This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Inspired Musical Performance, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is written to give all performing musicians deep insights into the beliefs and bad habits and technique that performers have that can end careers with pain, strain, tension, and injuries.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
Not too long ago I heard someone talking about wishing they were some famous person, and the listener’s response was, “You don’t know how much peace or unhappiness there is in this famous person.”
This got me to thinking that since we can’t read each other’s mind, that what we go on that makes us envious of another person, is how famous or successful they are, not whether they’re happy or miserable.
It is very difficult to easily be in a balanced posture and have great body use, when we do specialized and daily activities being tough on ourselves in our thoughts.
Here’s the conclusion I’ve drawn.
HUMAN’S ARE CAPABLE OF DOING THINGS EXTRAORDINARILY WELL, AND AT THE SAME THEY’RE INNER LIFE/THOUGHTS BE BRUTAL! THIS IS AN AMAZING THING, BECAUSE IT MEANS MANY PEOPLE CAN DO THINGS AMAZINGLY WELL WITH A MIND, A SET OF THOUGHTS, THAT DO NOT SUPPORT YOU OR THE ACTIVITY.
This is why extraordinarily successful people may only be successful on the outside and not the inside. Not a happy thought!
Since this is so, it really explains why almost all repetitive activities almost always cause wear and tear to the body. It means many people who do things really well, do so with harsh mental thoughts and feelings. In fact most people who excel in physical activities from running, to golf, to playing a musical instrument, get injured.
I believe there is a direct connection from bullying yourself in your daily life and excelling in a specialized activity and getting injured, no matter how good your technique.
Here’s an example of this. I just got an email from someone who bought one of my ebooks for performing musicians. He said he played his violin and lifted weights and got injured at times, and that injury was inevitable, even though he had good technique in both. (I said in describing the ebook that injury was almost always possible to avoid through the Alexander Technique, and he didn’t agree.)
I responded to his email by saying that it was probable that he had too much internal tension, and that with too much internal tension, great technique wouldn’t protect him from injury. If he went to a certified Alexander Technique teacher, he could be shown if he was excessively tense and release this excess tension consciously.
He, like most people, believed that if your technique looked right and worked right, then that was still NOT enough to remain injury free, and HE’S RIGHT!
WHAT HE ISN’T AWARE OF, IS THAT INTERNAL TENSION IS A VERY SUBTLE THING. THAT PLAYING THE VIOLIN OR LIFTING WEIGHTS REQUIRES A SENSE OF WHOLE BODY GREAT POSTURE, WHOLE BODY RELEASE, AND THE APPROPRIATE WHOLE BODY DYNAMIC ALTOGETHER, IF HE WAS TO DO THINGS INJURY FREE.
Alexander Technique can teach you to do what you do and be mostly injury free, if you’re willing to change your whole body technique and posture in specialized activities and daily activities.
Alexander Technique does not address a person’s compulsive harsh thoughts, but creates a set of exceptional tools to excel at an activity, specialized or not, in motion or not.
So, if the Alexander Technique addresses your posture and technique directly, giving you a set of tools to stop sacrificing your body, what if you addressed your direct beliefs about what it takes to excel at a physical activity! What do I mean?
IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE TO MERCILESSLY DRIVE YOURSELF TO BE A GREAT GOLFER, RUNNER OR PERFORMING MUSICIAN, THEN YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO WORK LIKE A DOG TO APPLY THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE’S PRINCIPLES OF RELEASE THROUGHOUT YOUR BODY, IF YOU WANT TO BE TRULY INJURY FREE.
What I just wrote is not central to the Alexander Technique. The technique is not a branch of psychology. But if you’re going to change your whole approach to doing an activity, then if you don’t change your harsh motivation, then you’re going to have to compartmentalize your self bullying self separate from your Alexanderized posture and technique.
In other words, the Alexander Technique shows you how to use your body lovingly and fearlessly. If you treat yourself unlovingly in your thoughts, you will have to be really vigilant to keep excess tension and hunkering down from creeping back into your activities.
What if your thoughts about yourself and your activities were as life affirming as your posture and technique are, based on the principles of the Alexander Technique?
THEN YOUR RUNNING, PLAYING GOLF, AND PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, ETC., WOULD BE TRULY LIFE AFFIRMING AND LIFE ENHANCING.
