You get a third chance, my friend Jeremy likes to say. And who knew a third chance for us was possible? Jeremy was talking about our Alexander teacher, Boaz Freeman, and he meant at our age there’s a tendency to think we have used up our chances.
Jeremy is older than me, he’s in his 80s and I’m heading that way soon. And one of the things he and I have noticed about getting older is how easy it is to accept conventional notions of aging.
Younger people often assume that once you pass a certain age, you stop changing emotionally, psychologically and physically. Instead you’re doomed to inhabit a permanent state of oldness.
Older people often internalize this belief. Like the governor mechanism you set to control the speed in your car, you believe you can’t go beyond that setting. That’s where Boaz, our teacher, comes in.
Boaz gives you permission to go beyond the physical limits you set for yourself. In other words, you take control of how your body ages. It may feel like a limited piece of machinery, but you will discover a flexibility you didn’t know you still had.
Boaz has taught the Alexander technique to over 2000 people for three decades and here’s how a lesson with him unfolds. You lie on Boaz’s table while Boaz subtly adjusts your head, along with your shoulders arms and legs, making you feel surprisingly relaxed.
Lying is the only work you do, although you can silently repeat the Alexander philosophy which says: Let the neck be free, so the head can move forward and up and the back can lengthen and wide.
Those aren’t the actual words you might say to yourself. You usually say the shorter form of the mantra called primary control: head forward and up, neck free, torso long and wide.
The Alexander technique was developed by Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869- 1955), the actor and teacher who wanted to solve his chronic voice problems. It’s based on the idea that poor posture causes a range of health problems.
Using this technique, Alexander did away with his inability to project his voice as an actor. Boaz learned about Alexander’s teachings from a friend who fixed violins. The friend stopped having backaches after taking Alexander lessons.
A former chef, Boaz wanted more energy and to stop walking with a hunch, and after his own Alexander lessons, he had more energy and he could walk without stooping. His enthusiasm over how much better he felt made him decide to share what he learned with others. So he studied for three years with the Israeli teacher Niley Bassan at a qualified teachers academy and became an Alexander instructor.
In his early days as a teacher in Toronto, he drove a tow truck to supplement his income. He doesn’t need a part-time job now. He teaches his lessons to clients in a historic church in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.
Two years ago, acting on my suggestion, my friend Jeremy began taking lessons from Boaz. Jeremy had cervical stenosis, which meant he could no longer turn his head. Doctors told him the difficulty in moving his head could only be fixed by surgery, but thanks to his lessons with Boaz, he can move his head easily now.
I’m a novelist, who spends days at a keyboard in a posture that freezes my neck and shoulders into a permanent crouch. If I wanted to avoid these problems altogether I would have to give up writing. However, the Alexander technique keeps me lithe and flexible enough so that I can keep writing books without doing myself more physical harm.
But back to lying on the table while Boaz gently adjusts you: By the time the table work is over, your body is so relaxed it feels feather light. When Boaz gently lifts you up and sets you on your feet, you stand there in a state of weightless glory. It’s a floaty, youthful sensation as if your brain and your body are aligned. And this wonderful sense of wellbeing is accomplished without hours of pounding the treadmill at a gym.
The rest of the lesson consists of Boaz showing you some nuanced ways of moving that help keep you in the state of lightness that you felt on the table.
Lessons with Boaz last forty-five minutes to an hour, and after several sessions, the mantra gets into your brain and you notice it’s easier to walk and move.
Of course, the Alexander technique helps you at any age, and the more you practice it, the more effortless it feels. Along with the relief of walking and sitting more easily comes the knowledge that getting older doesn’t mean resigning yourself to having an old body that doesn’t move very well. Things you thought were impossible are suddenly possible or at least more possible than before. That’s the third chance. How do I know? Jeremy and I are taking it.