The healing power of touch is a field of unexplored potential. I place my hands on the fine pianist pictured below. My index finger embodies our forward. My thumb embodies our up, the freeing of our necks and the rotation of our heads around their axes, (axises). Three remaining fingers embody back and up. The play of our gifted pianist changes, her scales are more articulate. It was easier as well, she claims aloud. Her teacher, the organizer of the class, notices. Touch has untapped potential in human endeavor, your endeavors, whether at work or play. Alexander Technique is on the forefront, the harbinger of this revolution.
The touch of Alexander Technique is never invasive. My rule and role is to stay back, to use the long levers of my rather Simian arms to bring your attention to your holdings, to the way you maintain your uprightness. There is always room for improvement in our play, in our self-management.
We span a chasm
Together we become a span, a bridge to one another. I can never hope to induce in you, my pupil, what I am not embodying in my self. We connect, sense our footing, our going up and our coming down. We advocate for the former and we go up together. No longer crunched down in our selves, our limbs are freed as though by magic. Our play is changed.
We establish one another, get to know how we bear our weight and transmit it to the ground. We claim all the energies within us and without, our “real world tremulousness” as one physicist aptly put it. We are little or nothing but energy. How exciting it is to work together in such a field.
What I experienced
What might I expect from touch and the Alexander Technique? What will it mean to me? I cannot say, save for what I received in my first lesson. I come from a family of average size individuals somewhat small. I, always a singer, towered over the males, the hunters, and fishers. Let’s just say we were unalike, so much so, that I fancied that I was adopted. And that wasn’t all, I felt too tall, uncoordinated, gangly, and clumsy. That stayed with me for part of my adult life, until, until my first lesson in Alexander Technique
I mentioned none of this to my first teacher, not a word, nor did he address this issue in any overt way. Yet, I walked out of that lesson right onto Broadway, the street not the musical theater, and I was grounded. And no, you probably do not know what that meant to me. I was no longer too tall. I was connected, integrated, and I felt like a fine little tractor moving right along Broadway. The police were not called. I am a lifelong gardener and finally I owned the ground beneath my feet, I mean, sidewalk. I was jubilant and that feeling has never left me.
What you might experience
And no, it goes without saying that this will not be your experience. What will your experience be? Perhaps, self-knowledge, an awareness of your holdings both mental and physical and how your past has shaped you. There is room for change in the study of the Alexander Technique. Contact me and make an Alexander Technique appointment at a reduced price of $100 a 45-minute lesson, virtually by Zoom or in New York City.
