Semi-Supine Constructive Rest, MP3 Audio Download

by Lucy Ascham, WithPoise

I have recorded an audio voice-over to accompany your recommended daily 20 minutes semi-supine, constructive rest.  People often ask what they should be thinking about whilst they lie down.  This is one answer.   You can play it on your computer, download it onto an MP3 player, or SmartPhone.

I’ve timed the talk at 20 minutes so you don’t need to time yourself, you can focus your full awareness on yourself.

Setting yourself up well

How you set yourself up is key.   Find or make a space somewhere where you won’t be disturbed.  Somewhere warm, draught free and away from distractions, pets and small children.

Lie on your back, with the back of your head on a pile of soft-back books.  Look up at the ceiling – if your chin is higher than your forehead you’ll probably be looking over your head, so add another small book to the pile under your head.  If you are looking down between your knees and your throat feels constricted, your head is probably too high, so take out a small book.  If you can swallow easily, this is a good indicator.

You will want your knees bent and pointing up at the ceiling, and your feet flat on the floor, so your hips, knees and feet are in line with each other.  Not too wide, not too narrow – find that Goldilocks place which is ‘just right’ so you can use minimal effort to maintain your legs in balance.

For this practice, you need to train yourself to keep your eyelids open.  This usually prevents one key impediment to learning, ie falling asleep.  Its called constructive rest, which means staying alert, aware and training yourself to put your attention where you want it to be.  When you are resting you are not doing much, but nor are you over-relaxing and falling asleep.  A lot can happen when you leave yourself alone, and stay with your thoughts and take leadership of them.

Take a look at my one minute video guide on the Alexander Technique page of this website and see how I flow in and out of constructive rest in a simple way.