Going Up Stairs 2 - The Steps

How to go up stairs – which of course need to be laid out as step 1, step 2 .....

Step 1: Is to stop at the bottom of the stairs and give yourself a few moments.

Step 2: Is to notice how you probably want to lean forward into the stairs you go up and push off your leading leg. The leaning forward is really a pulling forward that starts with the neck.

Step 3: Keeping your neck free here means not pulling forward, it is an act of inhibition, that if carried out successfully interrupts all previous patterns, it is part of what makes the use of the neck and the head in relation to the torso the primary control. Carried out successfully you will probably feel your weight shift to your heels; do not try to shift your weight directly.

Step 4: Allow your eyes to focus on where you want to go. This is really important, most people go wrong here either by attending directly to themselves, or by concentrating which really just involves holding your breath.

Step 5: Make sure you are carrying out steps 3 and 4 while carrying out any subsequent steps.

Step 6: It is useful to imagine a horizontal plane, one that will move upwards with each step. It is useful here to remember what the old Scottish shepherds used to say about going up hills, which is not lean in to them, but just imagine you are walking on the flat. The horizontal plane is one that you want your forehead to move into. Now rehearse the idea of your forehead moving into the horizontal plane, all the time taking care to make sure that you maintain the step 2 and 3 of not pulling forward with the neck and being focussed, as well as not actually moving the forehead forward. Experientially if you get this right then it usually seems like it is impossible to move without tightening your neck by pulling forward.

Step 7: Now it is time to just allow yourself to go up the stairs and it is important that you accept, that as you move off at the beginning, you will probably pull forward a little bit. That is not only alright but helpful and necessary, as it allows you to build up your awareness of what you need to inhibit and you can improve it next time, until going up stairs becomes easy. You will be using yourself better anyway if you have stopped and thought through the steps outlined above.

Finally, remember as I said last week if you lack Alexander experience then this is something that can generally be quickly and easily taught – just get in touch and we can arrange something. Most of all remember not to take this too seriously, play with it and have fun.