Change of habit

This week we have to deal with a change in our school routine - Cathy Madden is our visiting teacher. Instead of slotting her into the regular routine, she runs kind of a workshop with us. She has a very gentle approach, and uses a language bereft of most Alexander lingo.

I like her idea to simplify Alexanders wonderful work even more, down to head leads and body follows, having a very easy way to demonstrate this relation. She started off by asking each of us about our goals for the time with her, and managed to teach already by making us clarify what we want.

I tried to explain my goal, to layer more directions into any activity, which she clarified to the desire to integrate the technique into my life. I volunteered to work on speaking in public, and discovered that I had connected the sensation of arousal with negative attitudes. Instead of using the extra energy to enhance my activity, I tried to block it off, reflected in my use.

I need more work to play with this idea, and the experience of succeeding in the friendly environment of the school will certainly help. Time flew, and after a contemplative lunch break I had a short private lesson (30 min).

I didn't notice too much change during the lesson, but I received useful information about the way I speak, and the different sound characteristic of German and English. I became aware of the different 'roundness' of these languages, and can focus on using more facial muscles to produce the sound (or rather, stop the idea to use just the visible part of mouth and lips).