so glad you asked

An old friend and Alexander Technique colleague, Bruce Fertman, sent me this video with an intriguing request – analyze the movement from an Aikido perspective. Bruce is comparing how differently trained people see movement.  I found this fascinating, and my answer continued to grow . . . so I thought it would live well on Riding Between Heaven and Earth.

Marj placed great emphasis on observing movement.  My involvement with horses and riding has given me a new appreciation of that aspect of her teaching. Marj was a horsewoman who raised and rode quarter horses on her ranch.  Now I understand how significantly that informed her Alexander Technique teaching.  My riding mentors are all extremely keen observers of movement.  But I have been asked to answer through the lens of Aikido.  My response looks at how much power is generated with the least amount of effort though use of the body as a whole and through a harmonious relationship with the tool.

I’m noticing how much body integration each worker seems to possess and how they are trying to maximize the effect of their effort; how energy is moving through them and their sledge hammers; what is their relationship to the tool they are using -- if they make it a natural extension of their movement or if they seem very separate from it.  All of them are standing in right hamni, the triangular stance used in Aikido and in Aikido weapons training.  The worker in the green hat is using himself in a manner closest to Aikido body movement.  He is the most efficient, initiating the movement from his center and allowing it to spiral up his torso through his arms. He is using the dropping of his center and maximizing the movement of his hip, knee and ankle joints, and his torso has a lot of integrity.  He maintains his vertical axis nicely -- he is not twisting himself off axis.  He allows his hip movement to swing the hammer back and behind him, which carries through as his arms raise over his head and he then lets the hammer drop with gravity, enhancing the effect of that with the timing of the dropping of his center, just slightly before the hammer strike. Sugano Sensei had this quality of timing in his bokken (wooden sword) cut.

“Green hat” also has the best ma-ai (distance) between his center and the center of the post.  The other workers’ distance appears not quite comfortable.  Possibly the different distances are necessary to coordinate the movements of the four of them.  The third worker from the right has to throw his hammer out forward to reach the post, which puts some extra stress on his upper body.  Green hat‘s efficiency means that he does not need to reposition his grip each time he swings the hammer. The worker to his right repositions his grip for each strike to create leverage with his upper body and arms against the hammer, but this means his upper body is taking more impact and also doing more work – he is actually lifting that heavy hammer with his arms for each swing – you can see his left elbow come away from his body creating the stressful relationship to his hammer.  The other two workers are focused on hitting with their upper bodies as well; the worker in the left front is at least moving his center laterally and using his large joints (like the rowing exercise in Aikido) which gives him some whole body power; however, his upper body has an energetic break mid-chest, as he is still overworking with his arms and upper body, so he dissipates some of the useful energy generated by the movement of his lower body.  He and the worker in the white hat are each tensing their upper back and neck against impact of the strike which indicates to me that they are using “hard eyes” or a narrowed field of vision, focusing a lot of effort on the end goal and slightly anticipating each impact.  I also notice that green hat’s efficiency with his body mechanics, timing and distance makes his striking seem slower and more spacious, even though I believe they are all striking at about the same actual speed.

So, the worker with the most ease, awareness and integration within his own body is able to work most efficiently. In Aikido this efficiency translates into the martial quality. The beauty of the movement is not separate from the effectiveness.

What an interesting opportunity to see four people’s unique relationship to the same activity! Thank you, Bruce, for asking my perspective. I suggest asking Gail Field to give an Alexander Technique/Centered Riding analysis, and Maria Katsamanis to talk about movement from a Classical Equitation context.

the other side

It has been over a year since I last shared anything here. Those who know me know something of the story but the gist of it is that I have passed through a time of deep sorrow and loss and have finally emerged to fully embrace life and learning again. Lots of knitting was accomplished this winter as I meditatively worked through my feelings, and more than a few horses have carried me as I cried -- they have taken especially good care of their trembling rider.

Springtime is bringing many riding opportunities, Centered Riding® clinics, study groups, a new Finding Harmony with your Horse session at Lord Stirling. Annelie and I are attending Feldenkrais and Franklin Method (with Eric Franklin!) workshops, and spending time together pursuing our many common interests. and I’m fully back on the aikido mat and doing a lot more Alexander Technique teaching. My daughter and her husband have moved to New York! You can hear her lovely coloratura soprano voice on the blogger site I just created for her: Maya's Arrival.

So, I’m looking forward to tending my digital garden here at RBHE again, now that I have come out on the other side – of life.

Theo, the biggest horse I have ridden so far, terrified me with his ground behavior, only to show me that, as promised by his owner, he is a perfect gentleman under saddle and truly a gentle giant!

fitness without stress

My reminiscence in the last post, of lessons with Marj Barstow, re-connected me to the author of another very useful book on the Alexander Technique. Robert Rickover started visiting Lincoln and studying with Marj soon after I moved to New York – our paths have not crossed very often, but we certainly share many common colleagues and the benefit of Marj’s unique perspective.

Robert’s intellectual and scientific background in combination with the highly practical influence of Marj’s teaching are expressed in his book Fitness Without Stress. Besides being a general guide to Alexander’s work and how to learn it, the book is filled with fascinating accounts from people who have successfully applied the Technique in many and varied activities (including a riding instructor).

