Signor Sergio Gallantino is delighted to see you.  He gestures to the floor, inviting you to lie down, and instructs you to position yourself on your back with your knees up and your feet on the floor.[1] 

   You can hear the soft tread of Sergio’s leather shoes as he crosses the floor and collects a pillow to place underneath your head.  You notice now that he has turned on music - soft chimes.  As you rest on the pillow, the gentle sound of Sergio’s voice begins to wash over you.  He is passionate about his work and about the mechanics of movement, and he punctuates his sentences with a gestural language that is all his own.

 

 “In holistic alignment, the whole body, every cell, is working towards the same goal.[2]  Let us begin by bringing awareness to the breath, noticing the inhale, and then the exhale.  The mechanics that are at work here begin with gravity’s pull on the ribs, followed by the contraction of the abdominal muscles.[3]  When you bring your attention to the action of the exhale, you will access critically important information about muscle use and misuse, and increase your stamina and focus.  Now exhale with a hissing sound, and feel the way your body responds.

 

“Take another breath, and this time allow your body to surrender into the floor on the exhale. Let the floor embrace you.

   

“Most of your body’s stimulus responses are habitual and unconscious, leading to ongoing misperceptions in the brain about what is occurring in the body.  Your physical perceptions of your alignment and movement patterns are most likely distorted. 

 

“If you wish to create holistic alignment, you must retrain the body to release it from habitual tensions.[4]  We can begin this process by developing an understanding of our anatomical structures and the ways in which the laws of physics act upon them.[5]

 

“Your skeletal structure is a light, strong, and balanced framework designed to allow for optimal range of motion, but in order for this magnificent design to work, the skeleton itself must perform a dynamic balancing act; centering its weight through its bony supports. There are only three ways that the skeleton can support the weights that it holds up: by hanging, by sitting, or by bracing.   Any misalignment in your structure will cause you to use continual contraction of the muscles to deal with the weight loads.  

 

“As you lie on the floor, visualize your own skeletal structure gently supported by the floor.  Scan your body for excess muscle contraction, and release those muscles with your next exhale.  As you relax, I will bring your attention to the case of my own experience with scoliosis.  The twist in my spine has caused my left hip to rotate anteriorly, which in turn creates the appearance of a shortened leg. To deal with a skeletal system that is already at a disadvantage, I developed a whole slew of muscle habits that wreak havoc on my knees, hips, shoulders, and jaw.  I must practice constant awareness to inhibit these muscular habits.

 

“The good news is that it is possible to re-program old muscle patterns.  While lying on the floor, you can use imagery and visualization to redirect and re-pattern muscle use. Scientists tell us that our mirror neurons fire both during an action and during an observation of the same action.  So now imagine lifting your arm up and drawing an imaginary circle on the ceiling.  Now do that same motion.  How does it feel?

 

“As a tool for retraining the body, imagery functions best when it is paired with “inhibition” .   Inhibition refers to the ability to not react to a certain stimulus; to remain neutral for as long as possible rather than resorting to habitual patterns (thought or movement).   It is “a way to drive a wedge between stimulus and response.”[6]

 

“As you continue to lie on the floor, become aware of the floor pushing up against your weight.   This is an example of Newton’s third law.[7] We must remember that,“mechanically, action and reaction are as persistent in the living mechanism as in that of any inanimate structure.”[8]  As your body pushes down onto the floor, the floor must push back up on your body: it reacts.  If you prepare for this reaction as you perform the dance or step off the curb, you create ease and grace.  You do not let yourself become surprised by the forces acting upon your body.

 

“Continue to feel the floor underneath you as you now begin to make gentle movements, unfolding your arms and legs to stretch your body.  Now easily, with an exhale, roll over to your side and come to a seated position. A balanced spine is a delicate masterwork, and is easily destroyed by misuse. In fact,  it is only through the actions of kicking, crying, and squirming that the infant’s muscles can develop and support the lumbar curve, which in turn balances the thoracic convexity of the spine.  The subsequent opposing curves of the spine are a true feat of engineering, allowing for movement in almost any direction.   A balanced spine should balance the head effortlessly. 

 

“Now when I come to the classroom to teach I find myself surrounded with students who cannot sit upright. Their spines are twisted and their muscles are either over or under worked.  The soft couch and the cushiony armchair are the enemies of your spine.   Take a moment and imagine the vertebrae as a stack of delicately placed building blocks. Aligned, they perfectly balance each other in a continually dynamic relationship. However, as soon as the blocks’ alignment shifts, continual effort is required to keep the stack upright.   Sitting in a way that places the spine in this position will cause you chronic fatigue.  Before you can dance, before you can walk, you must learn how to sit.  Sit quietly for another moment and let your breathing gently massage your stomach and chest.  Feel the way that you head balances easily on top of your spine. When you are ready, breathe in deeply and release your exhale through the mouth.  You are now ready to stand up.”

 

You open your eyes and stand up. Signor Sergio stands with his hands folded gracefully over each-other.  He smiles at you and then turns to look out the window.   You get the feeling that you are not the first one who has been on the studio floor today. You continue on your way, taking a new awareness of your spine as you go.

 

 

 

[1]  Constructive Rest Position (or CRP) is a neutral resting position that is ideal for muscle re-patterning. Mabel Todd developed CRP in her work with students in the 1920s and 30s.  The position puts the body in a unique position of spinal neutrality, so that by imagining or practicing small movements she can begin to become aware of patterns of tension and over/underuse that undermine efficient and expressive movement.  The Thinking Body: a Study of Balancing Forces of Dynamic Man.

[2] Franklin, Eric, Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, pg. 226.

[3] Sweigard, Lulu, Human Movement Potential, pg. 227.

[4] Eric Franklin refers to this as kinematic chains; the idea that movement in one joint elicits movement in all other joints, Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, pg. 115.

[5] An idea pioneered by Mabel Todd- whose groundbreaking book,The Thinking Body presented an alternative to existing western approaches to body work; centered around the mechanical model of “tighten here/relax there”.

[6] As described by Alexander teacher Marjorie Barlow, Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, pg. 63

[7] For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction

[8] Todd, Mabel, The Thinking Body, pg. 5