Gabrielle Czaja

Wed, Mar 15, 2023 1:23PM 58:46 SUMMARY KEYWORDS parents, kids, alexander technique, physical therapist, child, body, learning, teachers, principles, students, support, educators, reflexes, happening, physical therapy, school, breathing, thinking, moment, vulnerabilities

00:01 Hello, and welcome. I am looking forwardto our conversation today talking about physical therapy, the Alexander Technique and aholistic approach. And I'm going to have our guest introduce herself and let us in a little bit of,I'll have our guests introduce herself and shed some light on who she is, and how this comes toplay with our students in our house, and the students that we support. Welcome. Thank you, Wendy, I'm really happy to be here on your show. And my name is Gabrielle sahaja. And I work with kids to help them feel calm and confident in their body to feel connected with themselves,to help them focus on their studies, and most importantly, feel good about themselves in familyand social situations. And one of the reasons I'm so passionate about working with youngpeople is because I actually discovered physical therapy when I was in junior high school. For a career day writing assignment, we were tasked with going to the library. And I've always thought libraries are really magical places. And so my treasure hunting led me to a book called so you want to be a physical therapist. And there was something about the alchemy ofscientific inquiry, helping people and solving problems and helping people not cookie cutterprotocol recipe, but from the perspective of their own life style, their own individual values. So

02:38 I got out of PT school, and I injured myself, really within months of being a brand new physicaltherapist. And despite having excellent medical care, I was really having trouble getting better.And I was introduced to the Alexander Technique. And I just immediately felt powerful, and grounded and calm. And it was such an interesting experience, to be thinking and connecting with my body. And that helped me feel strong, and grounded and calm all at the same time.And quite honestly, I wanted more of that for myself. And I wanted more of that for my patients. My and I had patients at the time. So training to be an Alexander Technique teacherwas really a milestone in my journey as an educator, and a healer. And I think it's so important for kids. Because listening to the story of a child's life, understanding what makes them tick.What are their heart's desires? And how do their families and their educators set all of these conditions up, so a child can grow and the Alexander Technique principles are a wonderful wayto get kids moving forward in their lives so they can be as happy and healthy as adults. 04:04 I think it's great that you had said right off the bat that it's not cookie cutter, right? Because weall know that our personal children or the students that we support are not cookie cutter, nocure to cancer like and that really kind of having that connection between thinking andconnecting with our body really is going to play out for success throughout not only aclassroom but throughout your life as well. And I'm sure as we talk today, you're going to shedsome more light on exactly what the Alexander Technique is and how does that fit into physicaltherapy and how does that better support our students so that they can be 04:45 empowered with their future life, education and independence? 04:51

04:51 Yes, so Can this approach be adapted to fit any type of young person 04:59 ABS 05:00 Ultimately, and that's what's so exciting about the principles of the Alexander Technique.They're universal. We use our thinking and our sensing to make a direct connection with our body. So that regardless of the capacity, the capability where a child is in their life in theirschooling, the principles are the same. 05:26 Because a child is learning to stop and notice their body. 05:33 And from that place, they learned that they have a choice, that there are possibilities for response. And when you feel like you have a choice, you feel like you're in control of yourself.So we start helping kids when they're four and five year olds, and you and I can benefitparents, teachers, all of us can benefit from these principles, you know, to the little ones, too, ifyou're four and five years old, we say we're going to teach you how to be the boss of yourbody. 06:05 For teenagers, we're teaching them about choice, and how they can feel good about thechoices and also how a teenager can really self regulate, and really all children need to selfregulate. But for adults and teenagers, we're really talking about how do I how do I work withthe energy that I 06:25 got today? I mean, you're tired, and kids are overwhelmed in school. And so at any moment ofthe day, they can take a moment for themselves, and come back to themselves, and refocusand recalibrate and then move forward. And we use the same principles all the time. And what's really exciting is that this is not just a quick fix. That works just once but over time, we're laying down new neurological pathways. I mean, that's based on the principles that we understand today about brain plasticity. So we're laying down new tracks, so that over time,our body and our brain become more responsive to our internal thinking and that internalconversation that we're having with ourselves.

