Aligning from the Centre

Is Primary Control Only in One Place? 

Exploring a Sacral Primary Control

We are familiar with AT primary control, well-known induction: 

let the neck be free, 

allow the head to go forward and up, 

and let the back lengthen and widen. 

But what if we also invited a similar sense of freedom at the other end of the spine? 

Imagine an induction that says: 

let the sacrum be free, 

allow the pelvis to find its own balance, 

and let the lower back and legs align and release from below. 

In other words, we explore how both ends of our spine can be part of this primary control—not just the head and neck, but also the sacrum and pelvis.

A journey of recovery

Recovering from a car accident that left me with multiple injuries, I found myself moving very little—but feeling everything. Every tiny movement became a negotiation with pain, fear, and the unknown. Healing was no longer just physical. It became an inward listening, an invitation to notice the connections within me—how breath influenced sensation, how the pelvis affected the spine.

In the Alexander Technique, I had learned to coordinate from above—allowing the head to lead, the neck to be free, the back to lengthen and widen. But my pelvis remained unstable and resistant. Something was missing. I couldn’t build a strong structure from the top alone.

That’s when I discovered the work of Ida Rolf. Her perspective shifted everything: the pelvis is not a follower—it is a central force. Rolfing views the body as an architectural system in relation to gravity, with the pelvis serving as the keystone. When the pelvis is aligned, the rest of the body can organise around it. When it is not, the body compensates—with strain, with dysfunction.

I began blending both teachings. They became two ends of the same conversation—head-neck-back from above, and pelvis-sacrum-ground from below. One offered levity, the other groundedness.

I started to align from both directions:

• Sensing the weight through my sitting bones and sacrum

• Allowing my head to release forward and up

• Letting breath and gravity become guides

  
  

It’s about listening and letting the whole system reorganise without force—a living practice of alignment.

The Alexander Technique taught me to lead from above. Rolfing taught me to support from below. Together, they helped me rediscover wholeness—not perfection, but responsiveness. A body that listens. A life that moves with awareness.

Closing Reflection

This is what alignment means to me now— a practice, a conversation, a way of travelling through this one precious body, this one precious life.