Wake Up!

Your mind can go into the future and the past but your body cannot. – Bruce Fertman

If you are doing something, any kind of activity (for instance reading this) and your thoughts are enmeshed in the past or the future, your body will be left behind. 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you suddenly realize that you’ve been in the same position in what seems like forever, or your body is tight, or your shoulders are up in your ears and you’re holding your breath? Your thoughts were off somewhere else and that gripping tension took over your body. How long had you been like that? Probably much longer than you’d liked. That unconscious tension takes an accumulative toll on your body. 

Then you woke up to the present. You woke up to your body and let go of that wasted energy and effort. 

You can develop the ability to wake up. You can learn to live more consciously in your body and bypass over-tense, harmful states. 

Any moment is a chance to wake up and consciously be with and in your body where you are right now. Notice the surfaces you are already touching. Notice your physical connection to the ground, wherever you’re touching it. Make conscious contact with your breath. 

These are moments of waking up! You realize you’re in a state of tension, of holding, of waiting, of anticipating, of deflating…and then you let it go. 

If you haven’t consciously experienced your own potential it’s difficult to wake up. You may think you’re already awake, that exactly where you are is awake. We usually call that normal. 

Normal means “what you’re used to,” not what your body is capable of. 

From an outside point of view your shoulders are scrunched up and you’re clenching your breath; to you that seems awake! If that’s normal then “waking up” won’t mean much to you. It’s just a phrase. If you haven’t spent time developing possibilities in your body, getting to know it, allowing things to change, allowing for a shift, experiencing the difference, then there’s nothing to wake up to. When you spend the time developing your body, allowing it to change and becoming conscious of that change, then “waking up” means something. When you wake up you’re inviting this change. This skill is part of what I teach people. In lessons you develop a new relationship with your body. You learn to see the new experiences, integration and coordination of your body and how you can bring them about consciously and repeatedly. 

When you’ve put in that time then waking up means a lot more. It means inviting change. It means creating change, making it happen and consciously accessing your potential in the moment. 

Have you ever gone on a vacation or had a massage and realized, “oh, I’ve let go of something, I feel different”? That’s a big type of waking up. You see where you were before based on the change that occurred. In the Alexander Technique you can learn to wake up anytime you want. The more you do it the more you’ll benefit and the better you’ll feel. In lessons you gain the skill to bring about a positive change in the moment so you don’t have to wait to go on a vacation to feel better. You don’t have to wait to get a massage. Then if you do go on a vacation or get a massage and you understand how to apply the skills you gain in Alexander Technique lessons, you’ll get even more benefits. You’ll wake up into even more freedom, more choice, more possibility, into more of your potential. It’s amazing. 

Maybe this phrase “wake up” doesn’t mean much to you now or maybe it means a little bit. We can make it mean a lot! You’ll wake up from anxiety. You’ll wake up from pain. You’ll wake up to the power of your own body. You’ll wake up to use your body well.