Freeing Alexander’s Dream from the Cage of his Technique

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Photo of F. M. Alexander, taken towards the end of his life.

In my previous blog, Alexander’s Dream, I wrote that while F. M. Alexander began his career with huge hopes about the future of his work, things were looking bleak at the time of his death in 1955.

Since then, however, the number of Alexander Technique teachers, and Alexander teacher training courses, has expanded dramatically. In part this was due to popular books by Dr. Wilfred Barlow, Frank Pierce Jones and Michael Gelb.  But a good deal of the credit for this expansion also lies with the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT), which Alexander may or may not have endorsed before his death (the history is murky), and with the other Alexander Technique organizations that have sprung up over the years.

One of the self-assumed roles of most of these organizations has been to “safeguard”, as it were, the central ideas of the Alexander Technique, particularly a view of how it ought to be taught.

But organizations often have a tendency towards rigidity, and that’s certainly been true in the Alexander Technique world.  Thirty years ago, for example, there was serious opposition from within STAT about the validity of group teaching, “application” work and residential courses for reasons that would sound strange to most of us today.

I was actually present, as a trainee, at one of the key debates, held in Dr. and Marjory Barlow’s teaching area. It was an amazing spectacle to witness, but it came and went without a lot of notice in the greater Alexander world. (The “pro-group” faction ultimately won.)

What’s different now about attempts to restrict teaching methodology can be summed up in one phrase: The Web.

The web has changed forever the power of organizations in all sorts of fields, not least in ours.  In the past, for example, if you wanted to find a teacher, you pretty much had to go through the one professional organization in your country. Today there are often a couple of organizations to choose from and, in a sense, a professional organization is just one of many websites as far as potential students are concerned.

Even more significant is that the web is now the primary medium of exchange of ideas between teachers, students and potential students.  All you need do to confirm this is check out the discussions taking place on the various Alexander Technique Facebook pages and groups.

There have also been dramatic developments in what might be called “Alexander Technique teaching technology”. This started with Alexander Technique spin-offs such as Body Mapping, Posture Release Imagery and Up With Gravity – all of which are easily accessible to members of the general public and which are to a large extent web-based in terms of how people discover and use them.

More recently, several new methods of Alexander Technique directing have emerged, starting with Negative (sometimes called Inhibitory) Directions, which have gained a significant following among Alexander Teachers.  In the past few months, Freedom Directions have emerged as a likely successor to Negative Directions – one that is simpler to use, often a bit more effective, and above all, one that students can easily share with others.  They can used by pretty much anybody with an interest in learning them. (You can learn about all these and other new developments in Alexander Technique directing at the Alexander Technique Podcast page: New Directions in Alexander Technique Directing.)

As if all that weren’t enough, the web has also provided a new medium for teaching the Technique at a distance: Skype.  Of course there is at present no hands-on teaching with Skype, although this seems certain to change as existing new technologies become cheaper and more widely available.  Many teachers have successfully used Skype to teach students who would otherwise have no access to a teacher.  The new teaching developments mentioned above are fairly easy to convey via Skype.

What this all means is that the “cage” provided by professional Alexander Technique organizations – one that may well have been necessary half a century ago – has now opened wide, allowing new ideas to be quickly and easily tested and propagated throughout the Alexander world without any official involvement or control.  Alexander organizations still have important roles, but controlling innovation in Alexander Technique teaching is, in my opinion, no longer one of them.

Alexander laid out what he saw as the Big Picture of his work at the start of the first chapter of his first book, Man’s Supreme Inheritance (MSI) in 1910.  I quoted from that chapter in my previous blog and I think it’s worth repeating here:

…whatever name we give to the Great Origin of the Universe, in the words of a friend of mine ” we can all of us agree . . . that we mean the same thing, namely, that high power within the soul of man which enables him to will or to act or to speak, not loosely or wildly, but in subjection to an all-wise and invisible Authority.” The name that we give to that Authority will in no way affect the principles which I am about to state. In subscribing to them the mechanist may still retain his belief in a theory of chemical reactions no less than the Christian his faith in a Great Redeemer.

But, interestingly enough, at the end of his Preface of that same book, coming just before Chapter I, he also wrote:

I wish to do away with such teachers as I am myself. My place in the present economy is due to a misunderstanding of the causes of our present physical disability, and when this disability is finally eliminated the specialised practitioner will have no place, no uses. This may be a dream of the future, but in its beginnings it is now capable of realisation.

The ultimate elimination of any need for specialized Alexander Technique teachers was an integral part of Alexander’s dream.  I emphasize the word “specialized” because I think that what Alexander hoped for was a world in which there would be huge numbers of “non-specialized” teachers who would be quite capable of effectively teaching most of their friends, family and neighbors.  Perhaps a music teacher, a kindergarten teacher, a massage therapist – or just someone in the neighborhood, or someone halfway around the world using Skype – who has experimented with Alexander’s discoveries, and the many effective methods available to help others use those discoveries.

