Breathing

Taylor worked on taking a breath.

I leaned against the wall with my hands pushing forward so that gravity could help me release my abdominals.

There's a release before the inhale, and when I inhale, there's an even bigger release. I currently feel it as a stretch, probably in my lower abdominals.

It's incredible. It completely changed my Gyrotonic work. I felt much more connected from the sitz bones to the skull. It released my low back, kept my hips open and in line, and gave meaning to the breathing rhythms.

Definitely something to try to incorporate everywhere. Maybe even ballet.

Horton

Sitting out during Jimmy's class was interesting. It was a small class so he could give more corrections.

The theme of the day was: DON'T ARCH.

In the flat back series, especially in the relevé sequence, people tend to arch in the flat back and coming back to upright in the arch causes them to be off center and fall.

In the coccyx sit, Brittney was feeling it in her lower back. That's because she was arching. Jimmy said that the coccyx sit should actually be done with a wide angle between the torso and the legs. The small angle was added way after Lester Horton.

Brittney's stag turns were a little shakey. She was tilting her torso toward the supporting leg.

Coming from the front T, parallel rond de jambe the gesture leg to the side, to get the leg higher, you twist at the hips. At least, that's what everyone else did.

I don't remember any other corrections, but there were a lot of good ones today.

Alexander Technique private with Shannon

I don't know what happened. But, here goes:

I went in with my knee strain. We took it very carefully. the entire session was table work.

First we followed the directions: Allow the neck to be free so the head can roll forward and up and the back can lengthen and widen.

Then she added hips back (hips = pelvis girdle), knees forward, heels back and down, calves up and forward.

She held my leg up by my foot and asked me to release down into it, as I would into the ground. I felt my foot unsickle, and my leg got longer. She also worked with a bent knee position, when my hip released, it started to turn out. I also felt my knee spasming, but it slowed down.

Odd that my legs lengthened, but not through the usual Gyrotonic way. Guess I'll have to add that to my toolbox.

She also focused on my pelvis. She thought that my sacrum was "out". I think that means out of alignment. She put her hand under my sacrum and helped me release. It was okay, but the tension went into my hips. then we let the legs extend along the table and it seemed to change. my hips and knees released.

Walking was challenging. I felt my knee unstable again. And my sacrum/pelvis fell out of alignment again.

It's a long road ahead.

Stephen Petronio's Release technique

Move from the distal ends of the bones.

This is such a life changer.