So far in this series, we’ve looked at the theory of what is the correct orientation and relative position of the neck and head. In this video, we look at a starting procedure for manipulating the neck and head. Make sure you're getting visual feedback if you try this. I offer lessons in the Initial Alexander Technique, which are conducted one-on-one with a teacher over Zoom. They are designed to help you gain conscious control over how you move your body. Most people have no idea what they’re doing with their body, and as they misuse their body, they end up with discomfort, pain, and other issues that they may not even realize are caused by what they’re doing to themselves. But how do you figure out what you’re doing wrong? And how do you change what you're doing and overcome lifelong habits? In an Initial Alexander Technique lesson, you will record yourself through Zoom, so you will be able to see and understand what you are doing when you stand, sit, walk, and perform other simple gestures. With the assistance of your teacher, you will come to understand how you are misusing the mechanisms of your body, and you will gain the ability to choose to use yourself in a more sensible way. You can learn how to use your body without pain. You can break free from long held habits. All you need is a system that works. For more information or to book a lesson, please visit my website: mechanicsofpoise.com/ You can contact me at: DelsarteAlexanderMasoeroYou@protonmail.com "This new piece of evidence suggested that the functioning of the organs of speech was influenced by my manner of using the whole torso, and that the pulling of the head back and down was not, as I had presumed, merely a misuse of the specific parts concerned, but one that was inseparably bound up with a misuse of other mechanisms which involved the act of shortening the stature. If this were so, it would clearly be useless to expect such improvement as I need from merely preventing the wrong use of the head and neck. I realized that I must also prevent those other associated wrong uses that brought about the shortening of the stature." F.M. Alexander
I don't really understand how you could move the corner of the eye faster without moving the head down. The picture where you show the head in its lengthened way has its head and chin lower than before extension. Could you explain it to me a bit better for me?
I'm gaining greatly from your work. How would you describe the ideal situation at the C7-T1 junction? Should there be a noticeable discontinuity or break, or should the cervical vertebrae smoothly continue the forward arcing of the upper thoracic vertebrae? Because I seem to get a big, feelable-to-the-fingers break between C7 and T1. And yet, following your advice, I don't want to retract my head to achieve smoothness there. Thanks!
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by a break at the C7-T1 junction, but I think you mean something along the lines of what I described at the start of the 4th video in this series - the sort of forward head posture where there is a severe angle between the neck and the ribcage. I understand the temptation to go right at the problem and pull the neck back. If you want to, experiment with pulling the neck back and see what happens. We don’t fear doing the wrong thing in this system, as long as you’re doing what you intend to do, and know how to get your way out. But since we’re looking at the junction essentially of the neck and torso, we do want to consider the torso first (since an unbalanced torso cannot support your head). Are your arms and your sternum pulled back? If so that will exert a force on your neck and head. You will need a lift of the upper ribs beside the sternum (but with the lower sternum going back - not at all forward). If my initial assumption about what you’re dealing with is correct, it’s likely that your head is low (as described in episode 04 in this series). Look at the directions later in this series to lift the mandibular angle faster than the chin (but lifting both). You can also use the directions to pull the larynx back and down at the same time. The key thing to bear in mind is that manipulations of the head are extremely difficult to make sense of through your feeling sense, so make sure you have visual feedback. Sometimes what you think is up is actually back, or what you think is down is actually up. The feelings can be very deceptive, so use visual feedback.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 Thanks SO much for your thoughtful, detailed, personalized reply!! I will work with what you said here and get back to you. I'm very appreciative of your attention to detail and the way you bring in related possibilities and thoughts--that matches my cognitive style and I can really use that kind of stuff! You are the very opposite of a "slipshod", "absent-minded," or "merely rote" kind of thinker. Your relationship to your work seems to be the opposite of Karl Marx's "alienated labor." :) In other words, pure devotion.