Alexander Technique

This week I attended a workshop featuring the Alexander Technique.  Never heard of it?  Neither had I until my friend, Wendy, got interested and involved in it. From the website:

The Alexander Technique has a long history of helping instrumentalists and singers to perform with less stress and likelihood of injury.

By helping musicians release undue tension in their bodies, the Alexander Technique makes possible a performance which is more fluid and lively, less tense and rigid.

With a few new ways of thinking about muscles in my body, I was able to notice an immediate difference in the way that the viola sounded when I played it.  One of the things that happens at a workshop is the manipulation of ones body to feel the release of tension by the practitioner's hands.  One of the funny parts was after my left side had a work-over, I felt very lopsided, and apparently I looked lopsided, too until my right side got the magic hands application.

Time will tell if I can continue these new good habits, but I think I will be able to.