One of the great perks of being at Zorba is taking part in some terrific workshops. I’d already learned an Aryuvedic Yoga Massage with Swami Khirad. This weekend I learned the Alexander Technique as taught by Ashwath Bhatt (second from left), also a trained actor.
The Alexander Technique is a system taught to improve posture and movement, and to use muscles efficiently. It takes its name from F. Matthias Alexander who, in the 1890s, developed its principles as a personal tool to alleviate his breathing problems. He credited the technique with allowing him to pursue his passion for Shakespearean acting. The technique involves the re-education of what Alexander called "The Use Of The Self", a re-education of our reactions to internal and external stimuli.
We learned concepts such as end-gaining and inhibition. End-gaining means to focus on a goal and lose sight of the process of getting there. In simple walking, for instance, we have only the destination in mind and lose awareness for how our body actually walks. By bringing inner awareness and outer focus to walking, we can correct posture, breathing and body alignment. Inhibition describes a moment of conscious awareness of a choice to interrupt, stop or entirely prevent an unnecessary habitual "misuse." A freer capacity and range of motion result and we experience this more as a state of "non-doing." In stagecraft, I myself teach a concept I call self-collection which is very similar. It is a moment of gathering myself up before entering a character and a song and bringing awareness to my body, breathing and intention.
Ashwath taught us with great humor and sensitivity. I picked up several games and connection exercises from him that I think will be fun to incorporate into my teaching, beginning with my own upcoming workshops in stagecraft at Neemrana Music Foundation and here at Zorba. Ulla Matussek came out form the Embassy each day to join us. We became a tight little group working in this nurturing oasis of nature.
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