The Gift of Interrelated Movement: My discovery under Teva’s stimulating care was that the obvious remains startlingly true: body, mind and spirit are one. Without getting into religion, it is exciting to understand that the interconnection amongst all three offers a healthy interchange of energy. Most of us take our bodies for granted, not knowing how they are organized, unless something goes wrong. In my case the debilitating and enforced leisure of hospital care caused havoc with my ability to coordinate locomotion and utilize balance. It became clear that movement must be a part of everyday life. How the various structures normally interact with one another must be learned anew after such a period of surgery and healing.
Martha Graham used this phrase when teaching dance: “the memory of the blood”. Teva’s lessons gave me renewed respect for how my body and thought can work together to produce the harmony that makes mobility possible. It’s a process that never ends, but makes each day a discovery for which I am profoundly grateful. I shall intend to keep it up!
-Hugh Hardy, architect
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I am honored that you would ask me to write about my experience given my initial struggles with the Alexander Technique. I believe it has been your persistence that has allowed me to be more than simply the habits I had formed over the first 22 years of my life.
Engaging with the Alexander principles has helped me as a person and as an artist inwardly and outwardly. I have come to understand that the technique needs to be truly practiced in one’s life not just when we wish to look or feel good, but when we are alone and accountable to only ourselves. Having the ability to inhibit one’s habitual responses in life is magnificent!
Everyone who sees me and who knew me before grad school cannot believe the difference they see, and this is in large part due to you and your teaching of the Alexander Technique. A third year student once told me she felt taller after two years of AT studies and I didn’t believe her. Well, here I am graduating and I am taller! And, I can’t begin to tell you how much my walk has changed as well.
This work has asked that I confront myself and own how I limit myself physically and mentally. You have taught me tools to release and let go of the excess not only in scene preparation, but also in the moment right before I go onstage and when I am onstage between beats of text and actively listening.
I used to sweat bullets and not know how to deal with the impending tension that would arise from the excitement and anxiety of being on stage. Now I KNOW how to inhibit and redirect this energy and use it to reach the objectives of the scene. It is empowering beyond belief!
When I’m presenting a monologue, standing on the subway, meeting someone for the first time or in an audition for a musical and I sense my knees go tight, I refuse to let this become downward pull. Instead I free this tension and redirect myself so that the blocked energy can ease as flow throughout the whole of my physical self. Whatever I am doing lightens up and improves.
You have been one of my greatest influences in my three years here. My boyfriend and I love to watch the video you made of my acting work spanning the two years of being in your class and the huge transformation that is reflected. I now realize that I’m on a journey which is more in my own hands than I could have ever known.
Danielle James, actress and New School of Drama MFA graduate
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Energy and confidence are issues for me, and here the Alexander Technique helps me when I consciously bring the technique to my work. From my perspective, the technique translates on stage as ENERGETIC THOUGHT and this alone is huge. It’s real moment to moment active and positive thinking that encourages you to give yourself as you are, and which translates in presence, vulnerability and connection; not only within yourself but with your surroundings and circumstances as well. Needless to say, this opens possibilities on how you use yourself in terms of efficiency and in terms of expression.
What do I do to keep up the work? I very much like the lying down work as it allows me to practice Inhibition and Direction without attending to other demands. I also practice when doing some simple basic daily activities, such as standing, sitting, walking, washing dishes/brushing my teeth, getting dressed and putting on my shoes, as well as giving my attention to my listening and responding to others in interaction. All of this practice in my daily life builds skill at having a heightened capacity to know what is happening when I am onstage dealing with the heightened stressors of theater.
When it comes to acting, rehearsals and performances, I lie down and then complement this quiet thoughtful repose with a more active warm up in variants of physical practices we did in your class with you last year – the Grotowski Archer with breath and sound release for example or I might go thru some of Grotowski plastiques and return to the floor for a lie down for a mental preparation for becoming my character and entering the world of the play. I then allow his preparation to inform my standing/walking/gestures back up on my feet as I enter the imaginative world and meet others in this space onstage.