07:15 Can you take a step back what you've mentioned a couple of times the principles of theAlexander Technique, what are those principles? So the Alexander Technique is a mind bodylearning paradigm, 07:29 where we learn how to stop or pause, 07:34 and then use our thinking to restore our postural support. 07:41 And it's really about our breathing. And when we restore our postural support, our organs startto feel better, we breathe more easily. When our head is balancing easily on the top of ourspine, all of our whole body becomes more coordinated and more integrated. 08:03 So two basic principles of the Alexander Technique are to stop, and perhaps stop doing ourhabit, one of those very obvious habits that children and adults get into is taking a slump, weall can slump. And then we're not breathing very well. And if you're a child sitting in a chair,that does not fit themselves very well, and they're not able to support themselves from theinside out. It's going to be harder for them to do their work. 08:37 And then what happens is they try to correct and then they over straighten, or they wigglearound and there's wiggling and moving is really normal actually. And so what the principles of the Alexander Technique do is we stop 08:51 and we learn how to ask our body to become more balanced. 08:58 And from that place, we can think more clearly and feel better.

09:02 So there's a really exciting new way of introducing some of the Alexander Technique principlesto kids. And we call that the ready list. And it helps kids be well one of my 13 year old students called Be relaxed and ready. So some education pioneers in the UK, Sue Mary and JudithKleinman, they developed the ready list and it goes something like this and you and I can dothis now and whoever's listening, which is to just pause or stop. 09:38 And then ask yourself, Am I seeing and look around your space, look around the room, expandyour visual field? 09:48 And then ask, am I breathing? 09:52 And as soon as you ask yourself, am I breathing? notice most of you probably took a really easybreath at 10:00 grass just released? And then can I be soft and tall? 10:07 So can I be upright without being stiff and tense? And I can I be comfortable and relaxedwithout going into a slump or without collapsing? 10:19 And when we ask questions, rather than saying, oh, I need to stand up straight, it's a lotfriendlier, it's a lot kinder to ourself. And kids understand soften tall adults understand soften tall. So we're not interested in a position so much as, how do I feel the best in my body? Howdo I activate my support mechanism? With with what started as what we call the threequestions. So we just stop? Am I seeing? 10:54

am I breathing? 10:57 Can I be soft and tall? So? So two little ones, we might say can you have? Can you let your headgo up like a floaty balloon, and your shoulders be like soft ice cream? Now, I will say a lot ofadults like that, to me, that's a great analogy. I love that. You know, in such a person. And it's and kids are too and it's it's a game, you know, with kids, I'll say well, what's your favoritecolor? And then we'll say Okay, so if your favorite color is bright pink, then think about a brightpink floaty balloon and your head going up like that. And what's your favorite flavor of icecream? Well think about your favorite flavor of ice cream, maybe it's butter pecan, or it's cottoncandy flavor. Let your shoulders be like cotton candy flavored, soft melting ice cream. 11:52 And it's quick. And over time, our body learns to respond more and more. 11:59 When we think about physical therapy, we're thinking about an injury and then a response tothat and coming to a physical therapist. So how well first, can we define the term injury? Andthen how does that connect with the Alexander Technique in terms of families coming to you,and then that support that would take place. 12:22 So physical therapists are trained or educated to assess some sort of movement issue. So we might define an injury as something that interferes. And it can be a minor thing, it can be a bigthing, something that interferes with the natural or intended functioning of our body. 12:44 And the intended functioning of our body is different for everyone. And especially when we'retalking about kids with different abilities, and who are wired differently, their bodies functiondifferently than other kids. And so wherever they're at, we look at what's not working to theiradvantage, where are their vulnerabilities? And then how do we strengthen thosevulnerabilities and create the foundation for that? 13:19 How does this relate 13 22

13:22 with you know, I mean, you just kind of touched on the genetic part, but maybe birth trauma,family trauma, how does all of this come together in your world? So all of these different kindsof traumas, because that can have an impact on our development. And early development, assoon as we're born is really it's a very rich, sensory motor thinking feeling. It's a feast, and we learn with our whole bodies. 13:52 And so what ends up happening is, is that as we mature, if the learning process if thedevelopmental milestones don't quite all hook up together, then we're left with vulnerabilities.Kids are smart, they develop workarounds. But the thing is, is that as they mature, some ofthose work arounds begin to kind of show the cracks in the foundation a little bit. So what a physical therapist does, especially with developmental milestones, and that some of the workthat I do based on the Mosca Tova method, is we help integrate these developmentalmilestones these developmental reflexes, so that the child feels safe, which is necessary forlearning and growing. 14:44 But also so that under normal circumstances, basic functioning is happening, but then alsounder stresses. We've got the reserves mentally and physically in order to get through that stressful 15:00 period of time. 15:03 I see such a correlation just even in the academic space in terms of the pockets of vulnerabilityand building that capacity and that we have students that have those work arounds that hit agrade, usually I see a third, sixth, ninth, and then first year of college, one of those, and they hitwhether the curriculum switches and then those workarounds no longer are working. But I feel like in speaking to parents over, you know, a lot of years that they've known something was off.And that it then took to hit ahead for them to say, Okay, let's act upon this. What do you say toparents that maybe think something's off, but the school or other professionals are saying, youknow, let's wait and see, or it's okay, or they're fine? Do you have anything that you speak to,to help parents gain that knowledge to seek your services, I always tell parents to listen to yourown body wisdom. They know their kids best. And I can't tell you how many parents come inwith teenagers, who only in the last couple of years, received some sort of diagnosis or somesort of information from a health care or an educational professional, that's finally validatingsomething that they've kind of always known all along. And so what I would encourage parents of kids of any age is to listen to that instinct. And then just for yourself, have a physical therapy assessment, have an occupational therapy assessment. In the vast majority of states, morethan 40 states in this country, a parent can go see a physical therapist without a physician'sreferral.

