Lauren Hill's Alexander Teaching Studio
Move Better. Feel Better.
I just taught the first session of a six-week class the other evening.
I started the class by asking each of the students to write down their answer to the question: What is good posture?
You could do this, too.
Back pain is a huge epidemic in our culture.
You’ve heard it before. It’s the second most common complaint in the physicians office. 80% of us will suffer back pain at some point in our lives.
If you haven’t had back problems yourself, I bet you know someone who has.
Richard Brennan, a well-known Alexander Teacher Trainer and author of many books on the Alexander Technique, likes to say that people don’t have back problems. They have front problems. Continue reading “Back Problem or Front Problem?”
I teach all my students to use the Constructive Rest practice daily as one method of their self-care. Personally I have found this practice immensely beneficial over the past 20 years. And my students who incorporate this into their daily lives find it really helpful too.
The time when I most need to stop and do my Constructive Rest practice is when I am thinking “I don’t have the time to do this now, I have too many things to get done!” Continue reading “Back Consciousness”
Balance is about efficiency not about brute strength. It is about using just the right amount of muscular effort for the task at hand and not more.
Good healthy posture has a lot to do with good balance. Continue reading “Balancing Act”
I observe people. A lot.
I have always enjoyed people watching, even as a young child. As an Alexander teacher I am trained in the art of observation of self (and others). So, it’s hard not to observe people. Occupational hazard, I guess.
Some students ask me when I am out in public, if I am constantly judging people’s posture and Use. I’d say I am more of a curious observer than a critic. I wonder a lot at what people do with themselves and why. People and their Use are an endless source of fascination for me.
One thing that I have observed a lot recently is how most people don’t stand on their own two feet. Instead they lean. Continue reading “A Leaning Nation”