I have so appreciated your classes and hands-on sessions as they have opened a path for me to pursue in the years to come. You totally give yourself to us and our growth as artists in a way that is comprehensible, personal, specific and supportive. Your language and methodology are a great balance between technique and inspiration. Thank you.
Ignacio Garcia-Bustelo Martinez, actor
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In retrospect of this year, I have let go of so much that I used to hold on to so dearly. I often began with an idea of how a character would hold them-selves, how to deliver a monologue, or how I should prepare for a role and I have relied on my preconceived notions and tended to focus on an end-gaining approach for my work. Fortunately I have come to recognize that there is another way to engage myself in a process of discovery.
I have been integrating some of the classic Alexander procedures into my daily practice such as the whispered “Ah” and actively releasing and redirecting myself throughout each day for some time now. If I am riding on the subway– or standing talking to a friend– I will remind myself not to sit in my hips. I gently wish to release unnecessary tension in my neck and expand thru my torso which is extremely helpful in conjunction with freeing my legs and letting my ankle be a source of active balance. I invite my feet to open and root with the earth and I allow this connection with an energized state of being, flow through all my exit points of head, hands and feet. Another words, my whole body is participating in the activity and I am not unduly compressed.
I still need to work on staying connected throughout the entirety of a monologue and taking my time so that the words continue to affect me rather than me putting some kind of contrived affectation on the words. Increasing my endurance at having a unified experience of internal and external attention simultaneously, will help me stay with the story and use my body as an instrument through which a character can talk rather than me forcing a character to say the words. A lot of my work up until now has always been very performative, and I am working on and will continue to work on the process instead of the product. Focusing on my Use is very helpful because it keeps me present in my body. It is also very difficult to lie with your body language, and if during the process I feel like my instrument not telling the Truth, I can help connect with the Truth through my Use. In this way, Alexander is extremely helpful in helping me become a better storyteller, as well as helping to improve my everyday life experiences.
— MFA candidate after one year of AT studies in a group setting
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I am a huge believer in the power of the Alexander Technique, in both my life onstage and off. I find that, when I rid myself of unnecessary tension with the embodied thoughts of “neck free so that my head can go up” that my entire instrument opens up and I am able to live a fuller life which includes the characters that I play.
I remember in my first semester of Alexander work when Teva had me look in the mirror and see how my head tilted to the side. I thought, “Oh, but that’s just today. I don’t do that all the time.” I went back and looked at old pictures of myself later that night, and I saw that I had been compressing my neck in that same habit since I was a baby. What an incredible and daunting realization this was for me: that I didn’t know my own habits. And, this was only the beginning of coming to know how habit had shaped how I live in my body. For the rest of the week I made a pointed effort to tilt my head in the opposite direction; for some insane reason I thought that if I did this long enough, it would all just even out.
Throughout my two years of studying the Alexander Technique, I found that end gaining in this way is not the most helpful or healthy approach to changing a habit. Sure, my head still tilts a little to the right when I’m not thinking about it, but certainly it is less and I sense an overall improvement. In fact, as I was typing this, I noticed it. Sometimes it’s frustrating for me to re-discover these old habits that I think I’ve discarded through my hard work. When this happens I try to remember that my habits were layered into my way of being for twenty years before I was even aware of them. Three years of reordering my coordination isn’t anything close to this original input period and I’ve made much headway in becoming a more open, available, decompressed version of myself with more potential for growth.