This book made a strong impression on me, and one resonant piece of information it contains is that releasing excess tension can, in and of itself, measurably raise a person’s level of fitness. The documented effects relate to both cardiovascular efficiency and oxygen utilization. This particular fact amazed me when I first read the book a number of years ago, but has been experientially proven in my own aikido training, particularly during the vigorous role of taking continuous ukemi (falling). Yet doesn’t it make sense that our habits of movement, which add constriction and put unnecessary pressure on our joints, actually “hold us back” and keep us from being our fittest?

Some activities by their very nature contain a potential for generating more wholeness – yoga, aikido and tai chi come to mind, along with of course lately for me, the art of riding a horse. Yet, every human endeavour has this potential and the masters of any art or sport demonstrate an exquisitely integrated use of self. Everyone will have their own favorite examples: Horowitz, Tiger Woods, Baryshnikov, Anky van Grunsven.

Just as it is not possible to produce beautiful music on an instrument that is not properly tuned, so we struggle against ourselves and develop compensatory habits when we attempt to learn a new skill or to raise our level of fitness without a way to restore the integrity of our original coordination. Applying Alexander’s principle allows us to tune ourselves, inside and out, mind and body, so that we bring a more harmonious self to whatever activity we are interested in studying. Alexander was not only ahead of his time, but I often muse that he is still ahead of ours, given the deeply essential quality of his discovery.

The subjects of ‘fitness’ and of ‘stress’ already fill many volumes. So in this post, I simply ask how releasing stress by letting go of habits of unnecessary tension reveals our fundamental integration and wholeness, and how does this quality of wholeness enhance our fitness?

Robert’s websites offer a tremendous wealth of information and resources to anyone interested in all the aspects of Alexander’s discovery (links in the sidebar: The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique, and, Marjorie Barstow).

Above, the very fit and relaxed rider Annelie Andersson-Beck on her very fit Swedish warmblood, Sober -- as relaxed as such an athletic and eager horse can be. Annelie continues to inspire and impress me with her dedication to excellence, through her study of both classical riding technique and the system of Centered Riding. She told me that she has recently started to learn Tai Chi and that riding is “so easy” (for her) in comparison!

a moment, with Marj

Marjorie Barstow had the ability to alter the experience of time -- through her teaching presence, the skill of her touch, and the timing and specificity of her use of language. Ultimately, she taught us through her living example. The experience of a moment where habitual response is completely suspended is not easy to describe, but I would like to try, because in that moment lives the essence of F.M. Alexander’s discovery.
 
The year after college, I moved out to Nebraska to absorb more of Marj’s teaching. Fortunately this time coincided with opening positions for an oboe/English horn player in both the Lincoln and Omaha orchestras, along with several chamber groups. So began a time of deep immersion in playing, practicing and performing. This further enhanced the great benefit of lessons with Marj with a small group of students who wanted to learn to teach the Technique.
 
Now that I am spending time around horses and horse people, I appreciate more fully some of the aspects of Marj’s personality and her approach to teaching us. Marj was running the family business of raising cattle and quarter horses. We used to visit the ranch and picnic there, and although I never personally saw her ride or train a horse, I was aware that she did these things. Now it’s very clear that her sensitive and patient, yet down-to-earth, no-nonsense, non-coddling manner, with her constant emphasis on practical application and self-reliance are all qualities which would serve any horse trainer well!
 
Marj’s teaching gave us repeated exposure to the flavor of a process, refining our taste for these moments of possibility. More importantly it reinforced the experience of using what is known as our “constructive thinking” and carrying it right on through the initiation of an activity. But her greatest gift is that she empowered us to explore these options on our own, in any endeavor we might choose.
 
So what is the Alexander Technique and how do you begin to learn it? Of course, the benefit of working with a skilled teacher is not to be under-estimated. The best teachers balance their hands-on help with clarifying the thinking process -- helping each student understand how a simple thought applied at the right moment, and re-applied throughout an activity, is the key to using Alexander’s discovery. What I would most like my students to absorb is the confidence and clarity to apply the principle and experiment for themselves.
Begin with a book or begin with a lesson. Begin to observe your habits of movement and allow your awareness to expand -- but remember that the principle discovered by Alexander is accessible, applicable and inherent in us all. This universal applicability -- the possibility of invoking the principle at any given moment, in any activity, in any situation, and knowing that it will improve the quality of whatever I am doing -- this is what continues to fascinate me.
 
Favorite first books: Body Learning by Michael Gelb, Body Awareness in Action (re-published as Freedom to Change) by Frank Pierce Jones. See the sidebar link list for other resources.
 
The photograph above takes me back in time to one of many moments of suspension I was fortunate to experience through Marj’s teaching. This interaction reminds me of the photograph of Annelie and her horse, Sober -- Marj has achieved the same kind of palpable connection to my thinking process. We often hear the phrase “capture the moment.” Alexander’s work gives us a method to instead release the moment, or possibly more accurately to renew the moment. At any rate, it gives us the power of choice in each moment.