Massage Therapists and Rolfers Taking Care of Themselves – Primary Control in the Alexander Technique (Bodyworkers)(Pain)(Strain)(Injuries)(Posture)(Psychology)(Albuquerque)

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Massage Therapists and Rolfers Taking Care of Themselves, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical. It will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to offer extraordinarily healing bodywork, as you take care of your own body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

Primary Control is the basis of organized coordinated conducting in the Alexander Technique. When a bodyworker is working with the most organized, powerful, and listening hands possible, and the head is leading the bodyworker’s spine into lengthening, then the arms and hands are moving from a decompressed, vertically balanced, and aligned spine.

This means that all of the nerves that radiate from the spinal cord have no pressure on them. So, the nerves can send the signals from the brain for movement and/or muscular support, as you work on a client, without being slowed down by the vertebrae and muscles pinching the nerves.

The brain and spinal cord always organize the movement that the body produces, but when the Primary Control is interfered with by muscular tension and compression and poor posture, then that organization is poor organization. THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IS ALL ABOUT THE QUALITY OF A BODYWORKER’S POSTURE AND TECHNIQUE.

The Alexander Technique recognizes that a huge amount of wear and tear and physical pain to the bodyworker is caused by how you work, not by how deeply you work into clients, how long you work on clients, or how many clients you see.

The assumption in the Alexander Technique is that we are born with an innate ability to move with beautiful Primary Control, and that babies crawl with the head leading a lengthening spine naturally, given that the baby is healthy in a healthy environment.

If you were to observe a 1,000 bodyworkers working, you’d be hard put to see one bodyworker working with beautiful Primary Control (given that none of them had done any Alexander Technique work). What does a bodyworker without a compromised Primary Control look like?

The bodyworker stands or sits fully upright or pivoted forward and upward from the hip joints with a completely mobile body (not trying to stand or sit straight). The bodyworker’s neck is free and the bodyworker is aware that the head is leading a lengthening spine upward, which means that the bodyworker is able to see the client on the table, as the head continues to lead a lengthening spine upward or on a diagonal.

This means that the bodyworker is completely engaged in doing bodywork without being pulled downward collapsing into the client. This fully upward mobile posture balancing on free legs on grounded feet or the sit bones, gives the shoulders and arms of the bodyworker a balanced torso to float on and be supported powerfully by, so that the bodyworker can effortlessly work light or deeply into the clients body without wear or tear to the bodyworker’s own body.

When the bodyworker’s shoulders are floating on a fully upright or aligned pivoted torso, then the shoulder girdle is free to back up the arms and hands as the bodyworker works, and the shoulder girdle doesn’t have to tense up to support itself.

When the bodyworker’s body is organized by the Primary Control, then the bodyworker is free to place all of his or her awareness on a bodyworker technique that isn’t being compromised by a compromised Primary Control. In other words, if the bodyworker’s body is collapsed or over-tense with poor head/neck/spine organization, then the pure specific bodywork technique of the bodyworker can never be what it would be, since it is not backed up by a balanced body.

WHEN THE FOUNDATION OF COORDINATED ELEGANT HUMAN MOVEMENT IS COMPROMISED, THEN THE SECONDARY TECHNIQUE OF A SPECIALIZED ACTIVITY, LIKE BODYWORK, WILL NEVER BE AS EFFORTLESS OR AS CONSISTENT AS IT COULD BE.

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An Alexander Technique Approach to Massage Therapists and Rolfers Taking Care of Themselves

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Ethan Kind

AUTHOR, TRAINER "When you change old habitual movement patterns with the Alexander Technique, whether in playing a musical instrument, running, weightlifting, walking, or typing at a computer, you create an ease of body use that moves you consistently into the zone." - Ethan Kind Ethan Kind writes and is published extensively on all of the above activities. He teaches musicians, athletes, and computer operators how to stop hurting themselves, by showing them how to use their bodies with ease and coordination. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been a musician and athlete all of his life. After training for three years at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (New York, NY), Ethan received Professional Certification credentials.