A Progression of Exercises - Level 0 and 1
A Progression of Exercises - Level 0 and 1
Notice I say 'A' and not 'The'....
As I think more and more about what exactly the Alexander Technique is, I keep coming back to the idea that this technique helps a person hone their sense of feeling.
If you wish to immediately jump into a traditional exercise routine, this can be extremely problematic as the complexity of traditional exercises will block you from feeling anything new and make it extremely difficult to find a new sense of coordination. Inevitably, this leaves the student of the Alexander Technique thinking that they can’t do ANYTHING and this can lead to a lot of frustration. What I’d like to stress is that I want you to do EVERYTHING, I just want you to be patient in how you build your sense of self and technique.
At the time of writing, I have yet to write posts about the quality of contact you should make with your feet, sitting bones, and hands while performing activities. This will come in time and this information is absolutely critical if you are going to properly evaluate HOW you are performing a task. But for now, I’d like to share with you the progression of exercises that I think you should go through.
This progression of exercises makes the bold assumption that you have consulted with your mirror and have come to a certain level of understanding about your habits.
If you cannot tell me something like:
I slightly lean towards 11 o’clock with my head, stiffen the right part of my jaw, tilt my ribcage up and to the right, and place more weight on my left hip.
I don’t lean at all but I can feel my entire spine has a vice grip preventing movement and I hold my breath and my ribs or
I feel that my head is placing downward pressure on the top of my spine, I feel tension around the middle back, and my elbows and wrists are tight
Then you will fail to achieve anything though exercise. You must have some clue of what is going on with you!
I could add several other caveats like for-the-love-of-god-dont-ENDGAIN, but I trust that if you read all of these posts with care you will tend to prevent that.
Soooooo without further ado!
The Exercises
Eventually, each exercise will have a standalone blog post to detail the purpose of the exercise. I provide you with no ‘prescription’ for how much or how often any of these should be done. I would need to know you and your goals to have a sense of that.
For 99% of the population, it is sufficient to STOP, do a daily Lie Down, and WALK. The benefits you will get from these alone are enormous. For people with chronic discomfort, you may begin to add other things into the mix AFTER you’ve seen the benefit of these BIG 3.
Exercise Level 0
These should be done more or less concurrently with Level 1. I consider these to be the musical equivalent of doing long tone warm ups. Use these daily to check in on how you’re doing.
N.B. Each underlined heading is a link!!!
Lying Down
Walking
The Elevator Game
Practicing the Sensation of Kinaesthesia
Noticing The Wrong Thing
I have yet to write a detailed post on this topic, although I have written about it many times over the course of this blog. In the beginning of your studies, you should notice when and if you drop the head into dead weight or shove your head forward when going to reach for something. This is a common habit that people have and if we cannot notice that we are doing this, then we really cannot go about preventing it.
Dropping the head into dead weight or stiffening the neck creates a lot of pressure on the back. This hurts.
Exercise Level 1
These exercises are designed to give you a basic feeling of the head, neck, and back. We wish to begin to have a greater sense of the Primary Control and how important it is in general coordination.
Moving the Head
A Rocking Game. This exercise may be done in sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. The purpose is to feel the weight of the skull moving atop the spine without downward pressure on the spine and with the sense of the centre of weight of the skull being neither stiff nor dead weight. See the Altogether Now paragraph in Can You Do the Twist?
Perhaps the most important range of motion to become familiar with is looking up without lifting the chest. This creates a gentle neck opening and feels great if you tend to spend a lot of time in front of a computer. It will begin the process of opening up the upper back as well if done properly.
This exercise is deeply tied to Noticing The Wrong Thing in Level 0.
Rolling the Spine
A Rocking Game. This can be performed seated or in standing. The purpose is to feel mobility throughout the entire head, neck, and torso while maintaining a balanced connection with the feet and sitting bones (if seated). You can also use this as an opportunity to better familiarise yourself with the 6 Main Zones (Head, Neck, Upper Back, Middle Back, Lower Back, Hips). This can provide immediate relief to a sore back and stiff shoulders.
I think that’s plenty of information for one week! It will likely take me a further 2 years to flesh out alllll of the exercises one could do but as I demonstrate to my students in lessons, the purpose is to get the Antagonistic Pulls/Oppositions functioning sufficiently so that you can do anything you like. To get to that level, you really will need to understand Level 2 - Mechanical Advantage and Basics of Breathing and finally Level 3 - F.M. Alexander’s 5 Procedures.
Stay tuned for more and when in doubt, check out the Table of Contents!