Books

Since this book review is directed more towards Alexander teachers and students, I feel I should point out that, although the author is an experienced and wellknown Alexander teacher, this book is neither about Alexander principles nor procedures. However there are quite a lot of references to Alexander’s work throughout the book. So if you are interested in healing, chakras or emotional work then you may well find this book of great interest.

On a personal note, I must admit that after spending many years living in Glastonbury and Totnes in the 70s and 80s, where there was an abundance of chakra healers, I have since then been somewhat sceptical of chakra work. However after reading Glen’s book I have come to realise that there is much more to this work than I realised. I was also taken by the fact that - as an Alexander teacher myself - I so often unknowingly place my hands directly over some of the main chakras especially the throat, heart and solar plexus chakras, and this has often brought about an emotional release.

In her new book Chakra Healing Therapy, Glen informs us that the chakras were first mentioned in ancient Hindu teachings, and the word means “a spinning disk or wheel”. There are seven ‘main’ chakras all located along the spine and in the head, and there are minor chakras in the hands and feet. The health of one’s chakras is directly connected to our general health so a strong chakra system helps to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance. Rudolf Steiner considered the chakra system to be dynamic and evolving.

Glen explains how each chakra represents a different developmental stage from infancy through adulthood. She examines the chakras individually on the physical, psychological, psychic, and spiritual level and offers practical exercises to nourish and support each chakra as well as practices for daily chakra care.

It seems that a central reason for writing the book was to offer the

Richard Brennan

Eastern promise

Chakra Healing Therapy: Awaken Spiritual Energies and Heal By Glen Park, Destiny Books (Dec 2020), paper-back, 312 pages. Price £14.99.

reader an example of the mind-body relationship that is not based on the common “mind as brain, body as machine” culture that still dominates the western world today. The theory of the chakras suggests that consciousness in all its richness and complexity includes the entire self. It offers us a map of the psyche based in the body and this can be really helpful to many types of somatic practitioners as well as to Alexander teachers who wish to explore a more spiritual or emotional approach to the Work. This book can add another layer to our understanding of the self, or - perhaps it could be said - to our understanding of our many selves. The case studies in each chapter give examples of her work with pupils who had problems with individual chakras. So, for example, when a pupil holds a lot of tension in the solar plexus area it might suggest that the person has an issue with self-respect or is involved in some kind of ego conflict (third chakra). A person who is not having enough pleasure and close relationship in their lives often feels rather numb and dead in the abdominal area (second chakra). This information can give us clues as to how we can approach our work and help our pupils more. The exercises in each chapter give suggestions for simple ways of nourishing the individual chakras. While this cannot replace psychotherapy for deeper intractable problems, it can be very helpful to many people.

Intertwined disciplines I found it interesting that in Glen’s own personal story and in her case histories there were many references to the Alexander Technique. For Glen it appears that the two disciplines are very much intertwined. Chakra Healing Therapy also brings together the deep self-reflection and intuitive wisdom of the Hindu tradition with discoveries based on observable evidence from Western neuroscience and psychology. This approach seems similar to the way Alexander teachers work because we work inwardly to refine our self-awareness and make our sensory appreciation more reliable, and we inform that work with the Alexander principles of movement and also scientific knowledge of anatomy, physiology and embryology. So along with the intuitively based knowledge of the chakras, there’s lots of scientific information in the book. This should be

of interest to AT teachers. For example, that the heart has 60% neural cells, and that there is more and more evidence coming to light showing that the heart is sending messages to the brain as well as the other way around. So it could be seen as a small brain, similar to the size of a cat’s brain. The digestive system also has neural cells, and both the heart and gut produce powerful hormones, which link to recognisable emotional states, and these elements correlate with the psychology of the related chakras. Overall it is very well-written and wellpresented and my only misgiving is that, although clear and easy to understand, the artwork could have been a lot better, which in turn would have really enhanced the text significantly. Finally for those Alexander teachers who have an interest in yoga, spiritual or emotional healing or eastern philosophy I can highly recommend this book Glen has taught the Alexander Technique and Chakra Healing Therapy for more than 30 years internationally. She is also the author of The Art of Changing: A New Approach to the Alexander Technique, 1989.

James Nestor’s book about the lost art of breathing and it’s rediscovery is a fascinating compendium of breathing techniques from ancient times to recent methods devised by early pioneers; not scientists but a kind of rogue group of tinkerers – American Civil War surgeons, opera singers, dentists, mystics and sports coaches – that Nestor calls “pulmonauts”. These include familiar names – Carl Stough, Katarina Schroth (‘orthopaedic breathing’), Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, Stephen Porges (polyvagal theory) – and less wellknown – Thérèse Brosse (French cardiologist) and Nobel Laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi. F.M. Alexander is not among this gallery of breathing innovators though he is maybe known more for his technique for ‘conscious control’.

