“I am free to notice joy”
‘People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures’, said FM Alexander.
Information and knowledge are useful. Putting these into action is even more useful. Committing to doing this action one, three, or ten times a day – then you’ll really start to notice the benefits.
As many of you know, one of Alexander’s major discoveries about us mammals is that the relationship between the head and spine govern the coordination of the rest of us. Yes – all of us! Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – we don’t separate – its all one thing – our Self.
Image courtesy of Imogen Ragone Bodyintelligence.com
“I am free to notice joy”
Would you like to know how to transform stress into joy?
I can show you!
I’ve been teaching for nearly 2 decades and am an expert in creating the best conditions for people like you, to learn how to change tension into ease, and stress into joy. I’m loving how creative I get to be teaching people on Skype, Zoom, FaceTime and even on a phone with no video. Yes, a few of my clients use a mirror to observe themselves and report their findings on a phone conversation. There is so much to explore and discover in our mind, muscles and emotions. If you’d like any guidance and are curious to learn how you too can find more ease and joy, please call me.
Juliette Binoche, for those who don’t already know, is a French actress, artist, and dancer. She has appeared in more than 60 feature films, been the recipient of numerous international awards, and performed frequently on stage – both as an actress and dancer – internationally. She began taking acting lessons during adolescence and, after performing in several stage productions, was cast in the films of such as her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.
She joined Krzysztof Kieślowski‘s Three Colors: Blue (1993), a performance for which she won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a César. Three years later, Binoche gained further acclaim in Anthony Minghella‘s The English Patient (1996). From Wikipedia.
I wonder if you can tell that I’m a fan of this actress? I love her style, the way she moves, and the simplicity and poise with which she carries herself.
And I was delighted to discover that she is a student and fan of the Alexander Technique! Many actors, musicians and performers are.
In England, most Drama and Music Colleges have at least one Alexander Technique Teacher on the staff.
This is because dancers, actors and musicians all have to learn to do their craft, and skills under performance conditions and to know how to control their voice, gestures and movements in very specialised ways. They have to learn to use themselves well, before they can add fancy footwork, stage directions and characterisations into the mix.
I specialise in working with performers and relish the chance to help people move more smoothly, with more ease and efficiency. This helps their joints have more space and less friction, so they can maintain strength and easy movements for years to come.
Tension is another way of saying – we have more muscular work than is required for the job in hand.
‘Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.’ (Yahoo)
Given that we are all experiencing the same global pandemic (I’m writing this at the end of April 2020), we will also have very different experiences within this – depending on where we live, who we live with, how well prepared we are financially, if we can continue to work, if we are able to keep a certain level of health and hygiene, if our loved ones are ok, etc
Actors can be on the same stage, and have vastly different experiences of their time there. Some will love it, feel present and alive, others may be quite ill before going on to perform and feel tense and strained. The stimulus is the same, our personal reactions to it are different. Our learned responses and habits around stress can also vary widely.
Would you like to learn some ways to help you respond to stress with less strain and to move with more ease without wasting energy?
With proven systems and natural principles to follow, it is possible to use your thinking to deal better with stress and tension. When we liberate this stuck energy, it can become transformed into feeling sweet and simple joy.
In my experience, the more I am able to allow myself to experience stress, tension and anxiety as pure sensations in my body, the better I’m able to let the sensations ride their natural wave through me. When I allow the painful, intense and darker emotions to have space to live through me, and show me the full range of being alive – the more I have capacity for joy.
Sometimes these moments of joy can rise like a single bubble from the bottom of a champagne glass – small and ephemeral. Other times the bubbles all arrive in a gush together, like the cork popping off the bottle! and a full-bellied laugh rises from my being.
I’ve noticed we can’t squash one part of our emotional experience, without damping down the whole range of emotions.
What can you do right now to be with yourself and welcome whatever emotion is moving its energy through you?
Notice how you are being supported by the earth, the furniture and your body. Bring your attention into your body, and choose to notice heat or coolness, the clenching or releasing, your breath – held or moving..,
Simply allow this wave to travel freely through you, without prejudice and more bubbles of joy will be released, up and out.
If you’ve been holding back any emotions, it is possible that a dam will be released and a flood of tears will all arrive together initially. This is totally human, and just fine. Be kind to yourself, ask for a hug, find a soft jumper or blanket, hug a tree! See if you can let yourself cry without judgement. Stay with the sensations in your body and remember you are free to unclench and be your full size as the tears and bubbles seep out.
It can be hard to allow yourself moments of pain or joy, especially at the moment when there is so much suffering in the world.
If you need or want it, you have my permission to feel whatever emotion you feel right now – no judgement – just the freedom to feel your honest, raw, truthful emotions.
If we don’t allow ourselves the freedom to feel our emotions, then it takes a whole heap of muscular tension to try and keep the wave down or back in. We have some choice in our own experience, our own reactivity and our own possibilities.
“Just for now, you are free to notice joy.”
I am really enjoying reading your discoveries, so thank you to everyone who shares something and writes an email to me. Let me know what you have noticed, what you are enjoying, what your challenges are. And if there is anything I can do to help – a topic to cover, a conversation, an online session? Please let me know. I feel very privileged to be having such an easy time, and want to use this to be helpful to as many people as possible.
