Falling back into old habits? Not as badly as you might think...but take care.

My last client this morning commented after her three week visit to USA to see some universities that she may apply for, that her posture had 'slipped back' and she'd lost some of what we'd achieved in her earlier Alexander Technique lessons. She's had around 12 lessons before her trip and had clearly got a little round shouldered and stiff in her back during the time she'd been away.

I reminded her that doing a little semi-supine lying on the floor is a great aid to maintaining her poise. Doing this daily can be a great help as it allows our back to release unnecessary tension, to allow our shoulders to let go and widen, and our back may become flatter on the floor.....all without making any physical effort. it's a good thing to do regularly for all of us.

However, by the end of today's first session after her trip, she felt quite radically altered; more upright, looser, lighter and calmer. Her shoulders had released and felt much more comfortable in herself. There are some good reasons for this. The sessions she'd had before leaving for the USA were sufficient for her to experience better posture most of the time; her old habits were fading and the new way was becoming established. So while the lengthy gap of a few weeks had caused her to get stiff and round shoulders again as was her old habitual way, she was familiar enough with the new way, for it all to come rushing back. It was only a temporary lull and nothing to worry about too much. However if she'd continued like this for much longer, it would have become progressively more difficult to recover.

The other thing is, that we all have a natural instinct for good poise that we have from birth. It's with us until we die. So this is what we tap into with Alexander Technique; your body 'knows' what to do. We just need to stop doing the wrong things and the right thing will take care of itself. The instinct is there and it's surprising how quickly we can change back to a healthier more upright poise.

Hunching against the cold

Suddenly it's autumn and we're pulling warm sweaters and heavy jackets out of the wardrobe; the heating is on again and we made our first log fire of the season on Saturday. It's not exactly bitterly cold, but there is a freshness to the air and the musty smell of decaying leaves and damp grass pervades the area. And I love it. Isn't it nice to cosy up a bit?

But all too often, with the onset of colder weather we can see our friends hunching up against the cold....and I'm sure we do too. But what does hunching actually do? If we were to shiver, our muscles go in and out of spasm very quickly, serving to stimulate blood circulation throughout the body. But hunching is a continuous tensing of muscles, fixing our shoulders in a raised position, drawn inwards and upwards. The nature of hunching actually slows down the circulation of blood as the cramping of muscles rather squeezes the arteries so the flow is less. It's rather like standing on the garden hose pipe. There will be a build up of pressure behind the blockage and less water comes out. If we hunch it's a similar thing but in our case the tension will reduce the flow of blood to our hands and if we stiffen our hips too, we'll get cold feet. Hunching does not serve us yet it's such a common thing to do in the face of bleak winter weather.

If you can, allow your shoulders to drop and think of them being free and wide. Let your shoulders find their own natural alignment without fidgeting or pulling them anywhere. Leave them alone. Let your neck be free to allow your head to teeter on top of your spine at a point between your ears, allow your shoulders to be free and wide, then you'll know you're allowing your blood to circulate as best it can and will warm you far better than hunching. If you can catch yourself out doing some hunching, just make the choice to let it all go. It's far better for us to leave ourselves free of tension than to make a whole lot in our shoulders while saying "Isn't it cold?" It's no wonder we're cold in our hands if we are adding to the problem by reducing our blood supply! Stay warm. :-)

Gratitude brings happiness

We may be forgiven for thinking that there's not much to be happy about or positive about in today's environment of financial crisis and housing difficulties not to mention the problems at work or even finding a job. Then there's the cat that tore holes in the sofa, the children who kept waking us during the night so we're exhausted before we even go to work and, and, so many other things that plague us. It's pretty difficult to be positive and happy under such circumstances. Or is it?

For me, 'happiness' is a choice and so is 'being positive'. If we feel that our happiness is dependent on someone else, or buying the latest car, camera, cellnet phone, outfit, hairdo or holiday, we'll constantly be looking for more as the novelty wears off. But it is actually possible to be happy for no reason at all. Yes, I do mean that. It's possible to just Be Happy!

Happiness can be simply an attitude. We do not need Things to make us happy. Why on earth should we be reliant on things outside of ourselves to make us happy. Surely we can have more control over our lives and our life experiences than that? And the answer to that is Yes We Can! It can simply be our choice to be happy.

