HANS AND MY NECK_

• studio news
• other things

It´s almost a year since my accident, so I thought I would add an update on my progress…

For those who don´t know, I was in a traffic accident near Florence, Italy, in April 2006. We were hit from behind while stationary in a queue on a motorway…

I was lucky to survive, as I was sitting in the back left of the car, and I broke a bone in my neck, high up in the spinal column. It is called the “hangman´s break” and is similar to the damage that Cristopher Reeve, the star of Superman, suffered when he fell of his horse and ended up in a wheelchair totally paralysed. They told me that actually I could have easily died, as damage to the spinal cord that high can easily kill you…I still dont remember anything from the accident (I look at these fotos like you do, like I wasn´t there…). I think it will be a permenant memory loss.

I was very lucky that I was treated by a great team of surgeons in Florence, who put a titanium pin in my neck and got me on my feet. After months on my back I started to return to normal life. I have clicks and pops in my neck, which look like they are permanent, it hurts a lot in the cold, my movement is more restricted, but I am alive…

We also lost our dog, as she ran away from the site of the accident in shock, and was never found. that hurts almost as much as my neck…

…………………………………

While I was recovering, I met a great Danish musician called Hans Landgreen, who is also a teacher of the Alexander Technique.

The technique teaches you to retrain your posture, and I have been taking a series of classes to help me recover and also to help me prevent bad habits from sitting in a studio all day. I have been quite amazed by the changes Hans has brought about, helping me to correct bad habits in my posture, that are so strong that they feel “right” even though you are doing yourself damage!

Imagine how we all slump into a sofa, it feels good, but after a while it hurts as it is clearly not good for you. your own body lies to you!!

Thanks to the help of Hans, and combined with my own heightened sense of incorrect posture (my neck compains instantly if I sit funny) I have been able to start to retrain myself for the better. To be honest, the Alexander technique has been nothing short of a revelation for me….no exageration.

Here are some links…

Hans Landgreen´s website

More info on the Alexander technique

So…now I am getting better, working, living with the grateful sensation that I can walk..and now I have new weapons against the awful postures that modern life, and computers, push us all to adopt….So remember - free your neck! you have no idea how tense you are throughout your body until you get someone to point it out. Think of the loose, bouncey body you had as a kid. you can recover that…just speak to Mr Hans…