Laura Tuthall - New York Institute of Technology Solutions for Instability: The Alexander Technique and HSD/EDS The Alexander Technique is a method that helps us discover our own agency

Postural Solutions for Instability

Carol Boggs & Ann RodigerLaura Tuthall

The Alexander Technique and HSD/EDS

Assumptions:

• We are moving bodies

• We are meant to be mobile no matter our state of ambulation

• Our thinking affects our bodies by using spatial imaginative thought to influence support and movement

• Our physical choices affect our functioning

• Gravity connects us to the ground in both sitting and standing

• Ground Reactive Force is a natural upward rebound from the ground that can be consciously utilized if allowed to pass through the body

Postural Solutions for Instability: The Alexander Technique and HSD/EDS

The Alexander Technique is a method that helps us discover our own agency

By attending to ourselves in all of our activities and applying acquired AT skills:

We can find better overall posture

Develop an improved use of ourselves

Redistribute the coordination of tone to increase suspended support

Increase proprioception

Enjoy better dynamic balance, stability, and coordination

F.M. Alexander

• Is the founder of The Alexander Technique

• He was born in 1865 and died in 1955

• He was an Australian actor who lost his

voice while speaking due to detrimental

habits

• His process of discovering a way of

approaching how he functioned is

applicable to us

• Awareness and self observation led to his

ability to undo habits of tension and collapse that interfered with his best

balance and coordination


Ann Rodiger, hEDS, NYC

Carol Boggs, G-HSD, Silver Spring, MD

Laura Tuthall, hEDS, NYC


Why the AT is important for those with EDS/HSD:

• Gives us a practical way to work with our given

conditions

• Connects our thinking with our actions

• Demonstrates that a small change in our thinking and

the way we use ourselves goes a long way toward

overall improvement

• Applies to everyone

• Applies to all actions and activities we do

• Considers the whole body with parts in relation to the

whole.

The AT is an educational

process that works by:

• Building our own awareness

• Observing our own thought and

movement habits

• Choosing concepts and ideas that

help us make better choices

• Learning a process for changing

habits guided by hands-on and

verbal cues from the teacher

• Optimizing what we have and using ourselves in the best way

possible given our circumstances


Stiffening/Stacking

Stiffening creates excess muscle tension

Leaning into hyperextended joints

creates wear and tear on tissues

Functioning with a stacked

arrangement makes the bottom

segment of the stack bear the brunt

of all the weight that is above as in a stacked brick wall

Dynamic Balancing/Suspending

Dynamic balancing coordinates the redistribution of tone and creates a

pathway to receive support from the

ground (Ground Reactive Force)

Utilizes omni-dimensional intention

Is relational rather than positional

Allows the flow and direction of

movement to provide support

Functions with a suspended

arrangement by spreading the work

of support throughout the system


Changing habits requires:

Curiosity

Patience

Time

Desire to change

Willingness to feel differently and explore new possibilities


Goal – Dynamic Balance

Provides the ability to adapt to the moment

Finds stability within instability

Utilizes Ground Reactive Force

Allows movement flow and spatial intention to provide support

Process – Guided Attention

Helps to recognize and accept

instability

Facilitates finding balance

Prevents leaning on joints

Provides a strategy for

engaging in movement


Biotensegrity is a paradigm for your Body

Requires a shift from a stacked model to a suspension model

Derived from architectural tensegrity

Provides for a dynamic balance without rigidity by redistributing the tensile forces to create a

better coordination of tone


Throughness

Allows forces to pass through

Provides stability

Continues the passage of Ground Reactive Force through the

body’s unobstructed pathways

The Alexander Technique and

HSD/EDS

Learning the Alexander Technique

• Generally taught in one-on-one lessons

• Sometimes in group classes

• Valuable to watch each other

• Hear how other people think

• We are working with other AT teachers to educate them about HSD/EDS

• Go to our website for questions to ask an AT practitioner

integratinginstability.com


In Summary AT:

Gives us a practical way to work with our given conditions

Connects our strategic thinking with our actions

Demonstrates that a small change in our thinking and the way we

use ourselves goes a long way toward overall improvement

Applies to everyone

Applies to all actions and activities we do

Considers the whole body with parts in relation to the whole.

Laura Tuthall - New York Institute of Technology Solutions for Instability: The Alexander Technique and HSD/EDS The Alexander Technique is a method that helps us discover our own agency

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