Lessons from the nursery #2

I’d been working at the nursery at the bottom of the hill. It was the end of summer, every day wishing for the long-awaited rain but no rain came and it was hot and sticky. I was tired and sweaty when I finished work. To get home I had a 20 minute hike up a steep hill through tangled kikuya grass and gorse. I had to face it if I wanted to get home, so I started to walk. I trudged along with weary limbs, thinking of just the next step…

Then I had a sudden moment of clarity - I realised that my gaze was dropped down to the path in front of my feet and my torso was inclined slightly forward over my legs which were having to work very hard to lever my body slowly up the slope.

“What would happen if……I allow my gaze to come up and out, to see the place where the sky meets the sea?“

Well, with a hill in front I can hardly see the horizon, yet I can allow my awareness to expand upwards and outwards. Instantly the feeling of heavy trudging lifted. Yes, I was still tired but my body was just walking because that is what I had asked it to do. My attention was free to connect with my environment through my many sensory channels - to see the grass, the gorse and also to smell the air, the warm earth, to hear the cicadas and the birds. In the context of a multi-facted sensory experience, walking became simply another element to feel, neither pleasant nor unpleasant, just an experience.

The way we direct our attention is fundamental to the way we feel and the way we heal. Working with the Alexander Technique you learn to direct your attention and expand your awareness in ways that affect how you manage your everyday life. And in fact that learning will affect not only the way you feel but it will start to change the very fibres in your body, allowing you to come into your full potential, both physically and emotionally.

If you would like to learn the Alexander Technique I have availability for a series of 10 weekly lessons starting in June and running until mid-August. Is it time to make the investment in yourself?

Here is a sneak preview of my next workshop on Waiheke - more details to follow in the next post.