These columns, written by Carolyn Nicholls, first appeared in the Brighton Evening Argus Women’s section 'Body and Soul' and are reproduced by permission.

Nov 2006 - Shut your mouth!

Have you ever looked at your nostrils? Are they like little slits at the end of your nose, or are they wide and easily moving when you breathe? Do you breathe in and out through your nose or your mouth?

Standing Claire in front of my teaching mirror and asking these questions puzzled her a lot. She came for lessons because she’d heard it could help her asthma and she knew that her breathing was, as she put it, a bit poor. But she had no idea how important good breathing habits are and the effect poor breathing has on circulation and general well being.

Claire’s nostrils were indeed like little slits, which told me that she was largely a mouth breather. I pointed out to her habitual mouth breathing makes your respiratory system lazy. It’s much easier to take a breath in through your mouth than through your nose. Your ribs don’t have to bother to move very much if you always breathe through your mouth. Your nose is lined with fine hairs to trap dirt and act as a filter, your mouth isn’t! Your nose has a very good blood supply close to the surface, which makes the nasal lining warm so air is warmed to body temperature by the time it hits your lungs. Your mouth doesn’t do that so in wintry weather very cold air hits your lungs and they don’t like it. If your nose isn’t used, it gets clogged up so stuffy sinus’s are likely. This was Claire’s situation. In our sessions I used my hands round her ribs and neck to help her appreciate the connection between her stiff tight neck and her fixed ribs which was the result of years of poor breathing habits. As she began to let go of some of the tension in her neck, and keep her mouth closed as she breathed, her ribs started to creak back into life.

At first Claire felt a little panicky, feeling that she might not get enough air in through her nose, but we worked a lot with her lying in semi-supine and she soon found the panic diminish as her ribs moved and plenty of air came into her body.

She learned to leave her shoulders alone too, which had migrated right up round her ears due to her habit of sucking in air through her mouth.

After three months of lessons Claire met up with an old friend who said that Claire’s’ neck had got longer and she looked taller. Claire told the friend she was having Alexander lessons and was learning to keep her mouth shut. “About time too” commented the friend!

Oct 2006 - Post surgical pain

October is breast cancer awareness month, a topic close to my heart (literally) as I had breast cancer seven years ago and had a total mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. I am free from cancer but had considerable pain from the surgery. Naturally, surviving this ordeal gave me an interest in helping other women with post surgical pain.

When Irene came for lessons, she was two years past ‘that day’ as she called it, the day she had surgery. Everything had gone well for her, except that she still had considerable pain in her left side and her chest. “I feel as if I have a rolled up newspaper under my left arm.” She told me, and explained her armpit was rather numb, which was a strange sensation. She further explained the pain in her left side, where she had had the reconstruction surgery, and said her lowest ribs hurt on that side too, which, as they were quite a long way from the site of the surgery, surprised her.

When she breathed in she could feel the tightness of her muscles on her left side and it started a pain that over the months had spread up into her shoulder and neck, radiating round to her shoulder blade and upper back. It interfered with her work, which was at a computer desk, and it prevented her from enjoying her favourite hobby of swimming. She anticipated swimming would help her relax, but it had the opposite effect.

When I put my hands on Irene during her first lesson, I could tell that she was tightening the muscles on her left side in response to her pain, and the surgical scarring. This tightening had the effect of shortening her on her left side so that she was squashed down. This caused more compensation through her body and she was quite twisted.

During our lessons we worked with the idea of lengthening the whole body from head to foot whilst doing nothing else. Irene found this idea strange and wanted to tackle her left side directly. I explained to her this would be unhelpful and liable to make things worse rather than better. There had been so much compensatory tension through her whole body, it was her whole body she needed to consider.

Irene found lessons helped her feel lighter and gave some relief form pain. Over a period of three months, regular lessons taught her to unravel the twists and knots she got into. She found increased mobility and showed me how she could now twist round to look behind her, something she had missed when trying to reverse her car. Pain levels decreased considerably, her breathing improved and she felt that finally she was herself again.

