Five years ago I slipped and fell on the stairs in my house. It was midnight. Dave had left the house a few hours before to get on a plane to South Africa for a business trip. I was tired, and I came down the stairs holding my computer in one hand and a half a glass of water in the other. Before I go any further in this story, you need to see a visual of these stairs – they are a little hard to describe.
As you can see, it’s a long flight. Both the top and the bottom curve a bit so that the stair treads are uneven in size. See the basket at the bottom of the stairs, above the pile of papers? We keep the basket there (and frankly, the papers that pile up there, too) to keep anyone going down the stairs from being on that side of the steps, where they get really narrow. Five years ago there was not a banister on the wall side of the steps, either – just the long board on top of the open side to rest your hand on. Interestingly, I’d had many dreams about falling down that flight of steep steps since moving into this house.
At the time, we were getting ready to remodel our kitchen. As I kissed Dave goodbye, I promised him that I’d have most of the kitchen packed up and ready to go by the time he got back at the end of a week. Optimistically, I started the process that evening by removing artwork, which included the basket from the stairs.
At the time, we were getting ready to remodel our kitchen. As I kissed Dave goodbye, I promised him that I’d have most of the kitchen packed up and ready to go by the time he got back at the end of a week. Optimistically, I started the process that evening by removing artwork, which included the basket from the stairs.
So, there I was at midnight, coming down those stairs in my stocking feet. Without the basket there, sure enough, I moved toward the outside of the staircase about 3 steps from the bottom. I put a foot down, and there was nothing there but air. It was one of those moments where time stood still – I saw it all happening clearly, and in slow motion – yet there was nothing I could do other than try to keep myself from tumbling down the stairs. My legs went out from under me, and I went down hard, landing on one sit bone on the same crooked step I’d slipped off. The water in my glass went up, and right back down into the glass. I didn’t drop the computer!
I sat there for a minute or two, assessing the situation like any good Alexander Technique teacher would do. Was I breathing? Yes. Let’s calm down a bit before we try to stand up. Ok. Was there anything broken? Well, I don’t think so. My legs are fine. Then I stood up, my feet on the kitchen floor below. Wow. My pelvis hurt. A lot. I made my way to the freezer and found an ice pack and shoved it down the back of my pants. Better. What to do now? It’s after midnight. I don’t want to go to the emergency room at midnight. It’s going to be crazy over there and I just want to sleep. I know! Call the doctor now, let her know what’s going on, and then try sleeping until morning. Great plan. The doctor said, “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the ER now?” I told her I was going to try to sleep and see her in the morning.
It was all fine until I tried to take my pants off. I couldn’t do it. The pain was too intense. Totally in shock, I got myself slowly out to my car and drove myself to the emergency room. Once there, I couldn’t sit down any longer, so I stood for about 90 minutes with the ice pack still in my pants until they could see me. A series of x-rays showed that I had dislocated my tailbone and fractured S3, one of the bones in the sacrum. They basically couldn’t do much for either thing, so they sent me home and gave me a prescription for painkillers. I don’t know how I did it, but I drove home. On the way I called my friend Janet, a night owl, to tell her what had happened. She said she’d rally the troops in the morning to come take care of me, and she did. Look at that – I asked for help, and within a day the word spread so quickly that friends came over from far and wide and packed my kitchen for me, in addition to feeding me and keeping me drugged and loopy until Dave got home. (After the kitchen remodel, it was such fun unpacking all those boxes that friends had packed! I had no idea where anything was. It was like a treasure hunt.) You can imagine Dave’s dismay at getting this news upon landing in South Africa 20 hours later. Poor guy. He did cut his trip shorter than originally planned to get home again.
The recovery from this particular injury was longer and harder than any other injury I’ve had, and I couldn’t do it alone. I was in PT for months. I found a chiropractor up in Virginia who finally figured out that my spine completely jammed upwards when I landed, taking all my organs with it. He relocated my tailbone for me, ending months of pain. My pelvic floor was locked and a PT specialist released that. A craniosacral therapist friend helped me realign my sphenoid and the bones on the roof of my mouth. I am so grateful to each and every one of those healers, and others who tried to help me along the way. It was a good three years before I started to feel like myself, and just 6 months ago I went back to a challenging fitness class in the gym for the first time. In all of that recovery period, I had to use every resource I had as an Alexander Teacher to learn to trust my body again. It was a revelation to have an Alexander Lesson a year after the injury and have the teacher show me that I still wasn’t sitting fully on my sit bones.