17:03 And that opens up greater access, we call that direct access. And so a parent can then say, okay, I don't need to rely on anybody else. I can follow my gut instinct, and just the sense that Iknow my child's capable of doing this, but I don't know what's getting in their way. And so physical therapists can help them sort that out. And then a physical therapist, in the same way,you come up with playbooks and your game plans to help kids get through school, physicaltherapists can come up with a game plan, again, based on that family's values based on thatfamily's lifestyles based on what makes kids happy, so that they can meet their goals. 17:51 So if we're talking about functioning of the body, and developmental milestones, what happenswith mental health? How does that come into play? 18:00 Cognition, emotional, sensory motor is all related. 18:07 And again, if if something is a little bit off, let's say a kid walked really early. I mean, it might be exciting to say, oh, my gosh, my daughter walked at 10 months. Well, that's exciting. But it probably means that there's going to be some vulnerabilities along the way. 18:29 And oftentimes, kids that move quickly through their milestones, or have some sort of birthtrauma or family trauma, then they might have vulnerabilities with physical activities, theymight have vulnerabilities with social skills in school, I mean, kids that don't feel comfortable intheir own skin, as we might say, are not going to feel comfortable being out in the world, andbeing confident in a social situation. You know, this idea of safety is so important for learning.And we can be in a safe home in a safe neighborhood in a safe school. But if some of the developmental milestones and some of the developmental reflexes are not as integrated asthey possibly can be, then the brain is not perceiving the world as safe. 19:20 And then we can get anxious or we might get depressed, or we might isolate ourselves, or wemight act out in the classroom, or we might be fine all day long. And then that child is so worn tb th 'b hldi it t th tbh ll ll db dtdtth t out because they've been holding it together to behave really well and be a good student, thatthey get home and then they lose it. Right. And so, I mean, I have a parent that says, oh, youknow, my teenage daughter, everything is fine when she's with her friends and when she's withschool, and then then she comes home and there's a meltdown.

19:55 So they're all related. And the exciting thing is that whether you're doing physical 20:00 therapy or even Alexander technique. We teach kids both with the physical therapy and thedevelopmental milestones, we're really working at the deeper parts of the brain that are notfrontal cortex. Right? They're not about executive control. The Alexander principles have animpact indirectly on those deeper non conscious brain centers. But we use our thinking in a very simple way. 20:29 And again, whether it's the developmental reflexes that we're deepening, and really gettinggrounded, that helps the child feel calmer. And again, when they feel in control of themselves,when they feel anxious, then they can settle themselves down. 20:47 So for the folks that are listening, you know, you have the kids that fall apart at home, and ithappens way too often. 20:56 Oftentimes, parents will then approach the school first and say, and the school will then usuallycome back and say, well, they're doing great at school. Have you seen or heard any languagethat could then better support that parents case, to either receive sport support at school? Orhow do you help collaborate with the school and educate the teacher to better support thestudent so that we can 21:27 support our students with that functioning of their body and that holistic approach so that weare reducing that falling apart at home? 21:37 S t fi t ti Ithi kth t tbi bl t ti lt th tth '

So to answer your first question, I think that a parent, being able to articulate that there's amismatch, my child is behaving a, b, c, in this way. And I hear that from you, as a teacher and an educator. My child is behaving ABC at home. 22:02 There's a mismatch here, how do we build this bridge? And how do we resolve this, this sort ofobserved conflicting 22:14 information? 22:16 And I think parents know their kids best. And I'm sure educators hear that all the time. 22:23 But I think that what, what educators need to hear and what physicians need to hear is, is theobjective information. And sometimes that's hard. I mean, these are our kiddos, right? I mean,they're our heart and our soul, and we want the best for them. So how can we not getemotional, but but we need to, you know, I sometimes say, you know, keep a little notebook,put some notes on your iPad, you know, if you're sitting in the car at a stoplight, and a thoughtcomes to you, speak it into your phone, and then and then record that later. So I think if it's just a simple, okay, I'm seeing this at home 123. 23:03 And pointing out the mismatch, I think that's the really interesting thing. This kid is a whole person, how do we connect all the dots? 23:15 And I 23:16 am sorry, go ahead. Your your second question, can you repeat that for me? 23:24

