexes around it. Literally around it.

Let your knees be free. Let your hips be free. Let all the vertebrae of your spine (and neck) be free. Let the head be free (it goes forward and up). Let your collarbones be free. Let your shoulders be free. Let your elbows be free. Let your wrists be free. Let your hands be free. Let your feet be free. Let your whole self be free. What is happening? What is your body doing? Is it moving? Is it catching itself?

As the body gets freer, the movements caused by our reaction to gravity get subtler and subtler — more like a blade of grass on a windless day than a large tree in a storm. The most habitual pattern (almost 100% of people) is to be stuck forward of the line of gravity, usually by several inches. So if you're having trouble, begin by letting yourself fall back, and go from there. Happy gravitying.

There are really only two mediums we're immersed in all the time: one is air, the other is gravity. Can you see how important it is to be helped by gravity instead of hindered by it?