In my acting career, the Alexander technique has been extremely helpful in opening my instrument to create fully embodied sounds, movements and expressions of emotions that all connect to one another through the common denominator: me! Before a scene, I find it helpful to have a brief lie down. Often, I listen to one of the “Body, Breath and Being” talks to remind myself of all of the releasing I can do. In the simplest situation, it helps to just lay on some books and remind myself that gravity rests my head on the books, and that my neck doesn’t have to work in order for this to happen. I’m often astonished by how much I can de-constrict just through this one simple direction. Another helpful warm-up for my acting is to do “hands on the wall” or “monkey.” These procedures remind me to be fully embodied, all the way from the tip of my toes to the crown of my head. They help me to bring my arms into dynamic relationship with my whole self, as I often neglect them. Of course, the ultimate warm-up– if I have 15 minutes– is to lie on the balls and gradually roll and release with the Whispered-Ah thru my entire length of torso. This opens my chest and my whole body in a way that makes it impossible for me to compress or restrain emotions. Sometimes, I fear that this powerful exercise is a little too much for a scene, but it never is.
While I’m in a scene, I often use images to remind myself to continue expression as coming from my whole body. An image of big wings on my back helps me to decompress my spine and open my chest. The image of my legs as pipelines into the floor helps me to release tension in my legs. Two of my favorites are: a fountain image (coming out of my head and radiating all around me), and the image of my head meeting releasing into a hat, which is wearing a series of hats. These each help me to let my neck/head be free and back to lengthen, which in turn helps with a lot of the other constrictions automatically.
I find that when I am open and free physically onstage, my emotions are full and more clearly interpreted by my fellow actors and audience. My face is more relaxed and easily read-able, and my actions and reactions onstage are considerably more genuine and complete. I also find that the less I compress, the less restricted I feel: mentally, emotionally, physically and vocally. In a free body, I am able to give myself permission to do whatever I want to do, which, in a method-based school is the freedom to succeed. My impulses are clearer in my own mind, and my body follows its own impulses without excessive filtering. In addition, when I practice the Alexander work as a background of conscious thought which serves as a a recalibration for my level of tension, I have received comments from my cohort telling me that I am very relatable and that they feel for me instead of just watching me feel. Additionally I have consistently received the feedback that I am a more generous actor for both my partner and the audience. Isn’t it funny how, when I focus on my own Use, I become a “generous actor?” I have seen in my peers how, once Use improves, whatever is really going on in the scene becomes apparent. The literal “text” is less important, and the story of the play is conveyed more clearly.
I wanted to talk a little bit about how I converse with myself to make the Alexander work most effective for me. One of the tools that I have found most effective in my Alexander work is my self-talk. I find that if I say to myself, “My head is pulling back and down!” or “My legs aren’t releasing, they’re grabbing up into my torso!” I begin to end gain; I panic and over-compensate by forcing more tension instead of releasing what already exists. For a while, I re-languaged those thoughts to sound more like this: “My head can release up and away,” and “My legs will still hold me up when I let them release into the ground.” Although these thoughts reaped more positive results, they were rather hit-or-miss. I had a huge breakthrough in my work when I discovered the trick of thinking as if I was already releasing what I hoped to release. For example, I would say, “My head is freeing away and my legs are releasing so that I can receive the support of the floor. It is effortless to be here.” And lo and behold, my body reacted by doing exactly what I said it was already doing. This kind of thinking allows me to feel validated in my work, which makes me want to go even further in this direction.
Lastly, I wanted to mention the effect that the Alexander Technique has had on my life off of the stage. I have had fibromyalgia for thirteen years (since I was twelve years old). As a result of this, for a decade of my life I was constantly fatigued and frequently in pain. Until I learned the Alexander Technique, I did not have a method of coping with these symptoms outside of medication, which always had unwanted side effects. I found it frustrating to have no control over my pain and energy levels. The Alexander work has completely changed the way that I interact with my fibromyalgia. To be clear, I still experience frequent fatigue and occasional pain, but the Alexander work helps me to accept where I am on any given day, and it gives me tools to cope. I find that if I lie down once I day, I have much more energy. When I am able to “do less” in each moment of my life, those little bits of saved energy add up to a lot at the end of the day. Tasks that used to exhaust me (sitting for long periods of time, walking to and from school, doing the dishes, or even doing scene work) can actually invigorate me when I utilize my Alexander process while performing them.