I think what the and that's actually what I was going to ask again, 23:27 will kind of cut that part out. But what I was saying is just that so the parent sees a mismatch,right? their child's one way at school, and then one way at home. But in my experience from aneducation lens, if we bring that to the school is a parent, they may or may not know like nowwhat right? What What can we do to help support that student? So how can a parent get bettereducated from you, and your experience to then bring that to the team to the school so thatthey can help educate the staff supporting the child so that we could all collaborate together. 24:08 So a physical therapist and private practice and again, parents have access to physicaltherapists without getting a referral from other health care providers. That's a different kind of evaluation and a different kind of assessment than a physical therapist in the school setting. 24:28 So a physical therapist in the school setting, there are I mean, they're doing an amazing job,but they they don't have the luxury and the resources to spend as much time with these kidsthat they really want to. I mean, any school physical therapist is going to say, I'd love to spendmore time with these kids. So they really sort of focus a little bit more on very specific things,based on whatever plans the team is coming up with. What a physical therapist in private practice can do is give pair 25:00 on subjective data, well, the teacher is going to say I can't read handwriting. PhysicalTherapists like myself and private practice is going to say, Oh, well, their grasp reflex isn't fullyintegrated. So if a child's grasp reflex is not fully integrated, then what we can do in the privatepractice physical therapist is integrate that grasp reflex. And then that's something that say an occupational therapist can then work with handwriting. So the physical therapists do really awhole body whole brain assessment of all these different levels of functioning at a very deeplevel at a very specific level. And then a parent can take that data, in addition to their observed data at home, 25:52 and bring that to the school setting. 25:56 You know, I had a little girl whose mom brought her in for fine motor control, she was time forhtl h tt k ith lk dh t kif Adh hi ltf

her to learn how to turn keys in the lock and how to use a knife. And she was having a lot of trouble with this. And of course, that was carrying over into her fine motor control at school and writing. And so we started working on I looked at all of her developmental reflexes, and therewas more than just grasp. Crawling is very important. There are reflexes for auditory visualdevelopment for hand eye coordination, hand mouth coordination, believe it or not, all of thesethings feed into fine motor control. Now, what was really interesting about this little girl, Oliviais that she had the energy of like five puppies, all at the same time. And she was very smart.She when we would try to do things she never said, I don't want to do it. But she would distract with a question. Right? Kids are super smart. And it might be about well, Miss Gabriella, whatdid you have for lunch today? Or it might be about what she was going to do with her friendthat weekend. And so she had a certain level of hyperactivity to herself. 27:16 So but her reflexes indicated that that hyperactivity and that questioning was a way ofinterfering with having to do her hand eye coordination exercises. So there's the behavioral component, which is affecting family and school life. And then there's the nugget of okay, what are the reflexes we need to work on? 27:42 Now, what was interesting with Olivia is that, because she would go off in so many differentdirections, and it was really a challenge to help her settle is I started teaching her the readylist. 27:56 And at first, she didn't like it when I said, Okay, we're gonna stop. And we're going to see, andwe're going to ask ourselves, are we breathing, and we're going to ask ourselves, if I can besoft and tall, let my head go up like a floaty balloon. And she didn't want to do it. 28:14 But her mom was helping her do this at home. And after several sessions with maybe five orsix, she came in and she said, You know, I don't like to do the reading list, but I can tell that ithelps me. 28:29 So there's an example of, of how using the subjective and the objective information, then theparent can take that and say, Okay, this is what the other physical therapist is seeing. But there's no doubt that a physical therapist can work with the in school therapists, as a team, for sure.

