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How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery |  | Author: Missy Vineyard
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Seller: stage_coach_books
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 24710
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7 x 0.9
ISBN: 1600940064
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.78
EAN: 9781600940064
ASIN: 1600940064
Publication Date: May 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 Fresh and Comprehensive June 30, 2007
Clifford M. Taylor (Arlington, Virginia USA)
60 out of 61 found this review helpful
As a long term student of the Alexander Technique I have read all of F.M. Alexander's books and innumerable contemporary texts on the subject. This book is a refreshing approach even for the skilled teacher or student. The book is a meaty 322 pages and yet the chapters are short enough to maintain interest and they often segue into the next chapter subject. Although the experiential quality of the Alexander Technique is impossible to adequately define, Missy Vineyard does a superb job describing what it is about and how it works. She does this by imparting her own experience, the latest findings related to neuroscience, and with stories about the challenges and successes of her students. Naturally she elaborates on the principles of inhibition and direction, but she also presents several unique and useful approaches. Missy explains the effectiveness of the prone position and how, unlike semi-supine, it is not weight-bearing on the spine. She describes how we can become trapped in habitual experiences that are injurious and establishes four sensory error categories. She talks about how to avoid triggering the four expressions of fear produced by the amygdala in the brain - attack, withdraw, freeze, and submit. Missy spends considerable effort clarifying the mysterious aspect of the principle of non-doing. She effectively communicates just how to think of not doing something while you are doing it in order to alter the faulty behavioral loop that keeps one tense without knowing it. She elucidates an idea of the "Helper" inside us that can take over after we get out of our own way and quit end-gaining.
Perhaps most innovative of all, Missy shares her concept of how to use the prefrontal cortex, or the "attic" as she calls it. She submits that this place is like an observation deck from which inhibition and direction can be most effective. From the attic one can send an "output" thought signal that is directive in nature instead of relying on an "input" feeling signal from the body after it has already occurred. To direct, we should send a signal (a thought) rather than focus attention on a result (a feeling). Missy elaborates on how to distinguish between deciding to do an action versus framing an intention to move in one's mind. She coins the term "bodily sensation" as an inclusive definition for kinesthesia, proprioception, and interoception. She suggests modifying F.M. Alexander's initial direction of, "Let the neck be free ..." to "I want NOT to tighten my neck ..." claiming that it is more effective to begin with a self-instruction that is inhibitory.
In addition, the book includes some easy-to-follow self-experiments to practice inhibiting and directing and some wonderful neck and back extender muscle exercises. Throughout the book there is an occasional word here and there that is bolded and can be looked up in a handy glossary in the back. There is also a nifty index.
My position on this book June 1, 2007
Octa G. Narian (St. Joseph,, MO United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Clear, readable, enjoyable. This is something rare - a textbook that is hard to put down. Full of helpful drawings, personal stories. I liked it.
How You Stand Is A Good Intro to the Alexander Technique September 25, 2007
Heidi Schuller (Alexandria, VA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
As a student of the Alexander technique, I highly recommend this new book on the subject. There are many excellent, detailed illustrations that make this book user friendly and a stand out among books on this topic. Also, there are plenty of self-experiments suggested throughout the book that make it a fine book for beginning students as well as a great review for experienced students.
If you are reading this, then you need to purchase the book! June 21, 2007
Clive Mealey (USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
This book came with some very high recommendations so on the one hand I was filled with a certain expectation but on the other I was a little apprehensive as often highly recommended things can end up being very disappointing. However, this book turned out to be even better than I had expected and I am thoroughly enjoying reading it.
It is well thought out and easy to read, with self-observational-experiments that are enlightening and practical. The book is particularly useful for those who are already having Alexander Technique lessons as well as for those who are thinking about starting. There is no better place to start a journey of self-discovery than this book. If you have an interest in the Alexander Technique, then this is the book for you.
great method and excellent new thinking from a leading teacher July 3, 2007
Matthew Cornell (Amherst, MA USA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
Missy's book is a terrific introduction to the method. While nothing replaces working with a teacher, her book has plenty of insights and exercises that bring the concepts home. As a small example, I tried the baseball exercise with my six year old daughter, with surprising results.
Adopting AT helped me make a significant shift in my thinking about chronic back pain, and as a result make great progress in reducing it. A very, very valuable adjustment in perspective, the mark of something deep.
More at: Reflections on Alexander Technique and personal productivity[..]
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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