A few notes from my Alexander Technique lesson today- awareness of the head.

Lesson 4 September

Key points:

• Head is primary, remember the image of a baby and its head-prominence.
• Observe young children and babies, and their body posture and movement.
• Being with yourself is knowing where your head is, and then your whole 'self' spatially. Being with yourself isn't an observer mode, but sitting comfortably in your body and body experience. (This could also be termed 'self-remembering'. It fits the bill because one is self-aware at this time, and aware of what’s going on around.- me)
• Flow- one activity flows on to the next, there is no stop/start or separation. Awareness and movement is constant, even sitting ‘still’, or taking ‘a break’ involves movement and flows from a previous action to a next action.
• Don’t try to adjust things (back position, head etc.), the body will let you know what needs to be adjusted, provided you are self-aware and experiencing things from head-down. It is only when tuning-out or in autopilot (habit) mode that we lose connection with the body and issues arise.
• Make time during the day to feel where your head is located, and then your body, and whole ‘self’, and just experience sitting and being without any intention or need to do anything.
• Experiment with ‘noting’ if the idea arises, though perform the noting within the context of the whole ‘self’ rather than just fixating on one arising (such as ‘touch’); note and be aware of the whole context occurring.
• Take note when moving that the head is leading, or at least be aware of where you are going and what you are doing (while experiencing the head-body connection).

A change in events.. and focus - physical injury and Body Awareness.

Things took a very unexpected turn recently (in the last 7 weeks), chiefly due to acute pain coming from a 'pinched nerve' (herniated disc) in the neck. It's the sort of thing one wouldn't wish on one's worst enemy. My left arm was virtually useless, and there's no position (sitting, standing, sleeping, etc.) that feels comfortable at all. Most people that have the misfortune to experience this (in the neck or lower back) usually take pain killers like candies, in order to stop going completely insane. One normally just has to "wait it out", especially without resorting to harmful NSAIDs etc., or surgical intervention.

Anyhow, it seemed to be an ideal time to explore (or re-explore) BODY AWARENESS. An area, which on reflection, I had seriously 'left behind' a while ago, in favour of pretty much always hanging out in open awareness or witness mode. I can certainly predict that my days of hanging out in 'no body' mode are over for the next while.

As it happened, with acute pain, and the total non-functioning of my body (in terms of movement), I found myself drawn to exploring:

• The Alexander Technique
• Feldenkrais
• Mindfulness of sensations
• EFT
• Gurdjieff Work (around body awareness, and the Moving Centre + Emotional Centre)
• Self-inquiry (around pain, and "I" identity with pain)

These were also supplemented by medical attention (doctors, Chiropractic (which caused more issues), Osteopathy (very helpful), etc.), and a good regime of natural supplements.

After 7 weeks, things started returning to 'normal' in terms of body functionality. My Osteopath was rather surprised at the rate of recovery, and commented that most people with this injury took between 6 weeks and 6 months.

Of the above, I found Alexander Technique (through lessons with a teacher) to be highly beneficial, insightful and completely outside any prior ideas I had related to what it was. It also fits in perfectly with any number of 'spiritual systems', even though the focus is purely physical (or educational). The ideas of 'inhibiting automatic habits', 'pausing', adjusting, bringing parts into awareness and unity, etc. all fit perfectly with Gurdjieff Work as well.

Seven weeks of intense pain and disability was a humbling, but truly fresh experience. "Life" never ceases to surprise, instruct, and lead.. often to places unexpected.

Over the next while, I'll be re-exploring some basic "Self-Observation" and Body Awareness ideas through the blog and on my other accounts.

Meditating with eyes fully shut or half shut?

I've recently been experimenting with meditating and performing internal exercises with eyes half-shut, instead of eyes fully shut.

Some meditation teachers emphasize that eyes should be fully shut while meditating to reduce all distraction and retain full attention internally. Others emphasise half-shut eyes, in order to maintain added alertness, and also to avoid going into a 'void' state.

IME, after practicing for years with eyes fully shut, I have come to appreciate the half-shut position more, and now only use this while meditating or performing internal looking.

The reason for this is that IME I found that it not only helped with the above (added alertness, stopping 'void' drifting etc.), but also that it helped with posture and alignment of the head/neck.

It seems that the movement of the eyes definitely affects the position of the head/neck, even slightly or very subtly.

This has been noted in various therapies/systems, such as the Alexander Technique- 'the head follows the eyes, and the spine follows the head' etc. (paraphrasing here).

What seems to be a small point, and is usually brushed off as trivial by most meditation teachers, is actually quite a large point and can have a definite impact on a practice.

Experiment with both, and note the differences.