Body Wisdom
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Alex Maunder has always been fascinated by the way that the Body/Mind work together. He is an experienced Alexander Technique Teacher who quickly realised that in many cases there were underlying psychological or stress issues that had to be resolved before the physical symptoms of an illness could be effectively cured.
Thus he trained as a psychotherapist and integrates this with his hands-on-skills as an Alexander Technique Teacher in a uniquely effective Psycho-Physical Therapy.
Alex Maunder (BSc, MSTAT) is an author and has lectured at Middlesex University Dance & Drama Department. His book "Let Your Life Flow The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Benefits of The Alexander Technique"(C W Daniel) was published in June 2002.
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Psycho-physical Alexander Technique
"I fascilitate energy transformation. I help you to see where your energy flow is blocked through bad posture, self-limiting patterns of thought and behaviour and poor communication skills. When these blockages are removed your energy can be easily directed towards achieving inner peace and harmony or any clearly visualised outer goal".
The Alexander Technique uses a simple three-step approach to self-transformation which Alexander developed after years of research and practice. This is based on viewing the body as a map of the sub-conscious mind, and using changes in body posture and muscular release as a key to simultaneous shifts on the mental, emotional and spiritual levels. This leads to an experience of profound contentment and peace at a cellular level.
During the course of lessons you will be developing new positive thought patterns, transforming certain limiting, sub-conscious thought patterns and assumptions. This will be linked to physical sensations of release, relaxation and expansion. The third and final step is to go out, confront your fear and create something different in your life.
I often use the term "body wisdom" in my work because I believe that everyone has within them an infinite source of vitality, wisdom, creativity and love which can be contacted to provide the inner guidance for living a successful, satisfying and balanced life.
Body Wisdom
Helps you gain a new sense of perspective.
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The Alexander Technique is a psychophysical one: the teacher helps people to become aware of their habitual thought patterns as they try to change their physical habits. Every thought we have, every word we utter and every emotional tremor that we feel has a physical component. If we can decode that subtle body language (which never lies), we can understand and change our thought patterns, change our character and thus take control of our destiny.
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Creating our own personal affirmations is part of this process. The affirmations are words that are linked to new and positive bodily sensations: when repeated like a mantra, they will recreate those bodily sensations, and help to bring about a more positive, happier state of being. Then it is possible to confront the fear and change the behaviour. This is what I mean by 'Psycho-physical Therapy'.
Case Study
The client, a young woman, had been alone at her home at night during an attempted burglary. She frightened away the intruder, but afterwards was very traumatised and too frightened to be alone in her home at night. Conventional counselling could not help her, because even talking about the event brought on a panic attack.
The memory of her trauma expressed itself during her panic attacks as shallow, rapid breathing, an inability to think and tight stomach muscles. This in turn would bring on more acute feelings of anxiety and fear, resulting in a downward spiral of negative physical sensations and fearful thoughts.
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My task as her Psycho-physical therapist was to bring her into a calmer psychophysical space using a simple three-step process based on the Alexander Technique. Having named the problem, we worked together on psychophysical re-balancing in order to restore harmony and composure. First we calmed the breathing pattern, and then relaxed and realigned her body. Through the giving of directions, her body became still and all the muscles began to relax around the central axis of the spinal column.
I was then able to pose the following question to the client's Body Wisdom: "What is your memory of what it was like when everything was perfect and you felt total balance and harmony on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual Levels. Her body process responded with a series of subtle bodily shifts, as a pattern of release began to spread throughout her body, Her back began to lengthen and widen, her neck muscles released and the tension left her stomach muscles.
At this point she could let go of her physical tension patterns completely. Her mind contacted a state of deep inner calmness and creative indifference, detached from negative thoughts and inner conflicts.
I then asked her to pinpoint how she felt different about herself. The words that she spoke were a reflection of her new state. They resonated with her new bodily experience. She could take them away with her as her own positive affirmation, to recite whenever the old fears started to recur.
"My head is light My head is bright My stomach is relaxed I am feeling calm and peaceful Whatever happens, I can handle it."
As a result of repeating this positive affirmation to herself (especially during difficult situations) she was able to get into an upwards spiral of positive physical sensations, thoughts and feelings. This was only the start of a retraining program which involved substituting positive thoughts for negative ones, feelings of physical calm and relaxation rather than panic and constriction and also gradually confronting her fear and reacting differently, eg being alone at home but her mum or boyfriend are out on the street, or just a mobile phone call away. These small graduated steps with the support of the Alexander Technique helped her to confront her fear and completely overcome her panic attacks. |
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