28:52 We love that collaboration. So as students are developing right in school, they're expected tosit and then they have to play they're in, they're playing outside, then they do their book work.What can be some early signs that our kiddos that their body is not keeping up. 29:12 So they might not be on the playground, they might not be joining in with games. They might be withdrawing, they might end up being the kids that are a little bit aggressive. You know, when we don't feel good about ourselves, some kids withdraw. But some kids act out and some kids push other kids away. And that could be verbally that could be physically. 29:42 Kids that are even sitting in classroom that start to sort of curled themselves up into a ballwhen they're in the middle of class. Right? They're having trouble with their feet on the floor.They're leaning over their desk and their head is on their hand and they're practically 30:00 really sleeping with their head on the desk because they're having trouble writing or they'rehaving trouble supporting themselves in their body. So it can be a sign that kids are physically not literally able to stand up tall, or to sit up tall. 30:17 Or they could start to complain a lot. They might say, you know, I'm having trouble seeing thechalkboard, I mean, that's an obvious one. But there might be visual processing issues that are going on not just clarity issues. You know, sometimes super smart kids are participating. But the auditory visual processing is not as well established. So sometimes kids will just keepasking questions, and they can disrupt a classroom, because they're asking maybe too manyquestions. 30:53 And sometimes kids are acting out because they don't understand because that auditoryprocessing isn't quite there. And that's, they don't need a hearing aid. It's just that some of the reflexes might need some fine tuning. 31:07 So any kind of behavior, whether it's physically based and movement based, or somethingthat's interrupting a natural conversation, or classroom participation, or avoiding homework, allof these are signs that you know, maybe an occupational therapy or physical therapy

of these are signs that you know, maybe an occupational therapy or physical therapy assessment, outside of the school would be helpful. 31:34 Let's jump into the topic of holistic education. What does that mean for you out into the world. 31:42 So what Alexander Technique teachers say is we're teaching kids how to learn. 31:51 We all need how to learn, and every child needs to learn differently. And one of the things that Iknow deep in my heart, and this is something all of us know, but we sort of forget it along theway, is that we learn with our bodies. As soon as we're born, we put our feet and our mouth,we're touching things, we see that shiny object, mom's dangling earring, and we grab it, we'recrawling, we're exploring our world, and we're exploring our world with our body. And then we start going to school. And by the time we get to first grade, all of a sudden, academics is sitting in a chair. 32:40 And movement is recess. Or then for older kids, it's Phys. Ed, and it's a complete disconnect. It is not consistent at all what's been happening for the first five to seven years of a kid's life.Right. And so holistic education is really, I mean, I'm gonna say this, all education should beholistic, all educators, and all of us as the adults who are responsible for guiding kids into theirfull selves, we want to recognize that we learn with our body, when a child is connected to theirbody, and it's so simple to do. They feel like they have control and they feel safe. 33:28 If I'm feeling really anxious, and I can just stop and use my body, my feet on the floor, be awareof what I'm seeing and breathing, I'm calming myself down. And then I feel empowered, then Ifeel like I have a sense of agency, and then that sense of agency leads into an activity, andthen that activity is successful. And then that child's experiencing self efficacy. 33:57 And then mistakes happen. Maybe we don't get good grades, or maybe we had a bad experience. Can we stop and pause and be kind with ourself and be friendly? Because if I'mfeeling supported in my body, then I'm being gentle and kind with myself and then we regroupand we just keep going and we don't have to dwell on it right.

34:25 Which is an excellent life skill for all of us. 34:28 Oh, yes. 34:31 Right. 34:34 come into play with unconscious and conscious self like techniques to keep calm andconcentrate with perceived unsafe situations. Sometimes, you know, you talked about anxiety.Sometimes a student doesn't realize that their learning is impacting their anxiety or theirenvironment. So how does that come into play with what you do? 34:55 So, one of the one of the wonderful things about Alexander principles 35:00 somewhat a lot of us as a very large group of Alexander Technique, community, teachers orteachers here in the Alexander Technique community in the United States are trying to dowhat's happening in the UK, which is have the Alexander Technique principles, a naturalintegrated part of school curricula. 35:21 Because if we're learning these principles, we're going to be less likely to be disconnected withourselves, we'll be less likely to feel bad about ourselves. And so where it's it's this preventivemedicine, right? I mean, if we're building a really strong, strong foundation, 35:46 we're minimizing the opportunity for that, 35:50

35:50 for those moments of not noticing what's happening. So regardless of what is happening, if wepractice these skills, and very simple activities, then over time, we're just doing this and that isgoing to minimize the unconscious things that are happening. 36:12 How early Can we start teaching and sharing these concepts with our kiddos, four years old,maybe even three years old, you know, the the ready list, we might say, Okay, I'm gonna stoplike a lizard. 36:31 I'm going to see like an owl, 36:35 I'm going to breathe like a fish. And I'm going to be soft and tall, like a giraffe. 36:42 And there are also one of my colleagues has come up with the sign language to go along withthat. Right, so then you're then you're using your hands. And it's just like any other game we like to play. I mean, in addition to the importance of, of using sign language, but we're alsousing a game and using our body. 37:05 As you're saying that with the analogies, I could see a teacher easily integrating this into theirclassroom, right, both their age of that they teach and you're saying about being a lizard andstuff like that, and ice cream may be more suited for younger kids as you have shared, but Ithink we could easily come up with ways to do this in middle school and high school, and toreally start to practice it. So if they're not students are not getting it at home, they're gonna get it at school. And just like you said, with integrating that into the curriculum, and it's an easy thing to do. And to be top of mind. 37:43 It's so easy. And I'm so glad that we're talking about teachers, because the principles of theAlexander Technique can help teachers in two ways, first and foremost self care. 37:54 A teacher that has the opportunity to even for a split second take a moment for themselves in

