When You Fear Your Body Is Getting Worse | Alexander Technique for Dancers

Do you ever feel afraid that your body is getting worse — that pain or stiffness will only increase as you age? That quiet fear is common, especially for dancers and movers who once had so much freedom in their bodies.

In this video, I'll guide you through a short, compassionate reset to unwind the fear–tension loop. You’ll learn how fear of decline subtly creates more tightening — and how to come back into your real, living body in the present moment.

What you’ll explore:

• How fear and worry about your body’s future show up as tension

• A short “Forgetting Game” practice to reset your nervous system

• How to reconnect with what’s actually working beautifully in your body right now

• A new way to move — one rooted in curiosity, not fear

This approach is based on the Alexander Technique, a gentle method for retraining your mind-body habits so you can move with more ease, presence, and fluidity.

If you’d like to go deeper, I offer free consultations in which we can discuss what you need and how to apply this work to your body and your movement.

A transcript of the video is below if you’d prefer to read rather than watch and listen.

Hello, friend.

Do you ever feel like your body is betraying you? Or are you afraid that as you get older your body is going to get worse and be in more pain? That you're on this downward slope in terms of the facility of your body?

That is totally normal, and sneaky.

That kind of fear that happens shows up as a tightening, a contraction, as a pull in your body.

So it can have this kind of vicious sneaky cycle where we experience some pain, we become worried or fearful that that pain will continue or is an indication that more pain is down the road, and that fear shows up as a tightening, which then contributes to pain.

Now, that’s normal, especially as dancers, when most of us had this amazing facility with our bodies for many years, and we're used to our bodies being able to do so much and for our bodies to feel a certain way. Then, as we get older, we start to feel these different aches and pains and we see them as a sign of what's to come.

Maybe. Maybe that will happen. We don't know.

But what I do know is that when we get caught in that fear, worry, stress, whatever you want to call it, that shows up as a tightening. And then that tightening can reinforce the pain, which then reinforces our belief in the pain and in the future.

What you can do is come back to work with your body as it is right now, which is different from what you think your body is right now. What your body is right now is an experience. It's not a belief.

So, wherever you are, I'd like you to come with me. Try this out.

Close your eyelids.

I call this the Forgetting Game.

You get to forget your past, your body's history.

It’s like your consciousness wakes up in this body right now and see what's there.

Experience it.

You don't know anything about this body's past.

Is there anything you're feeling right now that says something is wrong with this body? That says it's broken in some way?

Is there anything right now, when you forget everything that's come before? Is there anything right now that says this body is falling apart?

You might experience an ache or a pain somewhere, but does that mean the body is falling apart? Can you know it means that if you drop your past?

It's like your consciousness has woken up in a new body that you don't know anything about. Give yourself a moment to experience this body.

I bet you'll start to discover and experience many good things.

This body is sitting.

It's breathing.

Now, that's the body you get to move with. That's the body you get to be with in your life. It's the body that you wake up to right now.

As movers, we had great facility, and we can get lost in pining for what we used to have. And you can miss it, sure. But if that takes you over, you are not allowing in the experience of what is really working well and moving beautifully right now.

You're trying to move now from a place in a person you used to be, which you can't do.

But you can come into the body right now and forget that past, which might be a challenge. It's a practice.

You come into the body now and then move that. And in doing so, you automatically start to honor what's available in your body now.

And that opens the door to enjoy what's in your body. It makes room. Mix those two together. It makes room for enjoying the movement and the quality of it that's available right now.

That's all for today.

If you enjoyed this video, please let the algorithm know by liking, commenting, subscribing, and if there's anything you particularly liked or any questions you have, please leave those in the comments. I read those. Those will help me make future videos that will better speak to you and help you because that is the purpose of this work.

Until we meet again, take care.