• For more information on breast cancer go to www.breastcancer.org
• The whole body use can help relieve post surgical pain
• Learning good use can help you manage low energy following surgery

Sep 2006 - Hypermobile joints

Some people seek out Alexander lessons because they are stiff, particularly in their joints. For my pupil Colin, it is the opposite problem. Colin is hyper mobile and some joints cause him pain. Many people have a degree of hypermobility with no problems, but for some it can cause severe pain and affect mobility on the greater sense, knee and ankle pain interfering with walking. So what is it and how do you know if you’ve got it? If, like Colin you can bend your elbow backwards, place your thumb down on your forearm and bend your fingers back at a right angle then you are probably hypermobile. This can have advantages in dancing for example, but beyond a point it can be a problem. For Colin his knees hyperextend and give him pain.

People with hypemobile joints can have a poor sense of where their joints are, so that they don’t realise that they may be standing with their knees pushed backwards creating tremendous pressure on the joints. It is this lack of awareness that bought Colin for lessons. He is in his 30’s and always kept fit, particularly swimming, but his knee pain increased. A friend told him that when he stood on the edge of the swimming pool he looked as if he’d got his knees on back to front! Colin had no idea he was doing this but became aware that he did it whenever he was standing, even when washing up, and that when walking he pushed his knees back.

During his lesson Colin learnt the role of his neck and back in his whole body orientation, although he was very concerned with his knees, he was also misusing his neck badly so it was always tense, locking his head rigidly down onto his shoulders and adding to the downward pressure in his body. His knees were definitely victims of his misuse. The practice of semi supine gave him greater awareness of his muscles and joints and changed his thinking about walking and movement. Over a period of 3 months, Colin has improved his walking enormously and no longer suffers knee pain except when very tired. He takes much greater care with his swimming too, making sure he doesn’t stand in a braced fashion. He hopes to avoid some of the long term problems that hypermobility can bring by using his body well.

• For more information on hypermobility syndrome go to www.hypermobility.org
• The whole body use can contribute to a single joint pain.
• Learning good use can help you manage difficulties.

Aug 2006 - Unaccustomed as I am

When Ellen phoned me for lessons she told me she’d just been promoted at work. This meant she had to give presentations to senior managers about product lines she was recommending to the chain of stores she worked for. “I get so nervous when speaking,” she told me. “My voice goes up high and sounds strangled. I find I’m gasping for breath and I sometimes feel faint. My nerves are really getting on top of me.”

During her first lesson I noticed that Ellen’s normal breathing pattern was very poor. She took small shallow breaths and then big catch up breaths. She also yawned a lot, for which she apologized saying she wasn’t really tired. She didn’t know it was her body’s way of getting oxygen. So we started slowly, with Ellen lying in semi-supine and beginning to pay attention to her neck and back. She soon realized her back muscles were rigid and her neck very stiff. I pointed out to her the link between stiff muscles, poor breathing and her voice and nerves problems but at first she couldn’t see the connection. She left her first lesson rather frustrated as she’d hoped to cure her voice problem in one go. She came for more lessons and gradually noticed that her tension levels were falling and this made her breathing calmer, more regular and in turn she was able to calm her nerves and speak more freely.

Ellen had a big presentation coming up and we prepared for it during her lessons. First she learnt to stand without bracing her entire body, paying a lot of attention to her neck muscles as she did this. Then I got her to start her presentation and at the end of each sentence I asked her to close her mouth and stop speaking, to allow the air to come back in through her nostrils rather than her mouth and to give herself the direction to release her neck muscles again before she began the next sentence. Ellen found this very difficult. She felt she would loose peoples’ attention if she closed her mouth and stopped speaking. It seemed to her that the silence between sentences was very long. I assured her that it wasn’t and people needed a bit of time to hear what you were saying. Ellen agreed to try it out.

The next lesson Ellen came in beaming; she had been congratulated on her presentation and told she came across as clear and confident. She continues to have lessons and to learn more about the connection between muscles, breathing and speaking.

• Breathing is always related to postural habits.
• Pay attention to your back and neck muscles before you attempt anything else.
  

July 2006 - In the Swim

Now that summer is here and the sea has warmed up enough to tempt people in, the topic of using your body well in swimming is a pertinent one. When you watch good swimmers there is a sense of ease and effortlessness about their movements, the water is not too disturbed by their passage through it and they don’t seem to run out of air. Lesser mortals, for whom swimming is more difficult, seem to trash their way around making waves and not getting very far.

