Alexander the Great (Relaxer)

EIGHT WEEKS AGO, I had a terrifying realization. I realized I have been living my life in fear. Not the usual kind of fear associated with heights, thunderstorms or midnight burglars, but fear of myself and fear of the world.

As long as I can remember, I have always tried to project confidence. Chin up. Shoulders back. Stomach in. Posture perfect. Karen calls it "classic Lara." Unbeknownst to me, "classic Lara" was a defense mechanism.

I met Karen Braga, an actress and performance coach, at a summer acting workshop that I took on a whim to see if I had some undiscovered Oscar potential. (I don't.) Once a week for six weeks, I and other aspiring actors and actresses met with Karen for what was termed a "voice and movement class."

Some of my classmates expressed skepticism about Karen's teaching skills and quirky mannerisms. The tall, lanky brunette all but sashayed into class every Monday at 10 a.m. Yet her stature was strangely captivating, her voice soothing.

Karen encouraged us to develop a "recipe" for overcoming performance anxiety. She told us to "sense the ground" with our feet and encouraged us (often in a voice like that of a preschool teacher instructing toddlers) to "become aware of the room" and the space above, below, in front of and behind our bodies. Sometimes class with Karen seemed overly simplistic. On one occasion, Karen simply had us lie on the floor with a book under our heads for an hour in what she termed "constructive rest." Several students fell asleep.

In the six meetings I had with her, something within me began to transform. I became less anxious and more loquacious. My stilted posture began to soften. I felt more alive and present in my body. Soon I discovered the nothingness Karen taught was a specific technique. This technique continues to gradually change my life.

FREDERICK MATTHIAS ALEXANDER (F.M.) developed the Alexander Technique in the 1890s. The story goes that the Australian actor suffered from chronic hoarseness and, after little help from doctors, became curious about the source of his voice loss.

According to Martha Bernard, a certified Alexander teacher at Herbert Berghof Studio in Manhattan, F.M. started analyzing his own physical behavior by setting up mirrors.

"He set up mirrors so he could see himself from the front, side and back without turning his head," Bernard explains. "Over a period of months he started to clarify what his holding patterns were and then tried experimentally to see how he needed to change and what he needed to change."

Over the course of several years, F.M. studied his body and discovered that thought could be used to create muscle release throughout the head, neck and spine, thus decreasing tension and freeing the voice and breath.

"He used a thought process that he called directing, or sending directions, that would enable his body or nervous system to carry out the action in a new way," says Bernard.

F.M. regained full use of his voice and began teaching his technique in Australia. Eventually, as the technique caught on, F.M. moved to London where he taught until his death in 1955.

After the completion of my voice and movement class with Karen, I found myself walking through the streets of New York with one thought in my head: "Sense the ground."

Waiting for the subway. "Sense the ground." Standing in an elevator. "Sense the ground." Going for a job interview. "Sense the ground."

These three words alleviated my anxiety and relaxed my entire body. Most importantly, I grew into a new sense of comfort with myself. I decided I had to know more. I called Karen and arranged for private lessons.

Sessions with Karen usually begin with "constructive rest," an Alexander term involving lying on the ground in a semi-supine position while trying to sense your surroundings and achieve muscle relaxation through thought processes. Often I would spend 20 or 30 minutes in this position while Karen "mapped" my body with her hands.

"Here's your head," Karen will say as she gently touches my skull. She'll then move to my neck, shoulders and arms while using vocal encouragement to create a mental connection between my mind and body.

Sessions conclude on my feet, where Karen helps me sense my natural posture and walk. She once even brought a miniature model of the skeletal system and had me sit down and study its structure.

"What's in your mind is in your body," she says religiously. "What is in your mind is in your body."

FORMULATING AN EXACT definition of the Alexander Technique is difficult because of its passive, experiential nature.

Jane Tomkiewicz, Executive Director of the American Center for the Alexander Technique, describes the technique as "psycho-phsyical re-education."

"It is a method of self-care which focuses on heightening awareness of postural and physical tension patterns," Tomkiewicz says. "Little tensions and inefficient patterns creep into our bodies all the time, and those things need to be caught early on and recalibrated and reorganized in order not to waste energy, because excess tension wastes so much energy."

The technique, Tomkiewicz explains, can be used to "interface with any other thing you do," including exercise, dance, work-related activities and day-to-day life.

"The Alexander Technique is not about a series of physical activities," Tomkiewicz says. "It is about using your awareness."

Chloe Wing, a certified Alexander teacher who has studied the technique for over 20 years, describes the practice as "deceptively powerful."

According to Wing, the Alexander Technique "gives us an option to play" by allowing an individual to devise a recipe of thought in order to reclaim primary control-Alexander's discovery of the spine's inherently natural and relaxed state within the body.

"There are a million different ways to free up primary control," says Wing. "Almost every mind/body practice frees it up at some point because it is inherent in us. The Alexander Technique is a little different from others in that we insist this could be a way of life."

Alexander instructors, such as Bernard, see students ranging from "very busy business people" seeking stress relief, to actors, dancers and musicians looking to enhance their performance skills.

Other teachers, such as Tomkiewicz and Wing, teach individuals seeking relief from various ailments including back and neck pain, repetitive strain injuries and sleeplessness. According to Wing, some of her students simply study the technique for "general well-being."

Increasingly, physical therapists, chiropractors and other medical professionals are recommending the technique to patients as an alternative to traditional methods of pain relief.

Dr. Frank Lipman, founder of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in Manhattan and author of Total Renewal: 7 Key Steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health, recommends the technique to patients suffering from poor posture, chronic pain related to poor posture and repetitive strain injuries.

"It is a type of physical therapy but [also] a means of self-care," Lipman says. "What I like about it is that it requires the patient to take responsibility for their health."

Aside from the technique's ability to improve an opera singer's performance or alleviate elbow pain caused by a repetitive strain injury, Wing and Tomkiewicz believe the practice is essential in a contemporary society emphasizing ideas and intellect.

"I think we have so much information coming at us-both abstract and intellectual things, and we are outside of ourselves a lot," Tomkiewicz says. "The Alexander Technique is about experiencing ourselves. It is a practice for coming back into yourself and coming back down to earth because there is just so much out there."

"The technique is the opposite of fight or flight," says Wing. "We are so in our minds that there is a constant accumulation of tension in the neck. We are constantly in flight and we don't have any way out of it. We are too civilized."

SINCE MY SESSIONS with Karen, I have studied with other Alexander teachers, each of whom have shown me something different about my body.

Now, throughout the day I not only "sense the ground," I also think about relaxing my neck, shoulders and back. This provides a sense of comfort for my mind.

At age 21, I found myself overwhelmed with anxiety about my life and future. Engaging in simple conversations often seemed nerve-wracking as I struggled to find the right words. My mind had become so clouded with worry that I felt I completely disconnected with myself. My stilted posture projected confidence but masked fear.

For the first time in my life, I truly feel like my mind is, at last, in my body. o