Beak bonanza The narrative is based around a Stanford-based study with Nestor and Swedish breathing guru, Anders Olsson, subjecting themselves to a gruelling regime. For ten days their nostrils were plugged to enforce constant mouthbreathing. Then their mouths were taped to make them virtually exclusive nose-breathers for ten days. The effect on their health was startling. Mouthbreathing, it turns out, changes the physical body and transforms airways for the worse causing the soft tissues in the back of the mouth to become loose and flex inwards (‘nasal valve collapse’), creating less space and making breathing more difficult. It was exhausting and debilitating. But the good news is that the effects of mouth-

Malcolm Williamson

Reading for inspiration

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art By James Nestor. Penguin Life 2020, hardback, 290 pages. Price £12.

breathing can be reversed, and even after many years of the habit. Nestor maintains that breathing has got decidedly worse in the past 300 years. Way back at the dawn of our species, the face flattened and the jaw receded to create our unique feature among primates: a protruding nose. Behind that is a nasal cavity of 6 cubic inches – equivalent to the volume of a billiard ball. Rummaging through the evidence of bones in the Paris Catacombs, Nestor saw that from the industrial age and dietary change to refined foods, mouths have tended to get too small for the rest of our head and the ‘disease of civilization’, malocclusion or snaggled teeth, is increasingly evident. Nestor writes, ‘When mouths don’t grow wide enough, the roof of the mouth tends to rise up instead of out, forming what’s called a V-shaped or high-arched palate. The upward growth impedes the development of the nasal cavity, shrinking it and disrupting the delicate structure in the nose. . . . Overall, humans have the sad distinction of being the most plugged up species on Earth.’ Some ‘rogue’ dentists have tried to remedy this trend with various devises to encourage the jaw to widen, but the orthodoxy among most orthodontists today is to remove ‘excess’ teeth which appears to compound the problem. Not only is it important to breathe through

«continued from previous page the nose but sucking and chewing (and gnawing) are important for normal and healthy mouth development. Could Alexander’s “idiosyncrasies” (‘pulling back my head and sucking in breath’) have been the result of his circumstances at birth? He was born prematurely. Michael Bloch tells us that F.M. was tiny and frail. He was unable to suckle and his mother devotedly fed him goat’s milk dripped from a finger or, it is said, administered through a fountain-pen filler. (Bloch, 17-18; also Evans, 78-79) Later in life, Alexander wrote, ‘I cannot eat hard food. I can do with ever so little but I can’t stand hard stuff.’ (letter to wife Edith, 27 April 1917. Letters 1916-1942 (Mouritz), p.22) Nestor describes the symptoms of restricted breathing, ‘By day, we unconsciously attempt to open our obstructed airways by sloping our shoulders, craning our necks forward, and tilting our heads up.’ We usually assume that poor posture causes poor breathing, but could habits associated with a small mouth and constricted breathing passages sometimes be the root cause of postural maladjustment? Though the technique Alexander developed for ‘preventing too quick and unthinking reactions’ (habits) is, in my view, unimpeachable, his particular take on breathing may be compared and contrasted with others that could be equally valid. For instance: tongue position. While it is sound advice for the tip of the tongue to be touching the back of the lower teeth for all voice work, some experts consider the natural position of the tongue is resting lightly behind the top teeth in the ‘n’ shape to pronounce the word, “sing”. Here, it forms a natural seal ensuring that one breathes through the nose. Nestor is an expert story-teller. He globe-trots interviewing the experts, describing them and their clothes – the colour of their socks! In the first few chapters he takes his reader on a journey of discovery and you find yourself trying out the different breathing methods as he describes them. If you don’t quite get it, then there is an Appendix describing each methods and where to find out more. Part Three, ‘Breathing+’ takes a walk on the wild side and some of the extreme breathing techniques likely need expert guidance. Nowadays, medical doctors have little interest in how we breathe (the muscles we use) or the quality of the breath. It’s a simple matter of oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. Yet, Nestor explains that the right balance between these two gasses is necessary for oxygen to be taken up by blood cells and transported to every one of our billions of cells. He suggests that over-breathing is common. The solution is ‘Breathing though our noses, slowly and less with full exhales.’ A meticulous notes section provides references and indications for further study. For once, a book fully lives up to the hyperbole of its cover endorsements. Treat yourself to a late new year present.

LIFE ON TWO LEGS thoughts on our precarious bipedalism

by Christine Ackers

This book is part-memoir and part explication of Alexander's teaching. Christine (Kri) Ackers, a teacher of over Þfty years' experience, explores her own journey of learning to deal with poor-use afßictions of body and spirit, whilst also guiding others to gradually address their own. It uses everyday language to explain how we develop the poor posture that leads to self-induced musculoskeletal injury; and why restoring the body's natural support mechanisms both relieves and heals such afßictions.

"Your book arrived about a week ago - and since then I have not been able to put it down. Your writing is so clear and your insights so valuable and rich, I hope many teachers, and others, will read it”. Mary Holland, Alexander Teacher and Teacher trainer

MoshPit Publishing, October 2020. 192 pages

Available from Amazon or any bookstore with an Ingram print on demand account.