How You Use Yourself Matters. But What Does This Mean For Your Life?

Self-use is an interesting concept. Let me explain.

Imagine you're carrying a backpack full of groceries. If you sling it over one shoulder, let the straps dig into your skin or carry it unevenly, it quickly becomes uncomfortable and heavy. But if you adjust the straps properly, distribute the weight evenly and walk with awareness, the backpack feels lighter and moving becomes more easy.

You of course know, without being told, that how you carry your backpack changes how you perceive it.

But think for a moment of your body as a sort of backpack. “Use” is a word we often use in the Alexander Technique, and it means how you carry and move yourself in everyday life.

And how you use yourself matters greatly.

The word "Use" is not about how you look or whether you are strong or flexible, but how you do things with your body, how you sit, stand, walk, or use your breath.

Even how you think is an aspect of your "Use".

Most of us never really stop to consider how we're using ourselves.
Instead we focus on the objects around us: the chair, the desk, the phone.

But how we carry our body through space, how we respond to gravity and to the objects we encounter, how we hold our head, how we breathe and what we pay attention to: all of these aspects of BEING are part of our Use.

This is such a rich field of exploration; a fascinating and empowering study of YOURSELF because taking charge of how you are BEING TODAY affects everything about your body's future health and wellbeing, 

Take typing on a computer for example. You might rest your wrists on the desk, pull your head forward into the screen and hold your breath.... often habitually and without even noticing.

But over time your neck starts to tighten, your shoulders rise up and your wrists feel stiff. The task (sitting and typing) is simple, but your "Use" is creating tension.

The same task done with different Use can feel effortless. Your body is beautifully adaptable; it's a living, moving system that responds to how you use it. If you use it with habits of tightness, tension, or compression, it will feel heavy and uncomfortable.

But if you use it with awareness, balance and ease, it will feel light and alive.

The great news is that Use can easily be changed. You can learn to stop pulling yourself into patterns that create tension, imbalances and compression, and instead learn to move and express yourself with more freedom and less effort.

This is what I teach in my private, 1:1 coaching programs. This is the essence of the Alexander Technique: To help you become consciously aware of how you use yourself in everyday life so you can choose different ways: with  less effort less and more freedom.

In short, "Use" underlies everything you do. It's the missing piece that connects your structure with your movement and your feelings. When you understand and improve your Use, pain and tension release away and life becomes a little easier. 

You then truly transform how you feel in your body.

Check out my posts on Instagram to learn more about the way I think and teach. Click here if you would like to speak with me to find out how I can help you improve your Use so you can let go of strain and tension and feel great in your body.