A teacher that has the opportunity to even for a split second, take a moment for themselves in a very specific way, get grounded in their body, their breathing a little bit more easily, they'regoing to feel better about walking into their classroom, or taking a moment in between classes.And then the second pillar is that by leading students with fairly simple activities, like the readylist at the beginning of class, you know, for little kids, you do it at the beginning of class, kidsare gonna get crazy, they're gonna get out of control, well, then the teacher can say, Okay,everybody, we're gonna stop, and then do the ready list. The other way that it's really helpfulfor teachers to use the principles of the Alexander Technique. And the ready list is with transitions. 38:51 Once we all sit down, 38:54 when we go from one activity to another activity, and for so many kids transitions are reallydifficult. 39:03 I mean, that's part of the real challenge for so many students. And so, if we have this, I mean, in three seconds tool, we're not adding time to the school day, we're not taking away from thishuge amount of work that teachers are tasked with accomplishing in a very short period oftime, we're actually creating a situation so that kids can easily make a transition. That transition can be standing up, it can be sitting down. 39:36 It might be for kids before they raise their hands, they might take a moment to collectthemselves. 39:44 So the self care for teachers is so important so that I often say to teachers, how do we help youfeel almost as good at the end of the day as how you started? 39:55 And I have had teachers as clients of mine here 40:00 In my private practice and I do encourage them to use that And they tell me that

In my private practice, and I do encourage them to use that. And they tell me that 40:07 they don't always feel like they can use the principles with their kids. But they definitely use them with themselves. And so just over time, you know, I nudge them and over time theyeventually or do, do use it with their, with their kids. 40:22 So interesting as well with our educators who are also parents, and then parents that aresupporting neurodiverse. Children, that this is something that they can also integrate, right?Even though they're many Are you overwhelmed and not sure what to do, you could do this ata stop sign in terms of stock, like the ready three technique or in a shower, do something reallyquick to help, like you said, feel as good at the beginning of the day as the end of the day. And I think any parent would love to feel that way. And in my workshops for parents, actually, I havea series of workshops called summon your strengths. 41:00 How do we build up our reserves, and you're absolutely right, the transitions of being at astoplight sitting in the car waiting for your kids. 41:10 Before you sit down to look at your email, while you're in the middle of the day, your work anyof your transitions. So again, you're not only taking care of yourself in this very brief moment,you're also setting up the conditions in your own body. And kids pick up on that, right kids are super sponges. 41:34 And so when we're taking care of ourselves, and we don't have to be saying it out loud, right?This is all inside of our heads as an adult, kids are going to pick up on that more calmdemeanor. And then they're going to settle down. 41:49 Now, the fact of the matter is, is we all blow our tops, we all lose our cool. I mean, it's just part of being human. And so if that happens, you know, parent has a long day at work or at school,and then a parent goes home and everybody's hungry. But everybody's tired. And something happens. Instead of saying, Oh, I shouldn't have done that. They might say, Okay, I got this, I'm going to stop. I'm going to take a moment for myself. Am I seeing am I breathing? Can I feel myfeet on the floor? Can I be aware of my surroundings? Okay, go move on. So it's self care, it's managing their kids, it's helping their family. But again, it's also being kind with ourselves.

42:40 Can you give us an example of where you have seen the parents utilize the P, your PTAlexander technique, the holistic approach, and helped kind of build that gap to betteroutcomes in an IEP. Have you had parents report back to you in any way? 43:03 Yes, so I have a young man who is 19. And he came to me for two reasons, self confidence, and he was born with a an unusual hypo mobility syndrome. 43:22 And so we started first with working on some developmental reflexes. And one of his vulnerabilities is that he has a lot of sensitivity to touch. 43:36 And we call that tactile as in touch tactile sensitivity. Well, if you don't feel okay, in your ownskin, if it's not comfortable to have either normal sensation, like brushing against fabric orbrushing against a table or someone giving you a hug, or a teacher guiding your hand to right,you're not going to feel safe. 44:02 So we started doing a lot of tactile sensitivity, but there were certain parts of his body like armswere okay, legs were not. And it's a very gentle, a very specific kind of approach to integrate this reflex. It was just too overstimulating for him. 44:21 Now, he's 19. He's super smart, I can teach him the ready list. And so what Noah and I did is we taught him there ready list to use, before I started to put my hand on his leg so that he couldbe in control of how that experience got carried out. And so it became a process when I'd say okay legs, and he would pause. And he'd do his ready list in his head and then he would say,ready, list ready? And then we will go on. And so what happened over time is he started to become more confident

