Alexander Technique directions are self-instructions designed to improve the quality of our posture and the way we move as we go through life. These directions can play an extremely useful role in using your center of gravity.
Alexander Technique directions have undergone some very dramatic improvements over the past few years. One of the latest innovations in Alexander Technique directions is “Freedom Directions” developed by Jennifer Roig-Francoli. I’ve found these to be extremely effective and very easy to use. This podcast explores how to use them in connection with Up With GravitySM :
More information about using Freedom Directions in general, as well as about the use of their immediate predecessor, Negative Directions, can be found at New Directions in Alexander Technique Directing
These podcasts are still very useful, both because Negative Directions themselves are quite powerful, and because you can easily substitute the corresponding Freedom Direction in your own directing experiments.
Here are a few examples of this substitution process (Negative Directions on top, Freedom Directions below):
“I am not tightening (or holding, squeezing, fixing etc) my neck.”
“My neck is free.”
“I am not compressing (or tightening, holding, fixing etc) myself.”
“I am free.”
“I am not restricting (or holding, limiting etc.) my breathing.”
“My breathing is free.” or “I am free to breathe.”
As you can see, the Freedom Direction versions are shorter which itself is a huge advantage.
A couple of recent blogs from the Body Learning Blog relate to the use of Freedom Directions in general:
An earlier version of this page, which featured Negative Directions, can be found at Negative Directions
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