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 I've been experimenting with your method and had great results! The clues you gave in your reply to me in this thread are full of intriguing possibilities for experimenting! I was rather shocked to discover how much I'm indeed rotating the ribcage back; since I have a rounded upper back and I slouch forward, I believed that my rib cage was rotated *forward*, not back. But a little mirror work and sensitive kinesthesia revealed the truth! So now I work on rotating the ribcage forward while also lifting it up and away from the pelvis; moving the manubrium forward and up; putting the head forward and up while moving the bottom of the sternum back, and moving the shoulders forward, down, and out (opposing the forward and up movement of the head). Lifting the mandibular angle faster than the chin, but lifting both, made the C7-T1 "break" I described, virtually disappear immediately. Now I'll work on adding the larynx back and down, to further my progress. It's so gratifying when a theoretical model shows firm evidence of being "true" and usable in this way, even from the start! Ofc I have a lot of work to do but your videos are a great help! Masoero's videos, while masterful in their own way, are way too dense to guide one's practice in an immediate way. Your videos fill that gap exquisitely and I thank you!! Addendum: I do experiment with other things as well, some of which might be contradictory to your work, on the surface: e.g. I've been using a weight-lifter's head harness and pulling my head back with weighted resistance; and I also found something helpful in what one of your commenters on a related video (sam?) said about reinterpreting the Mackenzie maneuver. So unless you warn me off of these things, I'll continue to experiment, since I think I get benefit from them! ;)
Good video! Seeing as we've come all the way to the head now, I have question related to this. I have a recessed upper jaw that causes me to have: congested sinuses, underbite, nasally voice with a slight speech impediment, headache, and fatigue. If I pull my lower jaw back to align the bite, my TMJ flare up and I create pressure in my head with time. If I let my lower teeth rest ahead of my upper teeth, I get an underbite, slight speech impediment, and it looks a bit "off". Any way to go about correcting this? Thank you for the videos, they are a gold mine.
You definitely don’t want to pull your jaw back. If you don’t have much experience with this, you're first going to want to address the torso. If you have a significant underbite, you almost certainly will have a significant problem of habitually shortening your torso. While it’s understandable to want to go right at the clear problem (the underbite), lasting change has to be built on a solid foundation. In order to correct the problem you’re having, you will need to reorient your head. The only way to do that in lasting and beneficial way is to have the support of your thoracolumbar fascia (at the back of your torso) and other fascia. So the first step to correcting this problem is getting the upper sternum forward, the lower sternum back, and lifting the ribcage up away from the pelvis. If you do have some experience with this, than the next step is to work on getting the head forward and up. Video 06 in this series looks at a starting procedure for this. The later videos in this series will also give you a few things to look at in terms of manipulating the muscles of the face and ultimately changing the relative position of the maxilla (the bone at the upper part of the mouth). If this has been a lifelong problem, it will take time to change. I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do without being able to see you, but getting your head forward and up (without shortening the torso) will make a major difference to your airway and breathing.
I’ve been l thinking about the underbite problem a bit, and I have some ideas. From what I looked at, it seems like most people with an underbite have the back of their head significantly pulled back and down. This rotates the whole head, so the ear appears to be angled with the top end back. The mandible is jutted forward by this. The thing that struck me in a few pictures that I looked at of people with underbites is that their skulls seem to extend further back than what you’d typically see, and the top of the skull near the brow ridge seems off. That’s what I would expect to see if the entire head was tipped essentially back and down (particularly if you think of the top of the head near the back going back and down). I couldn’t find any full body pictures of people with underbites, but I would very much expect that to coincide with the lower sternum jutting very far forward. Let me know if any of the above sounds accurate to your case. If so, you can consider moving a spot we’ll look at later in this series called the ponytail spot - forward and up. If you just think of where you would tie a ponytail on your head, that is the spot. You can also consider the adjustment in this video, moving the corner of the eye spot forward, as that will help counteract the pull back and down. But remember to coordinate these movements with a movement of the lower sternum back and a rotation of the ribcage, back at the lower end, forward at the upper end, on an upward trajectory away from the pelvis.
Sorry for the late response. I don't necesseraly have an underbite, but I sometimes have the habit of creating it to relieve 'pressure' in the skull (sinuses especially). I did however, have the habit of jutting my sternum forward, bending my back backwards, curving my lower back, and hinging the neck. A recipe for disaster. Since then I've followed the series and done the corrections along the way, with the rotation of the arms being the hardest habit to induce, and I'm now implementing the ponytail spot technique. Do you think a neck hump will fix itself, and straighten, with time given proper posture? Thanks again for you work. Appreciate it!
As we do this, should we try to bring all of the parts above the rib at the side of the armpit line forward not just the head? I feel like as I move my head forward my upper back comes forward as well.
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So far in this series, we’ve looked at the theory of what is the correct orientation and relative position of the neck and head. In this video, we look at a starting procedure for manipulating the neck and head. Make sure you're getting visual feedback if you try this.
