In this workshop you will learn how to work in the garden with ease and avoid discomfort. How to use implements to dig and hoe using your body in a natural way, how to lift and carry objects, how to reach when sowing, planting and weeding. How to take in the whole space and enjoy gardening with ease and move with more integrated strength without straining.
Often there is a big rush to get into the garden and get going with thoughts like I have to get this done, which puts our body and mind into tension before we start. Are you so intent in getting the job done that you forget about yourself, you lose your awareness of self and your surroundings and only seeing what immediately in front of you and you work away till you are fit to drop with exhaustion and muscle fatigue and maybe injure yourself in the process and take days to recover. This workshop will help you to slow down and you may be surprised that you get the same work done with less strain and pain and you really enjoy it.
There is a term in the Alexander Technique world ‘end gaining’. We look to the goal or end of what we are doing ‘the future’ and not look at how we get there ‘staying present’, we often don’t pay attention on how we apply ourselves in getting to where we want to go. Paying attention to what we are doing in the present, Alexander called this ‘the means whereby’. When we go to the garden we will keep the back open in its length and width, the head nicely poised on the neck, the shoulders relaxed, the arms and legs folding at the joints without shortening. We will keep this all going when going into a lunge, as when we are about to hoe or plant seedlings and coming back to these directions when we go into a squat or slight bend or kneeling when we want to sow or weed and then moving in a more efficient way around the garden. In this way you are taking care of yourself and you can enjoy your surroundings.