You can STOP bad habits

Happy New Year from the Alexander Technique

click here to read about  Noeline's Introductory workshops in Remuera

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


Happy New Year to all from the Alexander technique

What bad habits have you slipped into?


The New Year begins with many new year resolutions, to slim down, to stand taller, straighter to get into great shape health wise and how many of us actually fulfil any of our resolutions? Motivation is the biggest issue. Pain is our friend in this case, I have seldom had a client come to see me who was not in considerable amounts of pain. And sure enough as soon as they are no longer in pain then back to their old habits they go. Our old habits are just waiting for us to lose our mindfulness and they step right in and take over once again.

Our habits take on many masks, whether it be the way we move or the way behave or how we eat or how we speak and think. These habits are under attack today by many gurus who tell us to think positive thoughts and those who tells us how to eat healthier and then there is me who tells you how to stand and sit more comfortably. We are all attacking the human habits of behaving. We must change these habits to be more productive but are we motivated to do so, are we in enough pain?

Alexander said that we needed to ‘inhibit’ the habit. Now what on earth does that mean? Well, it means we need to insert a ‘STOP’ before we do something we always do. So just before you sit down using your neck and back instead of your legs, STOP and think, is there a better way to do this? Just before you reach into the fridge for the last slice of cake, STOP, and think, is this good for me? Just before we scream at our child, STOP and think, is this the best way to get what I need done? All the time you put the STOP in, you are inhibiting the habit, you are not just on reflex reaction you are being mindful. You are thinking before you react to a stimulus. This is the way to create change. To inhibit the habit, to stop living on automatic pilot and start to think about what we are thinking, saying, doing, and being. Now is the time to be thinking on these things. Re evaluate what has not worked for you up to now and start a course of changing it.  If you suffer with headaches maybe you can look at your environment to see if there is something you are doing to create that. If you suffer with stiff shoulders and neck, maybe you are inadvertently creating that by not sitting at work in the best way.

The Alexander technique seems to be about creating good posture, but it is much more than that. It is not just about the habits we use in movement, but also all the habits we exhibit throughout our lives and creating a STOP, a moment to address them and decide how to change them is most useful.
We think we know it all, but we need help. We need someone on the outside who can remind us,  someone who can see exactly what we are doing  and someone to enlighten our way.

Step lightly, be spritely and have a different year, full of change for the better.

Best of Wishes
Noeline, your friendly Alexander technique teacher.

Come and join me for  An Introductory workshop to the Alexander Technique. Held at the home clinic in Remuera, on Thursday 23rd of Feb in the morning from 9 to 12 noon or on Sat the 3rd of March in the afternoon from 2-5pm. Booking is essential. Costing $40 per person.ph 09 522 8584

www.alextechnz.com

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?


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/