A Breath of Fresh Air

A Breath of Fresh Air

by Noeline Levinson, a qualified Alexander Technique Teacher, talks about re-educating your body to improve your posture


Alexander was called the ‘Breathing Man’ as we all know breathing is pretty important to staying alive, but do any of us do it? No. Well, okay we might do a bit just the bare essentials but we do not breathe enough or easily.
Watch yourself during your day and notice how many times you hold your breath. Every time we do an action we tend to hold our breath. When we are scared we hold our breath. All body workers know that we hold all our fear in our breath. What on earth does that mean? The body stores memory in every cell. If we are often frightened or angry we could store that emotion in our body, in the actual cell memory. Truthfully we store all our emotions in our cells, but it is the fearful and angry emotions that become toxic for us to hang onto.

Let’s briefly go back to the beginning.  Fredrick Leboyer was a French Obstetrician who was the first to write about the gentle birth process. He advised mothers to give birth in dimly lit rooms and have gentle or no loud music playing.  From reading his book one can ascertain that he understood that the transition from being an amphibian to an air breathing human was traumatic.  He suggested that the baby be placed on the mother’s belly directly after birth while the cord was still attached. This gave the infant a chance to take small sips of air while still being supported by the umbilical cord.  This allowed the infant not to be scared of the burning sensation that the new air made into the virgin lungs.  Thus the baby was able to take it’s time and grow accustomed to the sensation of breathing air.  Only then was the cord cut and the baby was breathing independently.  However, how many of us were born and instantly given a smack on the bottom, to the thrill of all around, hearing the new born howling.  We humans……Anyway, this traumatic entrance into air breathing is so frightening, that the infant unconsciously registers that breathing burns, It is not good and so will do as little of it as possible.  Many of us have to relearn how to breathe and to release the fear that is stored in the breath. This all sounds very odd I am sure, but many studies have been done and much research has gone into our breathing or lack thereof. I often remind my clients to breathe and they laugh realising that they were holding their breath without them being aware of it.

My teacher used to say: Breathe at least 3 times a day, we would all laugh but it was not until I became a teacher that I found the relevance to this joke.

So all of you who are reading this today, take a big breath, and watch your breathing throughout the week.  Take time to smell the roses, be in the moment, and BREATHE!

Noeline's articles:
Flexibility + Mobility = Longevity
Stand up for self esteem
Sit up and Listen
Does education ruin your posture or can it fix it?
are you exercising or just beating up your body?
Alexander Technique


About Noeline:
Wisanow contributor, Noeline Levinson qualified as an Alexander Technique teacher in June 1990. She had studied in Israel, Tel Aviv for 4 years. Noeline taught Alexander technique to Opera students at the Cape Town College of Music and then taught at the Market Theatre Laboratory in Johannesburg, teaching aspiring actors and running workshops for professional actors. Noeline has been teaching privately for the past 21 years and has taught a variety of people from all types of performers, to people who work in companies and sit all day in front of computers. Noeline was asked to go to a number of companies to assess their staff in terms of their seating arrangements.  A number of staff suffered from headaches, neck problems and repetitive strain injury. All of which were assisted with The Alexander Technique. Noeline started out her career as a dancing teacher and then became interested in The Alexander technique and went overseas to study. Dance and exercise have always been a passion of hers. However, while she was teaching she noticed many people miss-using their body without really being aware of it. Noeline then devised a training programme for personal trainers called S.E.T. (Safe Exercise Training), which was accredited by a big gym group in SA at the time. Its aim was to exercise the body effectively and safely without the threat of injury.  Her husband is a personal trainer and used this technique with his clients and they had amazing results.

Back pain ranked very high on the list of reasons for employment absenteeism. It is a very real issue, from which many people suffer.

Noeline Levinson
email: noeline@family-focus.co.nz
09 522 8584
http://www.alextechnz.com/