The second best piece of advice from a movement teacher
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
4M ago
The second best piece of advice from a movement teacher also came from the world of yoga (Modern Western Postural Yoga). I was nearing the end of my teacher training and many of the newly hatched yoga teachers were wondering how to design a class sequence, and even really, how to practice on their own. My teacher Stephanie Snyder said, “Get on the mat and start moving.” It took me nine years to follow that advice, but it is currently the one thing that I am doing that I am most sure about. The post The second best piece of advice from a movement teacher appeared first on Body Project ..read more
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All the yoga poses already live inside you
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
4M ago
A yoga teacher once told me, “All the yoga poses already live inside you.” I don’t know if she said this to every student, or she said it just to me, but I took it personally, and it made me feel totally empowered to practice yoga. Yoga already belonged to me, it was already alive inside of me, and learning yoga would be a practice of unlocking these secrets versus adopting something alien. I think this was the most helpful thing a movement teacher has ever said to me. I think about all the times when Alexander Technique teachers, in their efforts to be helpful, pointed out that I had very tig ..read more
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Help! Too much internal awareness! I’m self-conscious and uncomfortable!
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
4M ago
I whipped this out for my SFSU students. Perhaps you will find it useful. Sometimes in Somatic study, we can feel destabilized by too much internal awareness – especially if it is negative. If you are feeling this, you are not alone. It is something that happens to everyone at one point or another. We focus too much on the feeling inside and lose sight of the whole of our being in relationship to the world. Somatic study is relational. Our bodies, our emotions and our neurological mapping of ourself includes the space around us and other people. Scientifically this is called “peripersonal spac ..read more
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How would you rate…?
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
7M ago
Therapist: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your average day. Me: 5 Therapist: Why’s that? Me: Because that’s how averages work. This is an important point – that to be happy, to have self-esteem and personal integrity in life and work, we all have to be “above average” but that’s not how “average” works. I’ve been thinking about this a lot ever since listening to compassion researcher Kristen Neff PhD make this exact point on the Hidden Brain Podcast. She asks the host, our beloved Shankar Vedantam, how he would feel if she said his podcast was average, and he replied, as we all woul ..read more
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On Savoring
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
7M ago
Every once in a while, I listen to a podcast that hits me at the right moment with important knowledge. Usually, it’s stuff that I already know, but it’s phrased in a way that feels fresh, important and relatable. I can effortlessly take it in and put it to practice. This two-part series on Savoring, on Hidden Brain, was one of those. Everyone knows that the mind is a sticky magnet for troubles and silky Teflon to pleasures. There are clear survival benefits to paying attention to what might go wrong, but the tax on daily happiness is high when that is all you know to do. This is relevant to t ..read more
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An Alexander Technique Teacher’s Back Goes Out
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
7M ago
An Alexander Technique Teacher’s Back Goes Out I was sitting for morning meditation and I reached diagonally to pet my cat. “Ouch!” the left side of my back said. A few minutes later, I was in the narrow area of my house where the laundry machines are lodged, performing the complicated diagonal high/low reach to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. “Owe, Owe, Owie!” my back said. “Sh*t, Fwck, D@mn!” I replied. An hour later I was on Zoom teaching the 15th and last session of the Summer Somatics Course. I had planned to lead them through a little yoga, and reached diagonally on my desk fo ..read more
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A memory of Frank Ottiwell
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
2y ago
A friend wrote, “Send me a “Frank” quote.” He was referring to Frank Ottiwell, my mentor and the director of my Alexander Technique (AT) teacher training course. I wrote back, I can’t think of any particular Frank quote right now, but I am remembering how he would arrive every morning at the AT school (we started at 8:30 am), with some exciting revelation. One morning, he came in bursting to tell us about how, as he had cooked his oatmeal, and brushed his hair, and tied his shoes, and done all the things one usually does, he had been astonished by his hands – that they knew exactly what to do ..read more
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In memory of Rome Roberts Earle
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
2y ago
Elyse & Rome at the International Alexander Technique Congress, Limerick, Ireland, 2015 Rest in peace dearest Rome. I am so sad to learn of your passing and so grateful for my time with you. Rome Roberts Earle was one of the last first generation Alexander Teachers, having initially trained at Ashley Place in London with FM Alexander. She was my trainer on Frank Ottiwell’s course and my teacher in my early 20’s. Rome was so gentle, kind and beautiful. Her quiet hands removed the stress from my young body and taught me how to bring that ease and clarity into dance. I will forever treasure ..read more
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Alexander Technique Slant on Covid-19 Prevention
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
3y ago
Elyse Shafarma Practice the Alexander Technique pause to prevent touching your face. Research* shows that people touch their face 23 times per hour. The most common reasons for face touching are: A desire to focus  A desire to self soothe An itch. See if you can identify the urge and use your mind to STOP. Stopping does not need to involve muscular tension. It’s a simple decision. Instead of touching your face to focus or soothe, invent an alternative gesture. Try pressing your finger tips together when thinking. Place a hand on your chest to comfort yourself. You can also use ha ..read more
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Illeism
Body Project – Alexander Technique with Elyse Shafarman
by Elyse Shafarman
3y ago
I’m not sure why I thought it would be ok to teach after a dental extraction. Mind over matter only goes so far. Why do I think it’s a good idea to push my own body through pain and exhaustion when I am constantly counseling my Alexander Technique students to listen to the body, find the ease, and practice self-compassion? It it our cultural conditioning that we all need external permission to rest lest we be perceived as lazy? Right effort gets lost in the intoxication of brute force. Pushing beyond self-perceived limits is part of the performing arts culture* that I have taught/par ..read more
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