Ummm has anyone noticed that 2024 is basically already over? Writing this newsletter takes a bit of time to write every Wednesday. Most week’s I wake up and have an idea for the topic. But today I had about 4 to pick from.
Should I write about the practice of a “seated lie down”?
But people want exercises! Shouldn’t I write about you must really understand how to STOP before you ever worry about moving????
What about making an animation to show how to NOT open the mouth? (hint… don’t pitch the head up)
Oh, I know! I’ll write about the breathing practice I’m doing that’s helping with the saxophone (and my back)!
OK, I’ll absolutely write about how to do Hands Like Feet. Y’all need to know that!
In the midst of all of THAT nonsense I realised this year is basically done. HOOOWWWWW?????!!!!!!??????
The Topic This Newsletter Deserves,
Not the One It Needs.
Last week while teaching, I noticed one of my students was looking into the mirror with quite the So Serious face. Rather than give him my best Heath Ledger impression I asked him where he was looking. He said, “My eyes.”.
Now there’s nothing wrong with looking at your eyeballs in general. Maybe they’re oh so pretty! Or you’ve got THAT WEIRD THING that needs to get checked out by a doctor…eventually… But let’s take a look at what I see when I look in the mirror.
The photo above was taken this morning. For starters, I can see that I need a haircut. And a shave. No, I’m not going to iron that shirt. Get over it. It’s linen.
Maybe my plant is dusty. Probably.
And yes, I’m a big fan of Leo Kogan.
All of this silliness aside, there’s a LOT of information in the mirror. For the purposes of practicing the Alexander Technique, let’s first zoom in a bit and get to the more interesting part of this work; ME!
If I’m using the mirror, I principally want to use it to get an understanding of my current habits. They will undoubtedly rhyme with yesterday’s habits, but each day is a bit different. Given that I’m standing, I want to observe how I habitually stand. In order to gather that information, looking at my eyes will not be that helpful.
Where To NOT Look
To stress my point, I have blacked out my eyes. I would consider all of the information you see here to be far more pertinent to the task at hand; learning about my habit.
What Do I See
In the photo above I have highlighted a jagged line running from my head to my hip. It may be very tricky for you to see in this photo1, but I could absolutely see that my neck is leaning a degree or two to the right. This is part of my old injury pattern.
That hook to the right in my neck is tied to my head drifting towards the right shoulder. I state things in this way so that we don’t get too caught up in a chicken and egg battle. We shouldn’t care about which came first and why. Let’s just SEE.
Using Clothing and Negative Space to SEE
During my first lesson with Beret, she had me stand in front of a mirror and describe what I saw. I honestly didn’t have a clue of what I was looking at and I consider myself to be a not entirely stupid person. After a while of looking, she pointed out that the vertical stripes in my shirt were skewing off to the right. She was willing to bet that the stripes were meant to hang vertically.
In the case of the picture above, I’m not wearing a striped shirt but you can see that there are some folds around the shoulders in the fabric and you look at the space between my neck and my collar you will notice that there is slightly more of a gap (negative space) on the left side relative to the right. When I see these things in the mirror, I try to keep my best Sherlock attitude and say,
“Aha! That’s a clue! I now have a valid hypothesis to play with but I could absolutely be wrong about what I’ve observed!”
In other words, the game is afoot!
Looks Like Mr. Green!
Sometimes when I’m scanning over myself in the mirror, I will check out all of the zones highlighted in green. I start looking a lot like Mr. Blue and Mr. Yellow…only I’m green… It’s nice to see the general shape of things.
Now I’ll tell you what I DON’T do.
I do not ping pong my eyeballs from zone to zone super fast.
I do not stare at a zone and WILL myself to make an observation.
I do not move about and try to “fix” my shape. FM Alexander hates this one in particular. (no pulling/no pushing).
OK But What Do You Do With This Information!!!
All of these observations are meant to inform you of your potential habits. FM Alexander actually used multiple mirrors in his personal practice so that he could see his profile and back. It’s a useful exercise and you should see how you behave in front of the mirror both in standing, sitting, and in the use of your work tool. I have seen many students take on one habitual pattern - say lean to the left - only to completely lean to the right once they are put their hands on a keyboard trey.
Do NOT assume that the one observation you made in the mirror is what you are doing beyond that one moment!
As I’ve progressed with skill, I find that I’m able to use the mirrors to monitor my back and arms while doing something like raising my arms out straight (T-shaped) or watching the movement of my torso during the act of breathing (something you do quite deliberately when playing music). I do not live in front of the mirror, but I do almost all of my Alexander Technique practice with one.
Feel free to try it on your own and if you don’t have a clue what you’re actually looking at, don’t fret! Most folks take a while to see these things in the mirror!
So have a look, ask a question, and maybe you’ll see how your helicopter is getting pulled down!
Get In Touch
Thanks for reading “The Use of the Mirror“! 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.
This photo was taken after I spent a full 8 minutes in front of the mirror quietly standing and working with the Alexander Technique. I could see a much greater degree of lean in the neck at the beginning of my work. Very slowly, my sense of feeling found its way to the base of the neck and the whole head, neck, and back was able to shift more centrally. I felt a big release in my right shoulder and a greater sense of balance overall. All of this is to say that what looks like a small degree of lean in the neck in these photos was much bigger when I woke up.