I’ve had my fair share of injuries in this lifetime, and I know what it feels like to not trust parts of your own body to work again. I know what it’s like to experience fear, and to not believe your physical therapist when they tell you that you have your range of motion back. And so one of the things I specialize in and enjoy most is working with people after they have finished their PT. I love to help people come to grips with those fears, to understand their initial reaction of holding and gripping, and then to learn to thank that for showing up and let it go. It brings me great joy to assist people in their self-discovery and to be with them to witness their pleasure in finding themselves whole again.
When considering types of bodywork, most people begin by looking for help that gives them a one-time "fix" and sends them on their way. You have the choice to instead ask for help from someone who can meet you gently where you are now, and through the process give you back the gift of your whole self. You won’t just heal - you will grow.With Alexander Technique you will, like me, learn the tools to understand the power of habit in your life.
I sat there for a minute or two, assessing the situation like any good Alexander Technique teacher would do. Was I breathing? Yes. Let’s calm down a bit before we try to stand up. Ok. Was there anything broken? Well, I don’t think so. My legs are fine. Then I stood up, my feet on the kitchen floor below. Wow. My pelvis hurt. A lot. I made my way to the freezer and found an ice pack and shoved it down the back of my pants. Better. What to do now? It’s after midnight. I don’t want to go to the emergency room at midnight. It’s going to be crazy over there and I just want to sleep. I know! Call the doctor now, let her know what’s going on, and then try sleeping until morning. Great plan. The doctor said, “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the ER now?” I told her I was going to try to sleep and see her in the morning.
It was all fine until I tried to take my pants off. I couldn’t do it. The pain was too intense. Totally in shock, I got myself slowly out to my car and drove myself to the emergency room. Once there, I couldn’t sit down any longer, so I stood for about 90 minutes with the ice pack still in my pants until they could see me. A series of x-rays showed that I had dislocated my tailbone and fractured S3, one of the bones in the sacrum. They basically couldn’t do much for either thing, so they sent me home and gave me a prescription for painkillers. I don’t know how I did it, but I drove home. On the way I called my friend Janet, a night owl, to tell her what had happened. She said she’d rally the troops in the morning to come take care of me, and she did. Look at that – I asked for help, and within a day the word spread so quickly that friends came over from far and wide and packed my kitchen for me, in addition to feeding me and keeping me drugged and loopy until Dave got home. (After the kitchen remodel, it was such fun unpacking all those boxes that friends had packed! I had no idea where anything was. It was like a treasure hunt.) You can imagine Dave’s dismay at getting this news upon landing in South Africa 20 hours later. Poor guy. He did cut his trip shorter than originally planned to get home again.
The recovery from this particular injury was longer and harder than any other injury I’ve had, and I couldn’t do it alone. I was in PT for months. I found a chiropractor up in Virginia who finally figured out that my spine completely jammed upwards when I landed, taking all my organs with it. He relocated my tailbone for me, ending months of pain. My pelvic floor was locked and a PT specialist released that. A craniosacral therapist friend helped me realign my sphenoid and the bones on the roof of my mouth. I am so grateful to each and every one of those healers, and others who tried to help me along the way. It was a good three years before I started to feel like myself, and just 6 months ago I went back to a challenging fitness class in the gym for the first time. In all of that recovery period, I had to use every resource I had as an Alexander Teacher to learn to trust my body again. It was a revelation to have an Alexander Lesson a year after the injury and have the teacher show me that I still wasn’t sitting fully on my sit bones.
I’ve had my fair share of injuries in this lifetime, and I know what it feels like to not trust parts of your own body to work again. I know what it’s like to experience fear, and to not believe your physical therapist when they tell you that you have your range of motion back. And so one of the things I specialize in and enjoy most is working with people after they have finished their PT. I love to help people come to grips with those fears, to understand their initial reaction of holding and gripping, and then to learn to thank that for showing up and let it go. It brings me great joy to assist people in their self-discovery and to be with them to witness their pleasure in finding themselves whole again.
When considering types of bodywork, most people begin by looking for help that gives them a one-time "fix" and sends them on their way. You have the choice to instead ask for help from someone who can meet you gently where you are now, and through the process give you back the gift of your whole self. You won’t just heal - you will grow.With Alexander Technique you will, like me, learn the tools to understand the power of habit in your life.
Thanks to the interest in this blog series, I’ve decided to offer an evening class called “Exploring the Power of Habit.” Class size will be limited, so you’ll need to pre-register if you want to join me on this journey of self-examination. If you want to know more about the freedom and ease Alexander Technique can offer you, the power of habits in your life and how to change them, and how to live fully in your body, then this class is for you. Click the button for full details.