No matter what we're going through right now, at some time in our lives we've all experienced being happy. We know what it feels like. And no matter what situation we're in, we can turn on this feeling again, just by thinking it. One great way of inducing a sense of happiness is to give a few minutes to thinking of all the things we actually have that we can be grateful for. It's worth giving some time to this and write them all down. I wrote down over a hundred just the other day. Start with 'just being alive', I'm grateful for my two hands that let me play the violin, even badly! I'm grateful for the love of my family, my work as a teacher of the Alexander Technique where I help people with their poise and to overcome bad posture habits. I'm grateful for the house I live in, the comfy seat, the dinner I had last night, my clean shirt and a hundred more things besides. After ten minutes of writing a list and thinking of all the things we're grateful for, we can't help but feel better. It feels GOOD.

There is one sure way of helping us break out of the 'negative thinking' cycle. That is to think of all the things in your life for which you are grateful. A sense of GRATITUDE makes us feel good. Thinking of such wonderful things that we appreciate raises our energy levels, creates endorphins and puts a smile on our face. Despite the problems, (which we don't want to think of to ensure we don't attract more!) there are many fantastic things in our life, which we may well take for granted, but how would we be without them? Thinking of what we appreciate and for which we are grateful, makes us feel good. And as we feel good we attract more of what we want into our lives.

Give yourself a few moments to stop and think of some things in your life that are wonderful, and for which you are truly grateful. If you can't think of anything, start with some fundamentals.

When we feel happy, it's so much easier to feel positive about life. There is more out there to feel happy about and positive about. Say "Thank You" for all the things that you're grateful for. Do it every day and see how good you feel! Gratitude is the way!

Change your thinking and have a great time.

Talking Positive

Saturday 18th July, 1:45pm EST (New York Time) (and 6.30pm Greenwich Meantime. UK) on www.darlaontheradio.com. Tune in to The Darla Shine Show and you'll hear me chatting live with Darla Shine on Being Positive, Happiness and Posture. It a few years since I talked with Darla on the US Radio Syndicate that broadcasts from coast to coast via 140 radio stations. I'm really looking forward to the chance to do so again, particularly on such important aspects of our lives, as being happy and positive.

Go to www.darlaontheradio.com There is a link on the top right where you can livestream it using Media Player. Also, on Monday the show is uploaded so it can be heard on the computer, See you there....

Changing the swing

Tiger Woods

A client today was saying how his golf swing left something to be desired, despite managing to play a good game. He described that during his swing, his right hip and leg did something strange that caused a slightly erratic movement. He had been told by another specialist that he had a preference towards his right side, so he was imbalanced and that his Psoas muscle on that side was over developed. I agreed with this, but also added that if a muscle is over developed on one side, then that is because it is being used more than the other side; it doesn't happen by accident. The muscles on one side are often worked more than the other, so they become more developed; it's cause and effect. If he uses muscles less, then they will reduce in strength according to the amount of use.

I watched his golf swing during our session today and could see clearly there was a tendency not to remain even on both legs and also to straighten his right leg and pull ihis hip backwards during the movement. We looked at how he should think to overcome this tendency.

He commented that he may be able to change his stance and swing, but he was concerned that the ball may go wild and fly off in wrong directions. I explained that when we change how we 'use ourselves' during something so precise as a golf swing (or playing the violin in my case, or any other instrument or sporting activity) we not only change our movement and use, but also we upset everything we have relied upon over the years, to do what we do. The new way will feel wrong and there will be a large amount of readjustment of all the parts of his body that come into use during his swing. It is most likely that the ball will go wild and his accuracy will be affected, until such time as the new way of 'use' becomes familiar and established.

When we think about one thing such as changing our stance and swing, our mind is taken away from other aspects of the swing that we have previously relied upon to get the ball in the hole. Nothing is familiar any more. However there are very great problems with trying to just 'get the ball in the hole' and not attend to the manner in which we do it, or the 'means whereby' as FM Alexander called it. By 'end gaining' we can get into all sorts of trouble. It is much better to work on the fundamentals of 'use' and let the 'end' take care of itself.

If we can give ourselves some time to work on such principles, without worrying about 'getting the ball in the hole' then we can change our manner of use so it will be more reliable. However, repetition of faulty use or a faulty swing in his case, ingrains the tendency more and makes it even more pronounced over time.

It is really worth while to practice small parts of a movement of a swing and give absolute attention to such things as keeping our neck free, remaining balanced on both feet, maintaining freedom across the shoulders and the arm pits etc and moving fluidly, without worrying about the end result. Repetition of 'good use' gets into the muscle memory and system so that we will be better off once it's established as a norm. The only way we can eradicate faulty 'use' or actions is to give absolute attention to the situation, millisecond by millisecond. It will soon become more second nature and our accuracy will return and become even better as all of the working parts become more integrated.

