Lying Down Part 3

The Arch of the Neck

The Obligatory Caveat!

I’m spending a lot of time covering details regarding structure and choreography this year. It’s not that I think that this is the only thing that you should know to learn the Alexander Technique; it’s just that it is something that I can and should write down so that you have a more complete reference source. The danger with such a focus on structure and choreography is that attention drifts away from the all important HERE and NOW.

Allowing oneself to viscerally be in the here and now is absolutely what this technique is really all about.

The Obligatory Recap!!

I’ve essentially been writing on the topic of How to Allow the Neck to Free since August 22nd, 2024. That’s A LOT of neck posts. I hope they have been helpful, but I also know that you are much more than a head and neck. There’s a damn good chance that the base of your neck is still feeling jammed.

In order for the neck to free even more, you will need to gradually increase the subtlety of your sense of feeling. My general plan is to guide you through this process along FM Alexander’s directions:

Allow the Neck to be Free

So that the Head is Forward and Up

So that the Spine Lengthens and the Back Widens

So that the Knees are Forward and Away from the Back

So that the Shoulders Widen Apart from one another

So that you allow the Pull at the Elbows

Now… I don’t know about you, but that’s a 💩 LOAD of information to unpack so that you can develop your Inner Sherlock.

I want to stress two phases in the directions above; “Allow” and “So That”. These exist so that you are reminded that nothing should ever be bullied or forced and that everything is connected. Memorize the quote above and know that it will always be imperfect.

On to the Blogssss!!!

Lying down is a terrific tool to not only rest and allow things to change, but organize yourself into positions where gravity can give you passive stretches if you give consent to such a thing. If you haven’t read Lying Down Part 1 and Part 2, I strongly recommend that you read them before proceeding with today’s post.

One of the things that can happen to us as we go through life is that we begin to either fall into a slump or overly straighten our spines. In both cases, there is a big tendency to overly straighten the curve of the cervical spine (AKA your neck bones). By placing our heads on books in the lie down, we get an opportunity to allow the entire neck to dissolve tension and ever so slightly bring a sense of suppleness to the curve of the neck.

In other words… there’s a CHANCE that your neck MIGHT slightly change it’s whole shape as it goes from being statuesque to living flesh.

In the past several blog posts I have written about the connection of the skull to the top of the spine and in particular about how we should not lock our skulls into a place. If you have a tendency to lock the skull at the top of the spine, then the whole neck will persist in being locked. There will NEVER be a chance for things to change until this relationship is accessed.¹

Why Lie Down with a Book

When we lie down on our backs without a book, the neck is suspended in the air. If you feel your contact with the hard surface of the rug, you will notice that the head and the upper back are touching the ground. These points of contact can be thought of like the foundations of a suspension bridge; the neck being the bridge between these foundations.

Without the book under the head, you will very likely feel a degree of tension in the neck.² As you raise the height of the book under your head, you are raising the height of one of the foundation points of the head-neck-back arch. Knowing how this arch suspends will greatly aid you in your lie downs AND your upright activities.

When we are upright, the neck STILL can have some kind of gentle curve.

I’ve made some DUMB DRAWINGS to illustrate what I’m talking about today!

Take at look at the photo above and check out the shape of the neck and the space underneath it. If the muscles around the neck are releasing, then gravity will take the weight of the skull and upper back and you will feel a certain quiet liveliness grow as the neck finds a more spring like quality… It feels a bit like the neck becomes a suspension bridge.

In order to sense this arch, you must allow the top of the neck to release at a minimum. This is why I stress that you should check out my previous articles on both lying down and the general functioning of the head and neck. When in doubt, do less, trust gravity, and allow yourself to have a real rest.

Get In Touch

Thanks for reading “Lying Down Part 3“! If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.

If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.

1. AKA You need a helicopter that can fly.

2. An extraordinarily healthy person may not sense this tension at all.