Lauren Hill's Alexander Teaching Studio
Alexander Technique in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
If you have nagging neck, shoulder or upper back pain one place to start making changes is with the stuff you lug around daily.
And what you lug that stuff around in.
Yes ladies, I am talking about your bag. Continue reading “Is Your Bag a Pain in the Neck?”
I just listened to a podcast interview with an Alexander Technique Teacher who related a story about her student who had purchased brand new glasses. The student had paid several hundred dollars for them. They were the style of the moment with very small lenses.
And in order to look through the “sweet spot” and see clearly, the student had to put his head in an awkward position that created tension in his neck and pulled it off balance. The teacher had pointed this out to him.
I was talking with a student during her lesson the other day. She was lamenting the fact that she often noticed herself slumped forward toward her computer. She wanted to know how to stop herself from doing that.
I started by asking her a bunch of questions about her office setup. Turns out she had an adjustable height desk.
Great! I said.
My standard follow up question when I find out that a student has an adjustable height desk is:
How easy is it to adjust?
All she had to do was push a button and it went up and down. She could stop it anywhere along the way.
Fantastic! I replied.
My next question was:
So, how often do you push the button and adjust the desk during a typical day?
Probably once during the day, she said.
Once!
I get absorbed in my work and I forget that I can push the button, she sheepishly explained.
And this is the crux of the problem.
You can have the most wonderful equipment in the world, an office outfitted to allow you to work in a myriad of different positions, to move throughout your workday. But none of it matters if you don’t choose to change your behavior. Continue reading “Push the Button”
I had a very interesting discussion over e-mail this past week with a former student of mine.
It started with his e-mail asking for my thoughts on a new office chair from my Alexander Technique perspective.
I went to the website to check out this chair and see what all the fuss was about. It claimed Perfect Posture and Stronger Core Effortlessly!
Wow I thought.
The holy grail. Continue reading “#1 Move”
I was in a café in the small town of Motley, Minnesota the other day. In the booth behind me were two older women. When they had paid their bill and were just about to leave I heard one of them say to the other, “it’s so hard to go from down to up!”
I wasn’t surprised to hear the woman’s comment. As a professional Alexander Technique Teacher I am trained to observe how people move. And I see so many people struggling needlessly to get out of chairs, and not just older folks. Continue reading “Going From Down to Up”