Serendipity. A seemingly casual or innocuous decision, can have a huge effect. I had a week off from Alexander Technique teacher training, and I really enjoyed being back at my “regular” life when…
Back at Alexander Technique teacher training after my lovely week off…something really astounding and delightful happened…that made it really fine for me to be back to training. My co-trainee, Brian, was working on a visitor to our training, rather than working on me, as was decided by our trainer, who knows why. Our visitor was standing, all the ready for Brian to follow him into a chair, with his hands placed on the visitor’s back and chest. So my trainer, Tom, asked me to put a listening (left) hand on Brian’s lower back, as I often do, and then Tom seemed to engage in pensive thought, and then he felicitously asked me to place my (right) hand under Brian’s right armpit as well. I was standing at Brian’s right side. So there we were…a trio…Brian, my hand on his back, and one under his armpit, while Tom, on Brian’s left side, was guiding him, and had his hand under the other armpit. So I remarked to Tom “well, my hand is there under his armpit to prompt him to widen…” Affirmative.
But…this was the really astounding and delightful thing: as Brian was preparing to follow our visitor as he went down into the chair, I was able to sense with great clarity with especially my right hand if/when Brian was coming down, shortening his spine and tensing up. And vice versa…when he was undoing with great success… It was totally an amazing experience! It was very palpable to me. I had a little inkling, right then and there, of what it might feel like to teach part of an Alexander Technique lesson.
Of course, my hands placed on my co-trainee prompted me to lengthen and widen, stay up, soften my upper and lower arms, and to have my hands connected to my feet. Etcetera. This was a given, and well, I mentioned this to my trainer. Pleased as punch…all around!
The description of this kind of moment might bewilder any uninitiated who happen to stumble upon this blog. Just want to say…that having this kind of moment in training gives me the courage to persevere, and to continue to try to find a balance between my “regular” life and my Alexander Technique teacher training.
table turn at TCAT-NYC
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