Freedom Directions are already being easily and effectively shared by Alexander students with their friends and families. Clearly we’re edging ever closer to the realization of this important aspect of Alexander’s Dream. If this trend continues, and I see no reason why it won’t, it will present some interesting new challenges for teachers and organizations.

I’m certain that the net effect will be a huge increase in opportunities for Alexander Technique teachers who are able to adapt to the new reality.  But as Kowalski, the country music loving astronaut in the movie Gravity is fond of saying, “It’s going to be a hell of a ride.”

And one filled with absolutely amazing and wonderful new opportunities to test our freedom to change.

***

I realize this is extremely controversial terrain I’m covering and I welcome you comments – favorable and unfavorable – below.

Alexander’s Dream

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F M Alexander in 1910, the year MSI was published

In my previous blog, Mr. Alexander in his Own Write: On Reading his Four Books, I wrote about the valuable legacy of Alexander’s writings.  Although deeply flawed in many ways, they are filled with useful information, and insights into the ideas that underlie what today is today called the Alexander Technique.

One thing is obvious right at the start: Alexander has some very, very big ideas that he wants to put forth.  Almost the first thing he writes at the start of Man’s Supreme Inheritence (MSI), his first book, gives us some idea of the importance he attaches to his work:

…whatever name we give to the Great Origin of the Universe, in the words of a friend of mine “we can all of us agree . . . that we mean the same thing, namely, that high power within the soul of man which enables him to will or to act or to speak, not loosely or wildly, but in subjection to an all-wise and invisible Authority.” The name that we give to that Authority will in no way affect the principles which I am about to state. In subscribing to them the mechanist may still retain his belief in a theory of chemical reactions no less than the Christian his faith in a Great Redeemer.*

Clearly he has a lot more on his mind than just helping people improve their posture, coordination and performance skills – although they are certainly a part of the much bigger project he has in mind.

Alexander’s dream was to help all of us to live in harmony with the word in which we find ourselves.  He wants to show us how to use all the features of our world to make the most of our lives.

These include, of course, our physical structure. He has a lot to say about our head-neck-torso relationship and how it can help or harm us, depending on how we manage it.  These ideas are often seen to be at the core of today’s Alexander Technique teaching.

fm2But I believe he also had in mind the fact that we are surrounded by a nourishing atmosphere that exerts a constant gentle pressure on us and that we live on the surface of a planet whose mass is inconceivably greater than ours and which exerts a steady force on us – in effect providing us with a free source of energy – that can be our best friend or, if we misuse it, our worst enemy.

And of course there are other people, animals, plants and so on which can help us or harm us, again depending on how we react to them.

This is Very Big Stuff indeed and one has to ask just how Alexander was going to take on such a huge task.

His approach seems to have been to put his ideas out there as best he could, to train a few others to teach what he had learned and eventually – at age 62! – to start a formal training course to increase the supply of teachers a bit more.

The evidence doesn’t suggest that he had an idea of how to implement his vision beyond those steps, although towards the end of his life he did reluctantly agree to endorse some sort of organization to continue his work.  It seems as though he hoped that the legacy of his writings and the teachers he had trained would eventually lead to the fulfillment of his project.

Let’s fast forward from the first edition of MSI in 1910 to Alexander’s death in 1955.

It’s not looking good.

Yes, there are a number of teachers of his method, mostly in the UK, there has been some good press about his work and, perhaps most important, some powerful endorsements from well-known intellectuals like Aldous Huxley and John Dewey.  Dewey, in particular, seems to have understood the broader scope of Alexander’s work:

It (the technique of Mr. Alexander) bears the same relation to education that education itself bears to all other human activities he wrote in his introduction to Alexander’s third book, Use of the Self

But there were also nasty and serious splits among key teachers, not to mention a lawsuit about the very ownership of the term “Alexander Technique”!

So perhaps on balance it was a good thing that an organization – the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) – was established to both safeguard and promote the Technique. And that in subsequent years other organizations emerged with the same goals in mind.

This basic system remained in place for most of the next half-century. And while I think we owe a great deal to it, there were drawbacks as well.  During the past few years, particularly with the rise of the internet, these drawbacks have become more apparent, and more serious.

There are still a great many extremely important things Alexander Technique organizations can do, but I believe we need to take a fresh look at what their role in “safeguarding” of Alexander’s discoveries should now be.

I’ll consider this question in my next blog, Freeing Alexander’s Dream from the Cage of his Technique.

*A special thanks to Jennifer Roig-Francolli, who reminded me of these opening words of Alexander.

***

Clearly I am treading on some very sensitive ground here.  Please feel free to share your own perspectives.

Mr. Alexander in his Own Write: On Reading his Four Books

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F. Matthias Alexander, posing in front of his portrait, perhaps contemplating the wisdom to be found in one of his books

Within days of my first Alexander Technique lesson, I was experiencing so many dramatic changes in my body – most spectacularly a gain in height of almost an inch – that I just knew this strange new process was something I was going to pursue as deeply as I possibly could.  I scheduled regular lessons and immediately set out to read everything I could find on the topic.

