Alexander Technique w/ John Dalto

10/30/2025

How do you use the sense of feeling?!?

Like any sense, this is something that we can train and use during our day. This article gives a little analogy to help add insight into how you can feel!

Read on for all of the goodies!

I write a weekly article for anyone interested in learning about the Alexander Technique!

Alexander Technique Forum Alexander Technique Worldwide on Facebook

More analogy than guide...

09/19/2025

How can we quietly allow back tension to thaw?

This is a SKILL that is similar to learning how to juggle.

You DON'T want to constantly drop balls as your attention drifts from one point of strain to another.

You DO want to see if your attention can simply and additively allow tension to thaw.

Slowly.

From one moment to the next.

This article will walk you through A way of allowing your sense of feeling and attention to navigate the head, neck, and back to reduce strain.

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/how-to-further-continue-releasing

09/18/2025

In This BLOGSSS!!!

First Up: New music from Alexander Technique teacher Beret Arcaya. Beret has dedicated herself to helping students develop a personal sound and you can hear that entire philosophy in each note on these tracks.

Then: A fun little exercise on "opting in/out".

And Finally: Tying things together with last week's article on the balance of the Head, Neck, and Back!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/how-to-continue-releasing-head-neck

09/14/2025

The head bones' connected to the... Neck bone...

The neck bones' connected to the...
Back bone...

Alleviating joint and muscle strain first has to come with STOPPING and allowing yourself the time and space to SENSE what you are!

It sounds like a weird trivial thing, but it is absolutely a necessary step in changing your sense of balance and coordination.

This article gives you a simple activity to help you along that road!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/how-to-start-sensing-opposition-1

08/18/2025

What is Focus?

Is it different from concentration?

Can we cultivate quiet thought and action without stiffening up or creating a fake internal vibe?

I think it's possible and this week's article shares an approach I practice and share with students!

Check it out and let me know if it works for you!

https://open.substack.com/pub/johndalto/p/the-effort-of-focus

08/08/2025

Can you stack your weight?

Of course! It's something that you're doing right now without thinking about it!

And that's the point. Weight can just be organized in any ol'fashion.

But some "stacks" are inherently more stable than others!

This article takes our daring hero, Mr. Blue, through a series of stacked adventures. Check out the full article to see if and how Mr. Blue will lose his balance and fall!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/stacking-weight

08/08/2025

What does it mean to lengthen and widen the back?

We're all structured with
layers and layers of
bone and muscle
flesh and fascia
blood AND guts!

They all help us do the various bits and bobs during our day.

I like to think of the torso as having 3 layers:
1. Breathing / Ribs
2. Spine / Voice
3. All the other goodies

Check out the full article to see the entire image with better rez and fun words.

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/the-musculature-of-the-torso

08/08/2025

What do the layers of your torso look like?
Ever wonder what wraps around your organs?
Ever wonder what that muscle ache or pull is?

This dumb drawing of the torso is both anatomically-ish correct and RAD.

Check out this article for the full image and some helpful ways to feel a bit lighter!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/the-musculature-of-the-torso-front

07/11/2025

When you think something like, "Allow the back to lengthen and widen", what does this mean?

Our torsos have layers and layers of muscles around the bones that help us do various stuff... And THINGS!

I'm doing a series of posts covering the basic anatomical drawings that are helpful for me in my understanding of... Well.... ME!

These drawings may help you better understand your back pain or why certain exercises do certain things. They are going to be a launching pad for a lot of my future posts.

Did you know your spinal muscles were this wide and tall?

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/the-layers-of-the-back-spine-extension

06/19/2025

Ever feel tension in your neck?
What about your jaw?

People tend to feel these tension points and feel the 'uggghhh' that comes with it.

But what about your voice?
The inner front of the spine is definetly part of your neck and might also be crying out for help!

This post gives you more fun drawings to help you better sense WHAT you are. Learning to feel the top of the voice can help alleviate tension a great deal!

Feeling the health and functioning of your voice can be so helpful that you might even consider it the Canary in the Coal Mine of your whole self!!

Hopefully this helps YOU!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/refining-the-atlanto-occipital-image

06/07/2025

Have you ever had a niggling pain that just wouldn't quiet down?

It sucks.

There are some kinds of pain that will stick around forever and others that won't. That's a fairly individualistic thing. But things can get more complicated when we try to forcibly push that pain out.

This week's post dives into that and leaves you with a little exercise to play with the next time you have some quiet!

I promise the Wyld Stallyns photo makes sense!!!!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/sensing-pain

05/31/2025

Does your neck feel stiff?
How about that upper back?
Maybe it's just your hip?

This week I'm writing and drawing AGAIN about the relationship of the head and neck. I've written about the balance action of the head in the past but this week I'm attempting to show you how the structure of the top of the neck helps counterbalance the head.

Hopefully the drawing makes sense!

Head to the full article to find more fun stuff! I'm writing every week!!

https://blog.johndalto.com/p/casting-the-head-forward-and-up