You can apply the principles of the Alexander Technique to your swimming just as effectively as you can to your back pain. In fact if you are one of many people who want to swim to help mobilise a stiff back then read on.
The first thing to think about is not particular strokes, but you and the water. Can you let the water support you? Try a long gentle glide away from the edge of the pool, or in the sea if you are a sea swimmer, As you glide keep your arms gently stretched out in front of you as if you were pointing at something far away and ask your whole body to lengthen right from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes. Let your neck muscles be released from tension and allow your face to lie in the water throughout the glide. Breathe out slowly and gently through your mouth.

Play with gliding on your front first and then turn over and play with gliding on your back. This tends to be more challenging because you can’t take a quick look at where you are going, but has the advantage of letting you rest your head on the water more easily. Imagine that there is a cushion behind your head as you glide and rest on it.
Choose your favourite stroke to start with and begin with a long slow glide, then as you start to swim allow the water to support you more. If you are swimming crawl let your head lie on the water as you bring your arms over, don’t stiffen up and drag your head back because you’ll more likely to start taking water into you! If breaststroke is your choice then make sure you allow your face to go into the water with a free neck and don’t hold it up to keep your hair dry. Most people swim better with proper goggles and hair tied well out of the way. One final tip-don’t breath in under water!

• Lengthening muscles will allow you to use the water efficiently
• When gliding, make sure you don’t push your arms and legs away from you in an attempt to stretch-it will have the opposite effect and make you tense
• Concentrate on style rather than counting laps-you’ll enjoy it more.
  

June 2006 - Active Rest

Whatever reason people have for seeking out Alexander lessons, be it back pain management, stress reduction or to enhance their musical performance, there is one procedure that I will teach to everybody.
It’s a way of lying down called semi-supine and it’s an active resting state that has many benefits. I take people through it in a lesson whilst I use my hands gently on their muscles, and I encourage them to practice at home on their own so they can become more familiar with their funnily little habits of tension.

Its not difficult to do and safe for almost everyone. You might not choose to do it if you have osteoporosis or some condition that makes your bones fragile. If you want to try it, this is what you do.

Chose a good spot to lie down in, a carpeted wooden floor out of draughts is best. Pick a time when you wont be disturbed for at least 10 minutes. Put the cat out, unplug the phone and begin some ‘just for me’ time.
Lie down on your back, don’t worry too much how you get down, just do it calmly and slowly. Have your knees bent so that the soles of your feet are flat on the floor and your feet about 18 inches from your buttocks. Don’t forget to breathe!

Rest the back of your head on a small pile of paperback books. They want to be about the same height as your index finger is long. This is a rough guide-if you are round-shouldered you’ll need more. Just make sure the books don’t dig into your neck. Keep your mouth lightly closed and your eyes open. Allow your hands to rest on your midriff without interlocking your fingers.
Now take a little time to quieten down and then simply ask all the muscles of your back to lengthen from your tailbone to the top of your skull. Make sure you don’t clench your neck muscles or your jaw whilst asking for this. Don’t try and do it-just ask. Your brain will send messages to your muscles if you allow it to work naturally and not try and force things.

Stay there for about 10 minutes and then gently get up.

Lying there will allow the discs in between your vertebrae to plump up a little by absorbing fluid from surrounding body tissues. This happens because you are in a different relationship with gravity when you lie down. Lengthening muscles can gently release long held tensions and start to reorganise how your back is coordinated and supported. Breathing can quieten and deepen. You don’t deliberately want to relax, but you will find yourself feeling calmer, taller and better balanced.

Keep practicing daily and, over a period of time, you will reap benefits.

• Keep your eyes open, they are organs of balance telling your brain where you are
• Don’t give up if you don’t notice anything at first.
• Don’t listen to music at the same time-allow yourself the luxury of silence.
• Download the new PDF file form the website on semi-supine.

May 2006 - Easy Running

It is easy to think that as Alexander teachers we deal only with problem backs and necks. But we have a whole other side to our work that deals with performance, be it musical or athletic. This is the time of year when people dig the running shoes out of the back of the wardrobe and set off-frequently into early injury. Even serious runners can be plagued with injury and spend a lot of time developing a running technique that will help them avoid it.

My pupil Alan was a keen runner; he did the occasional marathon and thought nothing of running 10 miles on a daily basis. He came to have lessons after reading about the Alexander Technique in a running magazine and felt it made sense. Now in his early 30’s he injured his left knee and was experiencing back pain when running. He felt frustrated and couldn’t sort himself out, hence the lessons. Alan stopped running as he had been warned he could cause permanent damage to his knee if he persisted.

