Day 5 and 6
I couldn't write yesterday because I had rehearsal first thing in the morning and the whole day spiraled from there (look at that...me talking about spirals...hahahah).
Tuesday class was really rough for me, I'm not a petite, in shape kind of person and we spent a lot of time in monkey and up and down and on the floor, etc. In addition I was tired (gee, go figure...) but I'm slowly coming to accept that this may be my state of being, tired and hurting, all the time. I'm scheduled to go back to the dr. on Monday but with the allergic reaction to the hormone replacement stuff a week ago I'm skeptical that they're going to be able to actually do anything to help. I'm just going to have to manage the best I can.
Anyway....we started with monkey. We practiced standing a couple of inches from the wall then sending the knees forward, releasing the hips to come to a bit of a bend. Then we kind of fell back into the wall so we were touching the wall from our shoulders to our butt. Keeping our back up and neck free (listen to that Alexander-ness!) we essentially had our butt climb the wall as we bent forward. We allowed the arms to drop forward into a bit of primary (not collapse), then returned to standing.
To say that I was sore on Wednesday is an understatement. In fact, when C asked us how we were feeling after our session Tuesday I told her I was pretty miserable. She was a little shocked. I don't know if she understands quite how not in shape I am and how much (what I think) is the RA racking my joints, I constantly ache. Thing is, it's not like I don't do anything all day. My step count averages about 9500-10000 a day, I'm not still. I think I have some more serious inflammatory issues that need addressing - not sure how to do that yet, still working on it.
We also worked in "begging doggie" (C's words). With the elbows down, wrists relaxed. Then we went back to back. I sat with (Ch, because he and I are the tall ones in class). It was interesting. He talked about it afterward like being able to talk at the same time, yes, there were exchanges as we adjusted position and moved forward and back, but there was simultaneous conversation as well - something you can really only do when singing. It was a good analogy.
Wednesday we spent the time on breathing. This was pretty cool. C talked about seeing a 13 y/o girl who has some major anxiety/migraine problems and is a dancer (hmm...anxiety in a competitive young dancer??) She said that as she watched her breathe she noticed that the entire lower portion of her torso wouldn't move - crazy! Your diaphragm is down there! How do you breathe without using your diaphragm?? The dance training is such that you're taught to keep all of that still.
We then looked at our own breathing. I think I probably breathe more than I should, but again, overweight, out of shape girl.....
There was discussion about how irregular breathing patterns mess with your body, the communication, the transmission of O2 thru your system, etc. It makes complete sense, if you're not breathing you're not feeding your body.
We forget that our lungs fill our chest cavity clear up to our collar bone (this always surprises me when I'm reminded of it). It should be a note of how important breathing is. We have this entire cavity and probably 2/3 of it are lungs! Our stomach, liver, intestines, etc all fall in to the side and below and they don't take up near the space. Wild, huh?
Last of all we did Alexander's "Whispered Ahhhhhhhh....."
This was the COOLEST THING EVER!!
One of those other back of my brain things is that we don't actually INHALE. Our job, if you will, is to EXHALE, the inhale is automatic because of the vacuum that is created. So....
Because of Alexander's breathing/speaking issues he came up with the "Whispered Ahhhhh....."
You can do it sitting or standing or lying down. I think each position offers something a little different when you do it. Taking care of yourself (neck free, back open...etc) you then place your tongue behind the lower teeth and relax and open the jaw. It reminded me of the description of Jacob Marley's wrapped jaw and how it falls open when it's released from the binding (I'm pretty sure thats in the actual story and not just a film adaptation thing...I'll have to check).
Anyway, relaxing the jaw and with a little smile...you whisper out breath...."Ahhhhhhhhhhhh"....
The wildest thing is when you go to recover and reset you can actually FEEL the vacuum effect with the air coming back into your lungs!! IT'S CRAZY!
I'd never felt anything like that before - J was mentioning how the air will just "fall" in where it should. Again, a great descriptor I'd never heard before - but she's a singer so it makes sense that she has a lot of breath knowledge anyway.
