Alexander Technique - Move Free

03/23/2023

Be ready for anything and prepared for nothing.

04/20/2022

01/03/2022

In my last Alexander Technique lesson of 2021, it was great to see the puzzle pieces fit together for my student, when she exclaimed "I feel so balanced and relaxed! I've always wanted to feel like this!"

03/17/2021

This is a link to a recent talk that I gave on "Conscious Control of the Mind" to a national Alexander Technique organization. Enjoy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2EF0ISSSJo

A Conversation with Susan Overton

09/26/2020

Started giving socially distanced lessons in my patio. It worked well for both the student and teacher!. Great to teach again!

05/23/2020

Starting to teach Alexander Technique in the Park (with social distancing and discounted prices.
A Great Time for Re-balancing!

10/14/2019

Walking on a rough, uneven trail helps with knee pain, as it requires more nuanced use of the knee muscles. Additionally it increases coordination and balance.

05/31/2019

Late Blooming #2--Getting Comfortable with the Unknown

In my reading about the brain, one thing that stood out is that the brain often tries to explain things we don’t understand by feeding us old stories, to explain new experiences. If you are tired of these stories, try getting comfortable Not Knowing why something is happening.

For example, if I come to work on Monday morning and say “Good morning.” to one of my co-workers, and they don’t answer, my brain might start sending me messages like, “They don’t like you.” These messages set in motion subtle defensive responses that actually affect a person’s like-ability. If, on the other hand, I say to myself, “I don’t know why they are not answering” (which is actually closer to the truth), I stay neutral, and frequently we have a pleasant conversation later, when they don’t have something else on their mind.

After observing more carefully the messages I got from my brain, I expanded Not Knowing into many areas of my life. One example is below:

I planned to give a talk about the Alexander Technique to a church group. Prior to the event, my brain kept sending me predictions of disastrous outcomes. I decided to note what my brain predicted and compare it to what actually occurred during the talk, which actually went well.

Now, instead of trying to boost my confidence before a performance, I simply remain open and comfortable with the unknown, having trust in the flow of life, which is definitely a feature of Late Blooming.

05/24/2019

I'm starting a Blog called "Late Blooming": Hope it is worth the relatively long format. If you find it helpful, be sure to share with your friends.
Maximizing Mind/Body Coordination for Your Later Years
Using Alexander Technique and Mental Redirection
For many of us, our 30’s and 40’s are busy times, when we are fully engaged in careers, and possibly raising children. We bring our experiences and assumptions from early life to these endeavors, without having a lot of time to question these patterns.
As our children start to leave home, it can feel as though our best years are over. Maybe we feel exhausted and less attractive than earlier. Sometimes we have mid-life or health crisis. On the surface, these can look like problems, but they can force us to start to look at the world from other perspectives.
When I was 50 years old, I started to have debilitating, chronic neck pain. Medical doctors told me that I needed to have the vertebrae in my neck fused, or I would lose the use of my right arm. Some acquaintances of mine had studied Alexander Technique and I decided to give this a try, eventually studying to become a teacher. Alexander Technique introduced me to forces of alignment within the body, that support what I call Effortless Uprightness, which I will cover in chapters on Posture.
Alexander Technique lessons also initiated the first noticeable change in my brain function. It taught me that a simple pause before acting, creates choice and improves outcomes . The brain relegates as many functions as possible to the Basal Ganglia. While this makes backing the car out of the driveway easier than it was the first time you did it, it also results automatic habits and responses that may not be serving us well.
It is common that Alexander Technique teachers talk about how we “use ourselves”, often in regards to postural habits, resulting from mental stimuli. But some years into my Alexander Technique training, I met a teacher who addressed my mental habits directly. He suggested that I was trying to keep myself safe thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong. (I remembered coming up with this idean when I was about 10 years old.) Additionally, he suggested that constantly thinking of worst-case outcomes has a negative impact on your nervous systems. He wanted me to try to Trust Creation or The Flow of Life.
This was hard, but I chose one thing that I was particularly anxious about. Every time I noticed that I was stressing about this one thing, I would tell myself to “Trust”. What happened next surprised me: With lower levels of anxiety, I started to experience more intuition, which made me feel increasingly connected with the flow of positive life force. This was such a positive experience that it gave me the confidence to apply this Trust practice to other areas of anxiety.
It also piqued my interest in the brain, both by observation and by reading about brain science, and I started to come up with practices that I have found to be especially helpful.
After a couple of years, I have begun to use my brain quite differently than previously. Although I am in my late sixties, I experience increasing clarity of mind, and less confusion, overwhelm, and agitation than when I was younger. It feels like a Late Blooming.

09/28/2018

Says it all...

03/14/2018

I like this film because it gives clear examples of "vocal fry". An Alexander Technique teacher can help you change this habit before it causes damage.

CLEVELAND-- You've probably never heard of it. But you've probably heard it before. Experts call it vocal fry and it's creeping into the conversations of young women. "Vocal fry is when the voice sinks from the front to the back of the throat. It sounds like bacon sizzling in a pan," said Dr. Nicole...

02/12/2018

10/29/2017

Yesterday one of my Alexander Technique students told me that he was able to reduce his pain medication by 50% after just two lessons. That is measurable improvement!

09/15/2017

After a 40-year career teaching voice lessons to students of all ages, and with some assistance from small business development guru, Jackie Babicky Peterson, Fay Putnam began Breath is the Answer. Her solopreneur business provides a service that enables her clients to “find their authentic voice.”…

08/28/2017

Ice and rest are being reconsidered as ways to speed recovery. Thoughtful movement appears to be more effective. (Alexander Technique can help with that.)

New research proves that R.I.C.E (rest, ice, compression, elevation) is the wrong way to treat sports injuries. The right way: Keep moving.

08/18/2017

Today there was a shout-out for Alexander Technique on Fresh Air, when Brigete Everett talked about how Alexander Technique lessons helped her stop singing only from the neck-up. She correctly exclaimed: "That's not the way to do it!"

03/28/2017

Thanks to the earth's gravitational pull, the average adult can put up to 60 pounds of pressure on the cervical spine when bent at a 60-degree angle.