When I used my hands to move Alan from a sitting position to a standing position it was obvious he transferred his weight on to his feet by over activating his leg muscles and this effectively pulled his left knee inwards, towards his right leg. This meant when his weight landed on his left leg in running or walking, the forces were being taken through a twisted joint, no wonder his knee complained.

Alan found the idea of making less effort rather strange at first, particularly as he enjoyed the sense of having strong legs. He soon discovered the state of his neck muscles had a great influence on his legs and back, something which surprised him.

Over a series of lessons Alan learned to transfer his weight by paying more attention to his overall lengthening and by using his mind to influence the direction of his muscles. He felt he became springier. He began to move differently in his everyday activities. Instead of being tense he learned to release without collapsing.
Alan is starting to run short distances again. His technique has changed completely and his way of approaching running radically different. His goal before was concerned with distance and timing, now he pays a great deal of attention to how he is using his body. He says he feel lighter and more comfortable when running and walking.

• You will run in the same way you walk, sort out your walking first!
• Lengthening muscles support you better than shortening muscles.
• Be aware of the two ends of your body-your head and your feet, and ask your muscles to let go and lengthen between them.

 
April 2006 - Dentistry, fear and the Alexander Technique

I am often asked two things, first how did I get involved with the Alexander Technique and second what do I use it for these days.

I was introduced to the AT by my mother, a back pain sufferer with a degenerative disc condition she had not received relief from her pain by conventional means. She tried acupuncture and stretching exercises. Then she found an Alexander teacher and began to regain some control over her body use and posture. This made a dramatic difference to her and she simply nagged me until I went.

I had just finished a degree and had a serious illness so I was very stressed and exhausted, literally running on empty. The most important thing that I learnt was how to stop. This is not simple. Stop what might be a good question and the answer is, stop interfering with your own natural mechanics of breathing and movement.

These days it’s the biannual visit to my dentist that can scare me. Early childhood experiences at the hands of an extremely rough dentist resulted in my being very nervous and liable to gag at any second. For years this caused me problems and I dreaded going. When I trained to teach the Alexander Technique I didn’t think it would be relevant to dental phobia but I noticed that I lay in the chair rigid from head to foot holding on to my legs for dear life, my fingers clutching my clothes in a claw like grip. All of these tensions I could address. I also sought out a gentle dentist who never rushes my treatment or makes me feel I’m a wimp. So I lie in the black chair consciously directing my legs to untangle from my back so that I can breathe whilst my dentist Nigel makes soothing comments and encouraging noises, tells me what he’s doing and how clever I am for letting him do it. I was even able to have my teeth whitened, a process that involved so much mouth furniture that Nigel gave me a pad and pencil to communicate with. Being unable to swallow for a whole hour would have done for me in the past, but the combination of me not allowing tension to build up in my body and Nigel’s calm approach enabled me to flash my sparkling new nashers for the photo you see at the top of the column.

• Whatever causes you anxiety or fear will also cause you to stiffen your neck muscles
• This in turn will make you fix your ribs and hold your breath. This you can prevent.
• Find a gentle dentist who will listen to you and let you take time.

March 2006 - Osteoporosis is hard work

When I first met Ted he was 77 and had recently had three lumber vertebra fracture due to osteoporosis. This had left him not only in pain but also with a very rounded upper back. His neck ached because his head was so poked forward on top of his neck that the muscles were strained. He had digestive problems because his rib cage was more or less sitting on his pelvis due to the collapse. He walked with two sticks.

Despite his difficulties, Ted remained cheerful and keen to help himself. He was taking the prescribed medication for his condition, following a good diet and walking as much as he could-but the pain caused him problems and he got tired easily.

In our lessons I handled Ted very gently, encouraging him to let go of the incredible tension in his neck and upper back and to let his head begin to go up instead of drooping down to the floor. He immediately understood the sense behind what we were doing and was able to think clearly and carefully rather than react immediately.
Ted is a very conscientious man and practised his Alexander Technique lying down every day. This made a huge difference and he was soon able to discard first one and then the other stick and walk more freely and easily. His rounded upper back straightened out quite a lot and gradually his muscles supported the new improved shape. He and his wife were able to walk more and so he keeps fit and active. A noticeable improvement has been in the circulation to his hands. His fingers and hands used to go blue with cold in the winter due partly to the tension in his chest squeezing the blood supply to his arms. Now he knows how to release his shoulders and the blood flows nicely and his hands stay pink.