I'd never thought of breathing to be quite as important as it is (yes, yes I know that sounds stupid since without it we wouldn't be at all), but really.....breathing....hmm
Tuesday class was really rough for me, I'm not a petite, in shape kind of person and we spent a lot of time in monkey and up and down and on the floor, etc. In addition I was tired (gee, go figure...) but I'm slowly coming to accept that this may be my state of being, tired and hurting, all the time. I'm scheduled to go back to the dr. on Monday but with the allergic reaction to the hormone replacement stuff a week ago I'm skeptical that they're going to be able to actually do anything to help. I'm just going to have to manage the best I can.
Anyway....we started with monkey. We practiced standing a couple of inches from the wall then sending the knees forward, releasing the hips to come to a bit of a bend. Then we kind of fell back into the wall so we were touching the wall from our shoulders to our butt. Keeping our back up and neck free (listen to that Alexander-ness!) we essentially had our butt climb the wall as we bent forward. We allowed the arms to drop forward into a bit of primary (not collapse), then returned to standing.
To say that I was sore on Wednesday is an understatement. In fact, when C asked us how we were feeling after our session Tuesday I told her I was pretty miserable. She was a little shocked. I don't know if she understands quite how not in shape I am and how much (what I think) is the RA racking my joints, I constantly ache. Thing is, it's not like I don't do anything all day. My step count averages about 9500-10000 a day, I'm not still. I think I have some more serious inflammatory issues that need addressing - not sure how to do that yet, still working on it.
We also worked in "begging doggie" (C's words). With the elbows down, wrists relaxed. Then we went back to back. I sat with (Ch, because he and I are the tall ones in class). It was interesting. He talked about it afterward like being able to talk at the same time, yes, there were exchanges as we adjusted position and moved forward and back, but there was simultaneous conversation as well - something you can really only do when singing. It was a good analogy.
Wednesday we spent the time on breathing. This was pretty cool. C talked about seeing a 13 y/o girl who has some major anxiety/migraine problems and is a dancer (hmm...anxiety in a competitive young dancer??) She said that as she watched her breathe she noticed that the entire lower portion of her torso wouldn't move - crazy! Your diaphragm is down there! How do you breathe without using your diaphragm?? The dance training is such that you're taught to keep all of that still.
We then looked at our own breathing. I think I probably breathe more than I should, but again, overweight, out of shape girl.....
There was discussion about how irregular breathing patterns mess with your body, the communication, the transmission of O2 thru your system, etc. It makes complete sense, if you're not breathing you're not feeding your body.
We forget that our lungs fill our chest cavity clear up to our collar bone (this always surprises me when I'm reminded of it). It should be a note of how important breathing is. We have this entire cavity and probably 2/3 of it are lungs! Our stomach, liver, intestines, etc all fall in to the side and below and they don't take up near the space. Wild, huh?
Last of all we did Alexander's "Whispered Ahhhhhhhh....."
This was the COOLEST THING EVER!!
One of those other back of my brain things is that we don't actually INHALE. Our job, if you will, is to EXHALE, the inhale is automatic because of the vacuum that is created. So....
Because of Alexander's breathing/speaking issues he came up with the "Whispered Ahhhhh....."
You can do it sitting or standing or lying down. I think each position offers something a little different when you do it. Taking care of yourself (neck free, back open...etc) you then place your tongue behind the lower teeth and relax and open the jaw. It reminded me of the description of Jacob Marley's wrapped jaw and how it falls open when it's released from the binding (I'm pretty sure thats in the actual story and not just a film adaptation thing...I'll have to check).
Anyway, relaxing the jaw and with a little smile...you whisper out breath...."Ahhhhhhhhhhhh"....
The wildest thing is when you go to recover and reset you can actually FEEL the vacuum effect with the air coming back into your lungs!! IT'S CRAZY!
I'd never felt anything like that before - J was mentioning how the air will just "fall" in where it should. Again, a great descriptor I'd never heard before - but she's a singer so it makes sense that she has a lot of breath knowledge anyway.
I'd never thought of breathing to be quite as important as it is (yes, yes I know that sounds stupid since without it we wouldn't be at all), but really.....breathing....hmm
"I see at last that if I don't breathe, I breathe."
F.M. Alexander
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