Unwinding Patterns

At Alexander Technique workshops it is common that participants living with chronic pain speak about messages they have received from relatives or teachers. These messages have become part of who they are, and continue to exert an ever-present influence on how they hold and experience themselves. They speak of old messages, about sitting up ‘straight’,   pulling back shoulders, and to stop slouching.   As parents and adults we often wish the best for our children and for those for whom we are responsible. While these messages are well-intentioned they can have long-lasting and sometimes, negative consequences. I myself remember being told as a young child, “You can’t sing”; I believed it and it deterred me from singing for a long time. (In recent years I have joined a choir.) As my colleagues and I gently work with these participants, helping them to experience themselves in more balanced and easier ways, releasing excess effort, faces soften and pain decreases. Many exp