Ted has had lessons for 3 years now, coming once a month to keep things going. His specialist is very pleased with his progress. Ted himself is confident that he can continue to help himself.

• If you think you may have osteoporosis see your GP
• There are local osteoporosis support groups that can give you lots of information
• The National Osteoporosis Society can be visited at www.nos.org.uk
• The Alexander Technique is not a cure for osteoporosis, but can help you cope positively with the changes and problems you may have.

 
Feb 2006 - Pregnant and posturally challenged!

My pupil Tracey rang in great excitement to tell me she was pregnant. “I want lots of help with my posture” she said “My first pregnancy was really uncomfortable.”

During her next lesson Tracey told me her first pregnancy was accompanied by constant mild sciatica, considerable digestive discomfort and backache. She was told that her posture was bad and caused compression in her lumbar area which gave her both back pain and sciatica. She wore a supportive corset, which gave some relief, but she felt she could have done more to help herself. Her labour was long and ended in a forceps delivery and subsequently she felt her pelvis was very unstable and her back pain worse. That was why she came for lessons. Tracey realised that she had little sense of her own balance and was very out of touch with her sense of awareness. She went about her days with extreme tension in her neck and jaw. This was the most obvious tension, and a contributing factor to the rounding of her upper back, her friends told her she slumped. In turn the rounded shoulders and stoop created pressure on her lower back, contributing to her back pain. This same pattern of muscular misuse caused compression in her digestive system and as her baby grew everything got more cramped and squashed.

As Tracey’s second pregnancy progressed she maintained a sense of lengthening through her whole body. During her lessons we looked at how she balanced her increasing weight by coordinating her head, neck and back in a good relationship rather than separate bits of herself pulling in different directions.

Tracey is now seven months pregnant and very well. She has no back pain and her digestion is working well.

We have recently adapted our lessons so that Tracey lies on her side on my teaching table instead of on her back in semi-supine. This is for her comfort and to enable her to release though her back and legs. Tracey will continue to have lessons right up to the birth and is looking forward to adding to her family. She says the Alexander Technique has made this pregnancy much more comfortable.

• As pregnancy progresses balance becomes more difficult. Think tall
• A lengthened body means more internal space for your baby and your lunch!
• Gentle exercise will help you stay healthy
• The Alexander Technique can help you help yourself as your body changes.

 
Jan 2006 - Seeing straight

Did you know that your eyesight can affect your balance and posture? We can picture the stooped scholar with thick glasses, but eye problems can have a greater impact when unrecognised.

My pupil Adrian suffered from low back and knee pain. At age ten an accident almost blinded his right eye. He recovered and adapted well, he can drive, and makes his living with a computer. Posturally he is very twisted, his pelvis swivels one way whilst his knees swivel the other. Walking through a narrow doorway he often bumps his shoulders or hip on the doorframe. Adrian’s posture has adapted badly to the new messages that his brain received from his eyes and consequently he developed muscles twists that caused problems.

Our eyes are organs of balance, without realising it we are constantly taking measurements of horizontals and verticals to tell our brains where up and down are. We laugh at a distorting mirror making us loose balance but don’t realise our own eyes might have the same effect!

Through his lessons Adrian learnt to monitor his sense of where ‘up’ is. For most of us, this is obvious, but if your vision is distorted so is your perception of space. Adrian’s clumsiness, which he assumed was because he was a clumsy person, is a result of imperfect postural co-ordination. Now that he has a better sense of his own body he is much less clumsy-which was an unexpected bonus.

Poor sight can have a profound affect upon neck muscles, resulting in a fixing of the neck and head, which has a chain reaction on the muscles of the back and legs. During his lessons Adrian experienced confusion. He felt I had twisted him so he was leaning over, but when I got him to check my full-length teaching mirror he could see this was not the case. His senses were misleading him and he realised he had to stop relying on feelings and work with thinking instead.

Our muscles respond to us giving what Alexander used to call directive orders. Learning to be aware of excessive tension and to project directive orders to our muscles is all part of the Alexander Technique.

Adrian’s back and knee pain have gone, he can manage his posture and use very well now, catching himself when excessive tension creeps in and taking steps to release it before it builds up.

• Have your sight checked regularly; you optician will pick up problems
• Squinting will make you tense your neck. Wear sunglasses in strong light.
• A stiff neck means a stiff ribcage-don’t forget to breathe!