In addition to finding relief from fatigue, I have found a great relief from pain through Alexander work. I don’t exactly know how to describe it, but sometimes if I am able to release an area in which I am experiencing pain (often my arms, shoulders and back), some of the pain is released with the unnecessary tension. Even when the pain doesn’t completely dissipate, focusing on the Alexander work can take my attention away from the pain, which is often what I need to continue with my day. One last thing about Alexander in relation to Fibromyalgia is that the Alexander work has given me a mind-body awareness that I lacked prior to my classes at The New School. Through this awareness, I am often able to sense far in advance when I am starting to feel “fibro-y.” Where attacks used to sneak up on me, I find that I can now feel them building a couple of days before they hit. This means that I am able to avoid the worst of the bad bouts by sleeping more, taking more time to myself for exercise and stress reduction, and even pre-medicating when necessary. I am also able to sense the connection between my mental state and my physical pain status. Sometimes I am capable of pinpointing the pain and releasing it mentally (something I’m not sure how to explain, but I know it to be true through the Alexander work).
In short, the Alexander work has completely transformed my life, both on stage and off. I am so grateful for everything I have been able to do with my newfound knowledge, and yet I see that I have only taken one step on a long path. I am excited to continue my work on the Alexander Technique, not just until May when I graduate, but for the rest of my life.
Julie Morris, actress and NSD graduate
Working on the physical life of my character in terms of integrating the Alexander Technique was very informative for me because we were able to address the complexities of the character’s physical life. It was fascinating that while exploring my body in a completely different external shape–that of an old man–I brought to my process the same habits that I have recognized throughout the year. Namely, the habit of compressing and narrowing my torso, bringing stasis to my pelvis and tightening my legs, as well as losing connection to a liveliness in my breathing. I have been working with this and you keep encouraging me to address these habits indirectly though the refining the head/neck/back relationship. I have come to understand how to approach this relationship and refine my Use because I have become able to recognize what it’s like to have improved conditions. So, as I inhibit and direct I start to experience clear sensory feedback of ‘ah yes, there’s the feeling of expansion and freedom.’
In assuming the physical life of the old man, the connection between my legs and torso still had to be there despite the fact that it was within a completely different physical position. Engaging with this demand was very informative of my understanding of the leg/torso relationship as I was looking at it from two different angles which oddly gave me more understanding of my habit and choice around moving away from habit. So, the first real benefit of the session was a deepening of my understanding of my own Use.
The second benefit was the freedom of expression the improved Use gave me. Before I began learning the technique, if you wanted to talk to me about the physical life of a role I would immediately have thought of convention and aesthetic. I would talk about physical positioning and how important core strength and flexibility are and how the nature of the world of the play dictates what kind of movements you can make and how abstract your expression can be. And although all those things are still important, the Alexander Technique comes before all of them. It is a way of understanding and using your body that allows you to connect to your instincts and impulses, and deliberately remove tensions that are blocking these elements which are fundamental to good acting.
When I began working with the physical life of my old man I was very concerned with positioning and speed. What parts of himself move and what does not, as well as the pace and rhythm of all his reactions. In rehearsals my attention was almost completely on these pursuits and I was not pleased with my work. l was disconnected and observing myself the entire time. I knew that I had to have some kind of physical altercation to live in the man’s body, but what I started with was far too much emphasis on this.
After our session I came to realize that by making the AT a priority, I was exploring many choices as to how he moves which were informed by my impulses and feelings. Your note to allow responses to filter through the whole of myself was really helpful to keep an open state of listening and responding. Once you helped me realize that I was gripping in my legs in order to ‘maintain’ his body, but I was able to accomplish the physical life that I wanted yet still be perfectly comfortable in my young body, with no physical pain or discomfort. I began to utilize the ability to remain connected to myself as a way to be gain connection to the character and the text without excess tension.
I am very looking forward to next year and further integrating the AT within the experience of acting as I see how the AT provides skills that are basic acting skills.
Thanks for everything Teva, it was a great year.
— first year MFA student at the end of the second semester