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Alexander Discovery, Alexander Technique, attention, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, happiness, intention, love, mindfulness

Having breakfast

John Leave a comment

Photo by Sam Lion on Pexels.com

Yesterday was Saturday and we have started having breakfast at The Art of Coffee in Coleford, the coffee is great as is the breakfast, during our weekly shop. Yesterday was the Faddle Fair at Coleford, we didn’t realise the Fair was on so the town was busy as was the Cafe. I must have sensed it was busy as I rushed to the Cafe to book our breakfast and find a table to sit at. It was quiet however moments later the cafe filled up.

Our breakfast arrived and so did the cacophony of noise from the very chatty clientele, it was getting louder and louder. My wife wanted to eat up and leave quickly; most weeks it’s been a quiet place with couples and singletons enjoying a quiet breakfast reading the newspapers or quietly planning their day.

Not today!

I had a brain wave, why don’t I connect with everyone in the cafe and ask for quiet, I didn’t stand up and in my best loud voice say ” Excuse me but can you all talk quieter the cacophony is getting too loud” I don’t think that would have gone down too well!

Instead I did what I’d learnt during my Alexander training, that is to invite quite into the room. It does sound crackers, trust me it does work, my wife can testify as this is what I did yesterday.

How to do it is the complete opposite of what you may think you need to do. There is no doing involved, there’s letting go of trying to do anything. Letting my energy be at peace, letting my energy be calm and allowing the calm to spread to everyone in the room. When those in the room received my calm they quietened down and either stopped speaking or lowered the volume of their voice. My wife was impressed at the speed they quietened, then we enjoyed our breakfast in full cafe with everyone enjoying a few moments of calm with their breakfast. I do hope the other clientele enjoyed their calm moments and return to the The Art of Coffee for more chilled moments and of course their fabulous coffee.

This practice of quiet is what I use when I work with groups or when working with an individual client. It is the first stage of helping them with whatever angst they bring to me. As several of my clients have said to me on various occasions, this calm is better than drugs, I guess this is the calm what some people seek through drugs, I digressed.

Being calm is one thing, it is fantastic, what I’m seeking with my clients is a change is being able to be calm and also in activity at the same time. Two focuses at the same time, the focus of being calm, that’s having a full attention to their body and the place they are in and the focus on what they seek to do, the intent to achieve something.

Simple ah!

What stops everyone, including me, is the self-doubt and unworthiness in whatever form it takes that prevent you from having the attention to your body and space around you, and the intent to achieve something. I’ll help you with letting go of this self-doubt and unworthiness. When you watch my testimonials this is exactly what they are saying.

If you are seeking calm and or want to manage your the self-doubt and unworthiness then do contact me, i can help you.

See you soon.

John

Why not watch my Testimonials

Alexander Technique, Asthma

Asthma and how the Alexander Technique helped me

John 1 Comment

In 1995 I had a very bad year, some of the most stressful events in my life appeared at once, then I got the flu – asthma struck me with a huge bang.

I could only walk a few yards before I needed to stop to get my breath back, it was just horrible, I seemed to be permanently using my inhaler. On one event I was admitted to hospital, the paramedic prepared me for a drip in the ambulance, I thought I had some medicine through the drip and instantly recovered.

I thought, asthma is psychological? A needle in my hand connected to nothing and the symptoms stop!
 
I’d never really thought what asthma was, here is a definition
•a respiratory condition marked by attacks of spasm in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. It is usually connected to allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity.
•from Greek asthma, from azein ‘breathe hard’.
Well, that may be true but is it always, sudden onset of asthma after a trauma could well be different; I recon it is a muscular response to stress related to the fight or flight reflex. Breathing is dependant on the muscles and skeleton of the thorax and also the muscles abdomen however with asthma caused by stress the control on these muscles goes awry.  I found that when I had an asthma attack, it wasn’t that I couldn’t breathe in but I was full of air and couldn’t breathe out, inhalers eased the effect but did nothing in the long-term. I simply wasn’t using the array of muscles available for breathing as my thorax was locked in a fright, unwilling to move, not knowing how to move. I sort of breathed from my shoulders, sucking in air by scrunching up my shoulders. My shoulders felt like they were up near my ears. I was breathless if I did too much activity, I went in to panic mode if i did too much activity, a vicious circle with no escape if I didn’t have my inhaler to hand; well that’s what I thought.
I accidentally discovered the Alexander Technique 10-12 years after I started with asthma. It just made me feel good, I enjoyed the feeling of lightness, greater ease, I was happier. My inhaler use reduced but I didn’t put it down to the Alexander Technique; I’ve noticed that it’s always something other than the Alexander Technique that has improved what has improved.
I remembered the night in the ambulance; A needle in my hand connected to nothing and the symptoms stop! 
Perhaps the Alexander Technique can help me manage my asthma. I went on  a voyage of discovery, firstly I discovered that the Alexander Technique is not a therapy but training how to use myself efficiently and effectively, in fact efficaciously.
My asthma is the output of many habits I’ve developed over my lifetime; they were all valid when I developed them but may not be valid now. The Alexander Technique allows me to stop and choose how I want to approach stimuli, say a stressful situation, instead of my habitual tightening and resultant asthma, I can choose something else.  The Alexander Technique isn’t a quick or instant fix but I think well worth the effort, why be reliant on inhalers when I can consciously control my actions.
I now live an inhaler free life, when the asthma indicators arise, I can now stop, choose and get on with my life.