Yes, his accuracy may be affected by changing his swing, but with due care and attention to 'how' he is doing it, I believe he can change his swing ant it will be much better as a result. We've just got to give ourselves a bit of time to work on it.

Pressing Pause, on 'Now'

Le Cottage, Talloires, Annecy, France

One of my first clients this morning told me that she's going to Annecy in France for a holiday next week. How wonderful I thought, remembering the times I've been to Annecy, beside its lake of the same name near the Alps. She explained that the hotel wasn't actually in Annecy itself, but in Talloires, nearby. "You're not staying at Le Cottage, Talloires, by any chance, are you?" I asked. "Why yes, actually we are!"

Sometimes the world seems very small, very small indeed. My first visit to Talloires was in 1965 when I was a spotty adolescent. We went as a family of four; my brother and I, Mum and Dad. We swam in the lake, fished for the small local poisons, made rafts out of old timber logs and went walking in the mountains behind. In those days Le Cottage was a humble house of no grandeur or finesse, whereas now it is a very smart lakeside hotel and more expensive than we would have afforded in 1965.

We'd had the most amazing three week holiday touring France by car, taking a week to drive down to the Cote D'Azur staying at small Relais Routiers en route. We'd had a week of Mediterranean sun, sea, sand and fun. The return to the UK was gentle drive north again via the French Alps and one of the places we stopped for a couple of nights was Talloires, so we could have fun on the lake and visit the neighbouring town of Annecy with its pretty riverside houses with flower baskets and its stunning castle on the hill. Roads in those days were quiet D or N roads as it was before Autoroutes had been thought of, so pottering around by car was a great adventure.

I returned to this region of France just a few years ago when doing small tour with my partner; 5 days in the Ardeche further south where shrubs and trees are stunted and the ground is bleached ochre by the sun, then a week in Le Chartreuse, a mountainous region where the Maquis resistance fighters hid from the Germans during the second world war which now is a National Park and wonderful walking country (not to mention the delicious green Chartreuse liqueur produced at the secluded monastery....a beguiling tipple capable of blowing your head off). And finally we had a week in the lower reaches of the Alps, just above Talloires and Annecy. We drove specially to Talloires as I remembered the name of the guest house that my family had stayed at almost 40 years before and I wanted to renew the memory. And there it was; grander, larger, but still in the same location. My raft had disappeared and there are now more sun loungers and waiters around, but it's the same place. On this return, I pictured my Mum and Dad there, sitting beside the water as my brother and I played. How strange it seems to revisit a place where memories and history tell you that events have occured and lives lived, and here we are again....living the same life, but now moved on. That was then. Now is now.

And here I am today, now in my Alexander Technique teaching practice giving an Alexander Technique lesson to a client who will be at Le Cottage, Talloires, next week. Memories are fun. Planning and looking forward to future events is also fun. But really there is only one time to be in and that is 'Now'. And 'now' is fun too..... That's the place to be. The more we are 'present' the more fun and enjoyment and depth of experience we get at this moment, which in turn will provide stronger memories for some future time when we press the pause button on the 'present' to remember an occasion once more. Ah, Talloires, I remember it well....

Wild Garlic and Blue Bells

We read with interest that the winner of TV Master Chef, Mat Follas is due to open his new restaurant in his own Dorset town of Beaminster and where we moved to ourselves, just a few weeks ago! (Now Beaminster is our own adopted home town and his restaurant is a mere two hundred metres away.) Having cooked a meal for the final featuring his favourite wild ingredients, it comes as no surprise to find that Mat's new restaurant will be called The Wild Garlic. We'll look forward to taking a table in June when it opens....if there are any tables available to book!

Apparently wild garlic is not so readily available to chefs unless they have access to a vegetable garden or some in the wild. But as we went on our Sunday walk from our door across the Dorset countryside we came across such vast amounts of Wild Garlic growing at the sides of the paths, it's clear why Mat Follas chose it as the name for his restaurant. One path we took from Beaminster over the hill towards Mapperton had a half mile of its borders covered with the typical white flowers and broad slender leaves. I'm sure we smelled of garlic after the walk, without even eating any. We will soon be experimenting by chopping the leaves (not the bulb) into our own cooking. It smells slightly sweeter and more gently than normal garlic. We'll try it this weekend as we receive our first guests at our new home.

Further on the walk on the hills above Maplash the path meandered through some woods with the most wonderful bluebells. It was like an enchanted garden. There is nothing to lift the spirits more than such a quiet and beautiful spot, with sun glinting through the leaves, to reconnect with the soul and enjoy nature. I freed my neck, smiled and walked on through....