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45:00 and started to become more confident at school, and more easily able to pause when he wasfeeling anxious as he was out in the world learning sort of, you know, world life skills for ADLsand whatnot. 45:19 Is there anything, as we're winding down that I did not ask that I should have asked. 45:27 So I'm really glad that we're talking about this when you because when people hear mind body,they automatically think yoga and meditation. 45:37 Yoga and meditation are great and very important disciplines. I try to meditate as often as I can. And I love doing yoga for myself, and I teach kids and adults simple yoga poses. The Alexander Technique is unique. First of all, it's been around for over 100 years. But it's uniqueand that it's a tool that in the moment, we're activating our body support mechanism from theinside out in a very specific way. What we know from research is that when we expand ourvisual field, and we're aware of our breathing at the same time, we're calming down ournervous system, our vagus nerve is getting regulated. So it's a very unique, specificfoundational approach that we can use in the moment. And importantly, we can apply it toyoga, we can apply it to our meditation practice, we can learn how to sit more comfortably, doan exercise more easily sit in our chair and study for long periods of time sit at our computerand concentrate for longer periods of time. So I think about the Alexander Technique as really 46:53 the foundation of the house that we are. So it's very complementary to other disciplines that are in the mind body category. But this is truly education. This is sensory neuro musculareducation, that is happening at both the frontal cortex and deeper parts of our brain. 47:14 So how does that relate? And just kind of thinking in terms of folks that wake up with 47:21 I guess it's high level of cortisol, and they're like revved up, right? Always like, right when theywake up, but then by the time the evening comes, so how can we help those folks? And I'msure there's adults and children that to help kind of,

47:38 I'm not sure that I'm saying medically correct, but just balance out there. Cortisol does that. Am I saying that right? Oh, that makes that makes a lot of sense. If, if, if there's been long termover activation of the endocrine system that produces cortisol, right, I mean, we could get intoa lot of nitty gritty science here. But very specifically, when the body perceives danger, thehypothalamus in our brain says to the pituitary in our brain, turn on, everybody's gotta get towork. And then the pituitary speaks to the adrenals, which are on top of your kidneys. And the adrenals start to put out adrenaline and the cortisol levels start to rise. 48:22 During the pandemic, we were all everybody's stress level, everybody's that whole adrenalinecortisol system was over the top. If there's long term cortisol issues, there's no doubt thatgetting in touch with a physician who can address these things is really important for the short term. And in the moment, if we get up out of bed, and we just stop and take a moment forourself, 48:51 over time, we're regulating our vagus nerve. And this is the thing when we use our body to combat a body issue, right? Stress. Stress is a physiological in our body. 49:07 phenomenon. Cortisol is hormones, butterflies in our stomach, our chest, and our heart rate pounding. You know, these are body issues. So when we use our body, we feel our feet on thefloor, using our senses, seeing using our breathing, breathing, that can interrupt that cycle oftoo much cortisol and over time, then our cortisol levels start to you know, we want to live alittle bit higher in the day, but then we also want to be able to settle down at night, too. So the more we practice, then the more we can kind of navigate the natural ups and downs. 49:50 Can you recap some really important highlights that you hope parents and or educators arefeverish? 50:00 Writing notes about 50:08 Ithi kf t I ld th ith tIEP d ildt ith

