Faith

Rita was tall, beautiful, elegant and brave. She came to a group class once, and then decided to embark on private Alexander Technique lessons. An 80-year-old woman, Rita had Parkinson’s disease. She wanted to preserve the integrity and overall musculoskeletal functioning of her body. Her experience of Parkinson’s was continually changing. Sometimes her muscles were rigid, and other days her voice seemed restricted, or her balance was off and the tremors became unmanageable. After attending that first class, she called and asked me to make home visits. We began lessons, meeting several times each week.

Each lesson began with a table turn. On a massage table, Rita lay on her back with a bolster that supported her knees in a modified version of a semi-supine, with her head supported by two small books covered with a soft hand towel. To begin, I gently placed my hands under her head and neck—encouraged muscles along the length of her entire spine to free. I waited, listened for changes in Rita’s body. She exhaled noticeably and inhaled deeply, all of her abdominal muscles supporting each inhalation and exhalation. Visibly the timing of her breathing pattern slowed and became deeper. The muscles of her torso supported her diaphragm’s process. Her facial muscles softened; she was serene and appeared to have a greater presence.

After placing her head down, I moved to face her right side. With my palms up, I slid my hands underneath her torso and moved little by little around Rita to encourage her muscles into new resting lengths. My directions* and the quality of my hands informed her of an ease within her muscles and encouraged “stopping stress” held in the muscles. With my hands were under Rita’s torso, I directed my head, neck, torso, and legs, listened and observed my own body’s response. I felt my own lengthening and widening process. I was aware as my body changed her body would change in response. There was a cyclical process: I would listen inwardly and direct my overall sense of use and self; I was keenly aware of Rita’s response as she let go and took in my hands-on message.

At my request, Rita sat up on the table’s edge, her legs hung over the side. I asked her to stand on both feet, placed hip-distance apart; in this placement, her stance was structurally supported. Standing upright, she lost some of the length of her spine by collapsing unconsciously. Her head moved slightly forward of her torso, which in turn threw off the relationship of her head, neck and spine all the way down into her pelvis. Rita’s balance was more on her toes and her knees were locked in hyperextension. With gentle hands on the back of her head-neck and at her lower back, I asked her to balance more toward her heals while softening her knees. She mused that she might topple backward. We laughed, I ensured she would not fall, and supported her balance as she explored this new equilibrium from her heals up. She moved out of her toe-forward stance. Her weight moved back toward her heels. Rita’s alignment was now more supported by her structure. Her posture was stacked from the floor: heels under hips, hips under shoulders and shoulders under ears.

As Rita stood, I asked her to notice the contact she had with the floor, to feel where the weight of her body placed pressure on the bottom of her heels and balls of her feet. Continuing the scan we began, I asked Rita to bring her awareness to the heels of her feet, then in her minds-eye trace up the arch to a point below the ankle. I asked her for feedback, “As the pressure moves down toward the arch, what is your experience?” Rita paused, took a breath and observed and after a moment she answered, “Hmm, my body does not settle on any one point there is a continual rebalancing on my feet.” “Wonderful”, I responded, “Come back to your breathing process”. Notice your experience, your thoughts. Just observe.” As she focused inward, I was aware of Rita’s presence changing to serenity. Rita responded, “The stiffness I felt this morning is nearly gone.” I smiled. For months after that we met, plodding away, exploring the technique, applying it to different activities. The activities varied from standing, sitting in a chair, walking, lunging, and walking up and down stairs, opening doors or objects, reciting poems or reading aloud. We progressed remaining flexible with what each day presented us.

More to come……

*Directions - the silent repeating or reciting to yourself FM Alexander’s directions, a process of projecting neural messages from the brain to the musculature.