Flexibility in Five Minutes a Day
Body-mapping is all about the practical application of basic anatomical knowledge to yourself as a living organism, learning about how you function at rest and in movement.
In their book, the Conables write:
"In recent years some (Alexander Technique) students have expressed a longing to do flexibility work but have assumed they couldn't devote enough time to it. To one of these students I said one day, 'Well, you could do worse than simply put your joints through their range of movement each day.' He came back a week later and said, 'I did what you suggested and it was amazing.' "What was that?' I asked. 'Put my joints through their range of motion each day.' He showed me how much flexibility he had gained in a week doing that, and we began to systematically play with the idea. Sure enough, it works like magic and takes only about five minutes a day, with no necessity that the five minutes be consecutive. The student simply begins with the joint of the head and the spine...rotating the head and tilting, then moves on the the jaw...then on to the ribs, moving them at their joints with the vertebrae by taking a good breath. Then the student moves all four joints of the arm structure and the hand joints. Then the spine, bending forward, backward, to each side, spiraling, and twisting. Then the hip joint, knee, and ankle and the foot joints. That's it. Done correctly this routine increases flexibility faster than anything I know, and I have wondered and wondered why. I now think two factors contribute, first the quality of attention brought to the movement, which is the kind of attention that makes it possible for the body to learn from each movement. Second, some of the movements are ones that many people rarely make, like rotation at the upper arm joint with the shoulder blade and rotation at the hip joint. The body seems to delight in these movements and the availability seems to free the joint."
If you'd like to become more flexible, the experiences of Ms Cheng and of Baraba Connable's students point to a simple, efficient and effective way to achieve that goal.
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"Life and Death in Shanghai" by Nien Cheng was first published by Grove Press, New York, 1986. It is currently available in a paperback edition. The quote cited above is found on page 203.
Resources
"How to Learn the Alexander
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