I offer lessons in the Initial Alexander Technique, which are conducted one-on-one with a teacher over Zoom. They are designed to help you gain conscious control over how you move your body. Most people have no idea what they’re doing with their body, and as they misuse their body, they end up with discomfort, pain, and other issues that they may not even realize are caused by what they’re doing to themselves. But how do you figure out what you’re doing wrong? And how do you change what you're doing and overcome lifelong habits?
In an Initial Alexander Technique lesson, you will record yourself through Zoom, so you will be able to see and understand what you are doing when you stand, sit, walk, and perform other simple gestures. With the assistance of your teacher, you will come to understand how you are misusing the mechanisms of your body, and you will gain the ability to choose to use yourself in a more sensible way. You can learn how to use your body without pain. You can break free from long held habits. All you need is a system that works.
For more information or to book a lesson, please visit my website: mechanicsofpoise.com/
You can contact me at: DelsarteAlexanderMasoeroYou@protonmail.com
"This new piece of evidence suggested that the functioning of the organs of speech was influenced by my manner of using the whole torso, and that the pulling of the head back and down was not, as I had presumed, merely a misuse of the specific parts concerned, but one that was inseparably bound up with a misuse of other mechanisms which involved the act of shortening the stature. If this were so, it would clearly be useless to expect such improvement as I need from merely preventing the wrong use of the head and neck. I realized that I must also prevent those other associated wrong uses that brought about the shortening of the stature."
F.M. Alexander
I don't really understand how you could move the corner of the eye faster without moving the head down. The picture where you show the head in its lengthened way has its head and chin lower than before extension.
Could you explain it to me a bit better for me?
will you have an episode for the tongue? 🥰
I think you will enjoy some of the upcoming episodes!
hi, do you mean expand/move forward our jaw like a capital extension?
I'm gaining greatly from your work. How would you describe the ideal situation at the C7-T1 junction? Should there be a noticeable discontinuity or break, or should the cervical vertebrae smoothly continue the forward arcing of the upper thoracic vertebrae? Because I seem to get a big, feelable-to-the-fingers break between C7 and T1. And yet, following your advice, I don't want to retract my head to achieve smoothness there.
Thanks!
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by a break at the C7-T1 junction, but I think you mean something along the lines of what I described at the start of the 4th video in this series - the sort of forward head posture where there is a severe angle between the neck and the ribcage.
I understand the temptation to go right at the problem and pull the neck back. If you want to, experiment with pulling the neck back and see what happens. We don’t fear doing the wrong thing in this system, as long as you’re doing what you intend to do, and know how to get your way out.
But since we’re looking at the junction essentially of the neck and torso, we do want to consider the torso first (since an unbalanced torso cannot support your head). Are your arms and your sternum pulled back? If so that will exert a force on your neck and head. You will need a lift of the upper ribs beside the sternum (but with the lower sternum going back - not at all forward).
If my initial assumption about what you’re dealing with is correct, it’s likely that your head is low (as described in episode 04 in this series). Look at the directions later in this series to lift the mandibular angle faster than the chin (but lifting both). You can also use the directions to pull the larynx back and down at the same time.
The key thing to bear in mind is that manipulations of the head are extremely difficult to make sense of through your feeling sense, so make sure you have visual feedback. Sometimes what you think is up is actually back, or what you think is down is actually up. The feelings can be very deceptive, so use visual feedback.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 Thanks SO much for your thoughtful, detailed, personalized reply!! I will work with what you said here and get back to you. I'm very appreciative of your attention to detail and the way you bring in related possibilities and thoughts--that matches my cognitive style and I can really use that kind of stuff! You are the very opposite of a "slipshod", "absent-minded," or "merely rote" kind of thinker. Your relationship to your work seems to be the opposite of Karl Marx's "alienated labor." :) In other words, pure devotion.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 I've been experimenting with your method and had great results! The clues you gave in your reply to me in this thread are full of intriguing possibilities for experimenting! I was rather shocked to discover how much I'm indeed rotating the ribcage back; since I have a rounded upper back and I slouch forward, I believed that my rib cage was rotated *forward*, not back. But a little mirror work and sensitive kinesthesia revealed the truth! So now I work on rotating the ribcage forward while also lifting it up and away from the pelvis; moving the manubrium forward and up; putting the head forward and up while moving the bottom of the sternum back, and moving the shoulders forward, down, and out (opposing the forward and up movement of the head). Lifting the mandibular angle faster than the chin, but lifting both, made the C7-T1 "break" I described, virtually disappear immediately. Now I'll work on adding the larynx back and down, to further my progress. It's so gratifying when a theoretical model shows firm evidence of being "true" and usable in this way, even from the start! Ofc I have a lot of work to do but your videos are a great help! Masoero's videos, while masterful in their own way, are way too dense to guide one's practice in an immediate way. Your videos fill that gap exquisitely and I thank you!! Addendum: I do experiment with other things as well, some of which might be contradictory to your work, on the surface: e.g. I've been using a weight-lifter's head harness and pulling my head back with weighted resistance; and I also found something helpful in what one of your commenters on a related video (sam?) said about reinterpreting the Mackenzie maneuver. So unless you warn me off of these things, I'll continue to experiment, since I think I get benefit from them! ;)
Good video! Seeing as we've come all the way to the head now, I have question related to this.
