Alexander Technique

Video 1
1. The most important thing you can do when there is no one to help you is self observation.

2. Self observation is watching yourself; meaning to watch everything as far as possible in you and around you as if it were happening to someone else. Self absorption on the other hand is self pre-occuppation when you are concerned and worried about yourself.

3. We suffer from depression and anxiety because we identify ourselves as being depressed and we convince ourselves, rather than actually experiencing the feeling. He goes on and explains that saying, "I am depressed" is false and it really should be, "I is experiencing a depression right now." You are not your depression, you are just trying to convince yourself that you are.

4. He used an analogy about the sky and clouds to define the word "self" and he simply says that "self" is the sky observing the clouds passing by.

5. If you understand things, they will soon change.

6. "What you judge, you cannot understand."

Reflection: After watching DeMello's video, I completely understands what he means when he explains that you are not your depression. It makes perfect sense and I feel as though I never separate myself from my emotion. When I got to college and realized it was completely different from high school I would say things like, "I am stressed" "I am a failure" etc. because I ended up with a 2.8 gpa my first semester. But Chelsea Smith is none of those things. I am fun, loving, caring, intelligent, crazy, goofy, friendly, outgoing, etc. I can go on and on, but just because one day I may be feeling a certain emotion, does not make me that emotion, I am only experiencing that emotion during the time. 

Video 2 
1. When we experience fear, stress, and anxiety, we instantly compress ourselves which causes the survival mechanism to kick in and we start to shrink because of our flight or fight response. The body is preparing for a life-threatening situation which is not good.

2. The Alexander technique allows our body to have a more appropriate reaction for when we are going through stress and anxiety.

3. "Nature would prefer us to be in balance."

4. The 3 points of contacts for the foot are: the little toe, big toe, and heel. 

5. The three hinges in our legs are: the ankles, knees, and hips.

6. The hip joints are below the pelvis and in line with the pubic bone.

7. "Allow the pelvis to be heavy like an anchor."

8. The top of the spine is between your ears. 

Reflection: I think the connection between my mind and my body are in sync. Whatever is going on in my mind will affect my body. For instance, if I am having a bad day and have a lot running through my mind, you will be able to see that through my body language. I may tend to walk slow with my head down and either a mad or sad look on my face, as oppose to how I normally would walk and look up at others with a big smile on my face. 

Getting Out of Your Own Way

1. Society tells our children that they are only candidates for human life. If you do not play by the "world's rules," you are basically a waste and will have no future. Our society demands that you have a future!

2. Society's preparation for life is the school system of course and getting ready for the next stage in life. For example, kindergarden prepares you for first grade and high school prepares you for college which as people say, is the only way you can be successful in life. Society makes it seem like without education, you have nothing.

3. When one arrives, Watts claims that he or she often feels cheated because you've been trained to get out in the real world just to be in the same predicament you were in while you were in school and college. It's like you're constantly looking for the perfect future. Some graduate college and can't even find jobs, some people have competitive jobs like law for instance and have to compete with others to get a job which can be very hard. Life does not get easier once you're done with school, it just gets harder and harder. 

4. The final goal of our society is retirement, where you can finally spend your hard earned money on whatever you want, not have to worry about going to work everyday, and just live it up. But he also mentions that by then you will be very old with no energy so it defeats the purpose anyway. 

5. I always stress to my friends not to live for the future. They're always worrying about who they will marry or how much money they're going to making etc. Also, there are many people in college that only major in biology, law, business, etc. just for the money. The problem with living for the future is that you're so busy making plans that you're not having fun in the present or living life how you want to. Right now, I am enjoying my four years in college being a theatre major. I am not concerned about how much money I will be making once I graduate, I am doing what I love and what I am passionate about. 

1. The chinese word for nature is ziran and it means, "that happens of itself." 

2. You stop the spontaneous flowering of nature when you control it and it is told to continue to do so.

3. We as human beings are the fabric and structure of existence itself.

4. The secret of life is being happy with the present and just enjoying every moment of your life. Be thankful that you are still living.

1. Dr. Brewer's experience of flow was when he was riding his bike down a steep trail.

2. We get caught up thinking 50 percent of the time.

3. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.

4. During meditation the autopilot parts of the brain quiet down and it allows you to relax.

5. In nine minutes, the test subject learned the difference between feeling the moment and getting in his own way.

Reflection: I realized that during our yoga practice, I am too worried about how painful it is or how I'm not flexible compared to my peers. I have so much running through my mind, that I am not experiencing yoga. Instead, I am worried about all these things and also about whats going on in my life. That completely defeats the purpose of even doing yoga. I need to learn how to be more relaxed and just let my body go. While playing killer ball, I realized that you HAVE to be in the present to play the game. If not, you are bound to get hit right in the face from not paying attention lol. I must say, I had so much fun playing killer ball, I was completely in the moment and threw all my worries out the window. All i was worried about was catching the ball and getting that person who was in the circle out! Performing wise, I am always in the moment trying to perform to the best of my ability. I am not thinking about anything else, not even during rehearsals. These videos were really great and taught me not to worry about the future and just live for the moment.

Mindfulness

1. Dr. Kabat-Zinn describes mindfulness as paying attention as if your life depended on it. In the other words, it allows you to connect better with your life in the present moment.

2. According to Dr. Kabat-Zinn, our life depends on mindfulness because attention is what helps us navigate our lives, to actually know what's happening around us. 

3. It does not matter what things you pay attention to, all that matters is attending and making sure you are actually present in the present moment. Worrying about the past and the future is irrelevant because you are squeezing out the present moment, which you cannot get back. 

4. No, mindfulness is not a technique; it is a way being aware and opening your mind.

1. Andy simply suggests that we take a step back from life for just ten minutes to familiarize ourselves with the present moment.

2. Our minds are lost in thoughts 47 percent of the time.

3. Mindfulness is not about controlling our thoughts and feelings at all, it is about seeing these thoughts clearly with a relaxed mind and not judging them at all.

4. The activity we did in class when we had to balance a stick on two of our fingers was very difficult for me and now i understand why. I was not focused like i should have been, I was too busy worrying about other things in my life instead of relaxing and focusing on the stick. I was also pretty stressed out about things, which caused tension on my fingers and caused the stick to continuously fall. 

For this activity, I sat on the chair in my bedroom cross-legged and set my timer for ten minutes. For some reason I kept getting distracted for the first five minutes. I kept thinking about school, my boyfriend, things that had been bothering me, and etc. So I stopped and turned on some soothing music, this seemed to help a bit. I guess its hard for me to stay in the present moment, it might take practice, but I must say, meditating is very soothing and relaxing.