I think for parents, I would encourage them, even with a great IEP and special ed team in theirschools, I would still encourage them to have a PT and or an occupational therapy assessmentoutside. Because school physical therapists are doing really great work with very specific goals.And outside occupational or physical therapists like myself, we can provide the foundation sothat those interventions happening in school can be even more successful. And that's true for any mental health therapists. That's true for any coaches and educational coaches, and tutors.So I would encourage parents to do that. I would encourage parents to use the reading list for themselves 51:00 as a way of helping themselves get through the day as a way of being kind with themselves.For educational professionals and health professionals, I would encourage them to also justannually get get these kids in to have a physical therapy assessment refer kids for AlexanderTechnique lessons. 51:24 There doesn't have to be something terribly wrong for a kid to benefit from AlexanderTechnique lessons. I mean, it's really it's a basic life skill, like brushing your teeth and washing your face. If we know how to stop and calm herself down, and learn how to focus and then havethat sense of agency over our body and our responses to stimuli in the world. I mean, it's an incredible gift. 51:49 So for health professionals to bring along Alexander Technique teachers and physicaltherapists, as allies, allies, for health professionals, allies, for parents, allies, for teachers, youknow, we're here to support the work that all of you are doing. Again, it's it's, I think that we can be allies and part of the team. 52:11 If you had a billboard, for parents with one fit, what would it be? And why? Final question. 52:21 So I hope I'm not sounding like a broken record, Wendy. But I'm thinking as you're driving up95, or you're on that country road, and it's a beautiful meadow, and there are hay bales andcows, maybe the first billboard might say pause, 52:40 and then you're cruising along, and then maybe you're gonna see people blowing bubbles, andthen might say am I breathing? And then you know it's going to come with the next two then might say, am I breathing? And then you know, it s going to come with the next two bulletin boards, right? Or billboards rather. So

52:58 I, I'm so enthusiastic, and I'm, I'm, I'm talking about the ready list, because I know it's sosuccessful. And it's such a simple, accessible tool. 53:11 So I think that when we can take a moment for ourselves, and we connect with our deepestself, and we feel supported from the inside out, we can better receive the support that we'regetting from everybody in our team, and everybody in our life. 53:31 And your passion is clear. And that just gives me goosebumps, because I know that this isgoing to transcend and really help a lot of folks that are listening. So this has been an incredible conversation. How can folks find you? They're welcome to pick up the phone and call me. I love talking to parents on the phone. And I think in the show notes, you'll have my contact information. They can email me I'm certainly available for workshops for kiddos anddefinitely workshops for teachers and parents. And I will also put some 54:08 resources for the ready list there ready list.org Everybody can after they finish listening to us,they can go to the ready list.org There are tons of videos for kids, tons of great tips for kids andparents of all ages. 54:25 So and I look forward to hearing from everybody. Absolutely. Our Do you see folks in person online or both? I see folks in person and online. The licensing regulations are such that at the moment in time. 54:42 You have to be a licensed physical therapist to do one on one work only in the states thatyou're licensed in. So I am licensed in DC, Maryland and Virginia to do online work, but certainlyI am available to be anywhere in the country or in the world for online 55:00 do workshops for teachers and students and kids And then certainly I'm available in my private

do workshops for teachers and students and kids. And then certainly I m available in my private practice in Washington, DC. 55:08 Every hour, this was such a treat. I really appreciate your time and our conversation today. And I hope everybody is listening and they can reach out as well. So thank you so much, Wendy, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thanks for having me on the show. You bet. 55:31 We all know that our kids and even adults are not cookie cutters, no one learns and functions the same exact way. And so it's really important to understand why that is and how we canbetter support our students, our children, to better outcomes. So how do we build up theirreserves to be able to do and participate in life and in school and confidently do so? And howdo we understand the functioning of the body and the developmental milestones so that we ashumans, as students can feel safe? And how do we teach our kids how to learn? That is our conversation today I'm talking to Gabriella and she is a physical therapist, trained in theAlexander Technique focusing on holistic learning and support. Welcome to the specialeducation strategist podcast where we strategize all things special ed. If you are a new parentto special education or a seasoned parent sitting at the IEP table, come join our conversationtoday. You will not regret it. I am your host Wendy Taylor. I'm a mom and special educator Ihave sat on both sides of the IEP table as a parent and a professional. Over the last 25 plusyears I have made it my passion and mission to help parents and professionals bridge learninggaps, access special education services, and build killer IPs. If you want more tips show us some love on social at learning essentials. If you're new to our podcast, give us a like and a follow. If you love what you're about to hear. Please do me a favor friends and share it with another friend so they can grow and learn with us. Let's get ready to strategize Special Education style. Welcome. 57:27 Thank you again for listening. What an incredible time we had today going through theAlexander Technique, holistic learning and to really learn how to not only support your child,your student, but have some techniques to help you make it a great day. Thank you again for strategizing with us and spending your precious time listening. If you've loved what you've heard, give us a like and follow at learning essentials. Looking for some free tips. 57:58 Check out learning essentials edu.com You can download free tips to prepare for an IEPmeeting plus bonus questions to ask if you're really not sure where to start with your child. I've got you covered. 58:16

If you'd like to help your child succeed and need a starting point, take my free quiz learningessentials edu.com. After answering some simple questions about your child, it will guide youtowards the first steps and helping your child be the best they can be. 58:34 I am your host Wendy Taylor. Thank you for joining me. I hope you make it a great day. Bye for now.