I have a recessed upper jaw that causes me to have: congested sinuses, underbite, nasally voice with a slight speech impediment, headache, and fatigue. If I pull my lower jaw back to align the bite, my TMJ flare up and I create pressure in my head with time. If I let my lower teeth rest ahead of my upper teeth, I get an underbite, slight speech impediment, and it looks a bit "off". Any way to go about correcting this?
Thank you for the videos, they are a gold mine.
You definitely don’t want to pull your jaw back. If you don’t have much experience with this, you're first going to want to address the torso. If you have a significant underbite, you almost certainly will have a significant problem of habitually shortening your torso. While it’s understandable to want to go right at the clear problem (the underbite), lasting change has to be built on a solid foundation.
In order to correct the problem you’re having, you will need to reorient your head. The only way to do that in lasting and beneficial way is to have the support of your thoracolumbar fascia (at the back of your torso) and other fascia. So the first step to correcting this problem is getting the upper sternum forward, the lower sternum back, and lifting the ribcage up away from the pelvis.
If you do have some experience with this, than the next step is to work on getting the head forward and up. Video 06 in this series looks at a starting procedure for this. The later videos in this series will also give you a few things to look at in terms of manipulating the muscles of the face and ultimately changing the relative position of the maxilla (the bone at the upper part of the mouth).
If this has been a lifelong problem, it will take time to change. I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do without being able to see you, but getting your head forward and up (without shortening the torso) will make a major difference to your airway and breathing.
I’ve been l thinking about the underbite problem a bit, and I have some ideas. From what I looked at, it seems like most people with an underbite have the back of their head significantly pulled back and down. This rotates the whole head, so the ear appears to be angled with the top end back. The mandible is jutted forward by this.
The thing that struck me in a few pictures that I looked at of people with underbites is that their skulls seem to extend further back than what you’d typically see, and the top of the skull near the brow ridge seems off. That’s what I would expect to see if the entire head was tipped essentially back and down (particularly if you think of the top of the head near the back going back and down).
I couldn’t find any full body pictures of people with underbites, but I would very much expect that to coincide with the lower sternum jutting very far forward. Let me know if any of the above sounds accurate to your case.
If so, you can consider moving a spot we’ll look at later in this series called the ponytail spot - forward and up. If you just think of where you would tie a ponytail on your head, that is the spot. You can also consider the adjustment in this video, moving the corner of the eye spot forward, as that will help counteract the pull back and down. But remember to coordinate these movements with a movement of the lower sternum back and a rotation of the ribcage, back at the lower end, forward at the upper end, on an upward trajectory away from the pelvis.
Sorry for the late response.
I don't necesseraly have an underbite, but I sometimes have the habit of creating it to relieve 'pressure' in the skull (sinuses especially). I did however, have the habit of jutting my sternum forward, bending my back backwards, curving my lower back, and hinging the neck. A recipe for disaster.
Since then I've followed the series and done the corrections along the way, with the rotation of the arms being the hardest habit to induce, and I'm now implementing the ponytail spot technique.
Do you think a neck hump will fix itself, and straighten, with time given proper posture?
Thanks again for you work. Appreciate it!
As we do this, should we try to bring all of the parts above the rib at the side of the armpit line forward not just the head? I feel like as I move my head forward my upper back comes forward as well.
Yes, everything above the armpit line can go forward and up. The upper sternum of course should go forward and up.