Table of Contents Praise Title Page Copyright Page Dedication I. II. III. PART 1 - HOW DO YOU MOVE? TALES FROM THE BEGINNING Chapter 1 - Surprising Observations JOHN, PART ONE Chapter 2 - A Malfunctioning Locomotor System ERIN, PART ONE Chapter 3 - How Did We Get This Way? Chapter 4 - Standing on Two Legs SELF-EXPERIMENTS - A and B PART 2 - YOU FE THE MIND-BO Chapter 5 - A Sense of Feeling Chapter 6 - Feelings Gone Wrong GARY BETTY, PART ONE Chapter 7 - The Feeling of Fear HOW WE PERCEIVE DANGER Chapter 8 - Fear’s Body-Mind IN THE GRIP OF FEAR A THREATENING INJURY THE SHRINKING WORLD OF PAIN Chapter 9 - Anxiety and Performance BRUCE, PART ONE Chapter 10 - Attention, Awareness, and Conscious Inhibition BRUCE, PART TWO PART 3 - HOW DO YOU THINK? THE MIND CHANGES EVERYTHING Chapter 11 - A Fine Day in London with Nothing to Feel Chapter 12 - Discovering the Thinking Mind THE ATTIC SURPRISES AND BELIEFS Chapter 13 - Believing Is Not Seeing Chapter 14 - The Difference That Inhibition Makes ERIN, PART TWO Chapter 15 - You Have a Helper SELF-EXPERIMENTS - C and D PART 4 - SPACE AND DIRECTION OUR HIDDEN SENSE Chapter 16 - Fewer Words, More Space CLEO MEGHAN Chapter 17 - More Problems with Feelings NATHAN NANCY Chapter 18 - Balance and Coordination Chapter 19 - A New Way of Moving BRIAN BETTY, PART TWO SELF-EXPERIMENTS - E and F PART 5 - TOUCH OUR FORGOTTEN SENSE Chapter 20 - Touching the Heart SAM WHAT IS IT ABOUT TOUCH? Chapter 21 - The Teacher’s Hands PART 6 - CONSCIOUSNESS OUR NEWEST SENSE Chapter 22 - Pain Free and Movin Again JOHN, PART TWO Chapter 23 - An Incredible Lightness of Being ERIN, PART THREE Chapter 24 - Speaking from My Self GREG Chapter 25 - Self-Mastery: Connnection SELF-EXPERIMENTS - G and H APPENDIX - How to Find a Teacher GLOSSARY NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY Acknowledgements INDEX ACCLAIM FOR Missy Vineyard’s HOW YOU STAND, HOW YOU MOVE, HOW YOU LIVE “Missy Vineyard is an inspired and inspiring teacher, and her book about the Alexander Technique will help many people become aware of their own potential for self-mastery. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live deserves a wide readership.” —ALICE PARKER, composer, conductor, teacher, founder and artistic director of Melodious Accord, and board member of Chorus America “For anyone interested in the mind-body connection and fascinated by the process of change, How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live is a gem. It is a rich addition to the Alexander literature—a book to be read slowly and savored.” —JANE KOSMINSKY, dance faculty, The Juilliard School, and president of the Balance of Well-being, producer of pioneering videos about the Alexander Technique “Missy Vineyard has been an Alexander Technique teacher for many years and now we get to reap the benefits of her research and work in this superb book. It is exceptionally useful as a way to enrich one’s experience of the Alexander Technique. —JESSICA WOLF, teacher of the Alexander Technique, The Art of Breathing in New York City and the Yale School of Drama “Simply by reading How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, my mind quieted, my spine lengthened, my breath deepened. Through entertaining stories and clear directions for practice, Vineyard takes the beginning student or professional alike into the essence of the Alexander Technique. Her profound knowledge of neuroscience, years of study and teaching of the Alexander Technique, and deeply empathic and curious nature have led to a book which will serve students and teachers of anyone engaged in physical studies which investigate the physiological and psychological nature of the mind-body connection.” —PEGGY SCHWARTZ, professor of dance, chair of the dance program, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and former chair, Five College Dance Department “A unique book in the Alexander literature, How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live examines in depth the mental processes needed for successful mastery of the Technique. Missy Vineyard’s unusual approach to the difficult subject of inhibition will give the reader many new and useful insights that significantly will enhance freedom and coordination.” —PAUL GARNER, clarinetist, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and music faculty, Southern Methodist University “Masterfully written and illustrated—a must read for all students of the Alexander Technique.” —JUDITH C. STERN, MA, PT, CTAT, senior faculty, American Center for the Alexander Technique, New York “An uncommonly clear introduction to the rationale for the Alexander Technique and the perfect accompaniment to hands-on Alexander lessons. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live is an engaging invitation to explore the Alexander Technique as a way to inhabit our bodies more enjoyably over a lifetime.” —FRANCES V. MOULDER, PHD, sociologist and author of Social Problems of the Modern World “Missy Vineyard enlightens both the teacher and the student with her original thesis bridging the working principles of the Alexander Technique with current knowledge in areas of neuroscience, human behavior, performance and medical rehabilitation while bringing new meaning to the self-help book. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live reaches beyond the typical Alexander Technique primer to shed light on the subtleties of human behavior with shrewd observation, original thinking, and rare honesty.” —IDELLE S. PACKER, MS, PT, certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and owner of Body Sense, Inc., an integrative physical therapy practice in Asheville, North Carolina “Having experienced Missy Vineyard’s teaching and read her fascinating book, I have no doubt that she has developed a most effective and insightful refinement of the Alexander Technique that all teachers and students would do well to study.” -MICHAEL BLOCH, author of F. M.: The Life of Frederick Matthias Alexander “How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live is at once an intellectual tour de force integrating knowledge from several disciplines and a practical guide to psychosomatic re-education. Theoretically informed yet thoroughly accessible, it makes fascinating reading. Contemporary interest in the representation and uses of the body will make this book very valuable to students of cultural studies as well as teachers and students of Alexander Technique. Missy Vineyard writes eloquently and from a position of mastery of her material.” —MURRAY M. SCHWARTZ, professor of literature and psychoanalysis, Emerson College “Vineyard’s book is particularly successful in two ways: Her description of the Alexander Technique is clear, comprehensive, compelling, and pragmatic. She has also made an important contribution to our appreciation of the value of the Alexander Technique through personal stories of challenge and accomplishment.” —DAVID FELDSHUH, MD, PHD, professor of theater, Cornell University, and artistic director, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts “How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live is a gem. It stands out among the growing number of books about the AT in the lucidity of presentation, as well as the precision in the discussion of the subtlety of AT. Both in the narrative and the self-experiments, the practice of AT is conveyed with clarity and immediacy.” —SHIMON MALIN, PhD, professor of physics, Colgate University MISSY VINEYARD is one of the foremost master teachers of the Alexander Technique in the United States today. Vineyard is director of the Alexander Technique School New England (ATSNE), a three-year teacher-training program that she founded in 1987, and the author of numerous articles. In 1987 she cofounded AmSAT, the national professional society for Alexander teachers in the United States, and served as its first chairman. For the last twenty years she has devoted much of her schedule to teacher and postgraduate training, and to developing a unique, systematic curriculum for imparting the subtle hands-on skill that is the hallmark of the Alexander teacher. She maintains a busy private teaching practice, specializing in working with performing artists and children to enhance their artistic and athletic performance. Vineyard has two sons and two stepdaughters, and lives with her husband and two standard poodles in Amherst, Massachusetts. To learn more or contact MissyVineyard, visit her Web site at www.missyvineyard.com.