Quote of the Week 9/26/11

“My strongest impression when A.R. Alexander first demonstrated the Technique to me was that of a mechanism working against gravity…I was occupying more space; my movements were less jerky; and I had lost my customary feeling of heaviness…” ~Frank Pierce Jones

In his book Freedom to Change, Frank Pierce Jones gives us this lovely description of the fascinating feeling that often results from a lesson. We are so accustomed to the way we habitually feel that it can be easy to forget the impact gravity is having on all of us. As we walk around on this earth, there is a force of nearly 15 pounds per square inch pressing down on us all the time. While our bodies have to some extent adapted to make us unaware of this pressure, we do know that over the course of a day it compresses the skeleton, compacting the cartilage between each vertebrae of the spine and generally diminishing the body’s ability to move freely. This can easily lead to the “heaviness” and jerky movements that Jones describes. A lesson in the Technique offers several unique ways to regain some of that lost space, and to maintain that sense of lightness in everyday life. We will discuss one such way in our Concept Spotlight on Wednesday.