When you attend a group class, it typically begins with participants introducing themselves to each other. There are lots of “icebreakers”, and I almost always start any workshop or class with the same simple one:
Tell me your name, where you’re from, and why you signed up for this class.
But that’s not all of it.
After the first person introduces themselves, we wait a full two seconds before the next person goes. We go around in this fashion, and then we go around again, waiting a full two seconds between each person sharing how it was to do introductions with a two-second space between each person.
Taking this forced space in between each person is novel for most people. This space is often what in the Alexander Technique we refer to as a pause.
Two days after Christmas, I flew out to California to participate in a six-day Alexander Technique residential retreat at the beautiful Serra Retreat center in Malibu. I’ve taught there on and off since 2017. This year was extra special for me because two of my former students also attended.
The time away in that calm, serene setting, immersed in the Alexander Technique, helped me to reset myself. I was also reminded—once again—how powerful that pause can be, and how it can help me in so many ways.
That pause is a parenthesis in an otherwise jam-packed day. Your activities, your conversations, your movements run into each other, sometimes over each other, without stopping when you’re in a constant Go Go Go mode. You may even feel as if your mind is 10 minutes ahead of your body, and now your poor body has to hurry to catch up.
What can happen in those two seconds? A lot.
The two-second pause is a place where you can tell yourself, “I have time.” Time to notice and be curious, what exactly is happening in you as you get ready to do whatever it is you’re about to do. Are you holding your breath? Are you tensing your neck and jaw? Or gripping that object with 10 times the strength required?
You can give it a try yourself. The next time…
- you’re getting ready to say something to your spouse, pause for a full two seconds before you speak.
- you’re getting ready to lift that weight at the gym, pause for a full two seconds before you start.
- you’re getting ready to bend over to put something in the dishwasher, pause for a full two seconds.
- your phone dings, announcing a new text message, pause for a full two seconds before you reach for your phone.
It’s in the getting ready where your habits lie—habits of preparing with unnecessary and unhelpful amounts of muscular tension.
Those two seconds are also where you can decide to do less of what’s unnecessary. If you do notice something unnecessary, try simply asking yourself, “Can I do less?” You don’t need to figure out how to do less, or what muscle to release or stretch. You simply have to ask yourself the question.
Your body and your mind work together, and together they are smart if you just get out of the way.
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
P.S. If you enjoy the content of this blog, you’ll love my recently published book, What Your Body Wants You to Know: Exploring Body Awareness, Posture, and Movement with the Alexander Technique.