I managed to get a couple of F. Matthias Alexander’s books from the library and prepared to plunge right in.  And almost immediately fell soundly asleep!

This happened every time I started reading one of the books.

There was something about Alexander’s writing style and my inability to grasp his ideas that pretty much soured me on his books.

This continued into my 3-year Alexander Technique teacher training course in London.  Whenever it was time to discuss “The Books” I’d discretely slip out for a nice cup of tea at a nearby cafe.

After I had been teaching for a few years, I finally read them – aloud to myself, cover to cover, as part of a voice project inspired by my work with the Tomatis listening therapy Method.  That turned out to be a valuable exercise on many levels, particularly the discovery of so many gems of wisdom tucked away in unexpected locations.

Still, it didn’t occur to me to recommend the books to my students.

It’s now some 30 odd years later and twice in the past week I’ve been forced to reconsider my position.

First, Jane Avery, a student of the Technique in Nova Scotia, posted a wonderful account of her experiences with Alexander’s work on Face Book, including reading Alexander’s second book, Constructive Conscious Control (CCC) early in her lessons.

Here’s the start of what she wrote:

I remember when I first began my lessons six years ago and, later, embarked on exploring AT literature. Of F.M.’s books, I started with ‘CCC’. Alexander’s words filled me with a new kind of anxiety; not the dreadful variety I’d been used to living with and which had driven me to AT in the first place, but the sort that awakened excitement and possibility. I knew at last, after decades of seeking anchor in superficial pursuits, practices and useless or harmful ‘cures’, that I’d finally found my fit. This was IT for me. It clicked. F.M. and I were kindred spirits, although he was, of course (and remains), so obviously a genius unparalleled. (You can read her entire posting here.)

A day or so after reading this, I did a podcast interview with my friend and colleague John Macy who had recently read through all of Alexander’s books, including two he took with him and read every day while on vacation in Europe.  John is definitely a good time kind of guy!

In the interview, I asked if he ever recommends Alexander’s writings to prospective students and he said, “Yes, Use of the Self.”  He went on to give several compelling reasons which you can listen to in the interview:

So…whether you’re an Alexander Technique student or teacher who hasn’t explored Alexander’s writings – or have never had any experience with the Technique and would like to learn more about his discoveries – consider taking the time to explore at least some of his writings.  Personally, I would recommend starting with Use of the Self.  It’s the shortest and most accessible of his books.

And, should you happen to share my earlier narcoleptic reaction from reading them, you can always use them as a safe alternative to sleeping pills.

I’d love to hear about your experience!

***

You can order Alexander’s books from Amazon.com here and from Amazon.co.uk here.  Either way, your orders will help support this and my other Alexander Technique websites.

 

 

Beyond the body with Mr. Alexander

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http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-psychology-medical-illustration-male-head-image17616257When most people think about the Alexander Technique, and the discoveries of F. Matthias Alexander, they think about topics like posture improvement, pain relief, moving with greater ease, and more efficient breathing.

In other words, how we can learn to improve our physical functioning.

Yes, of course, there is a background understanding in the Alexander word that mind and body are really two aspects of the same thing – that changes in one will always have some in the other.  That, for example, we may well feel better and have a more positive attitude towards life after releasing physical tension.

But the idea of using the Technique to work directly on mental or emotional states is generally not a feature of Alexander lessons.  And this is probably all for the good; we are, after all, teachers – not therapists.

However, since I’ve started emphasizing Alexander Technique negative directions in my teaching, some of my students have taken to using them to work directly on their emotional and psychological states.

Initially I was a little skeptical, but after the good reports continued to pile up I was forced to re-think my position.

Here are a couple of examples:

A student who had initially described himself as a “control freak” came in one day after about six lessons and announced that he had been gently telling himself: “I am not controlling others’ thoughts or actions.” After a few days of this, he found that indeed he had let go of the worst aspects of his controlling behavior at work and, over the next few weeks, it had extended to his wife and children.

Another student, a singer, spontaneously announced during a lesson that she had always been a harsh judge of everything she did – a pattern she felt she had picked up from her hyper-judgmental parents. There was a pause and she said, “I wonder if I could use negative directions to change that pattern.”

I didn’t see her again for a few weeks and when she walked in to my studio she announced: “I am not judging myself or others. That’s what I’ve been using for the past month and it had changed my life!”

Interestingly enough, she also said she had started with “I don’t want to be judging myself or others.” but that didn’t seem to work.  She then remembered how much I had emphasized the importance of “I am not” and  in the moment statements about what you don’t want.  As she said, “I took ‘I am not tensing myself’ which I know works, and changed it to ‘I am not judging myself’ and then letter added “or others.”

There seems to be something about negative directions that makes them generally more amenable to spontaneous experimentation.  But the same general rules apply whether you’re addressing the physical or the mental: It’s best to keep the directional phrase short, start with “I am not”, and choose something you know you can do, but don’t want to, – and say “no” to that.

I’ve been using them myself for some time and I’d like to share my favorite.  It comes out of some of my earlier metaphysical readings and assumes that God (or, if you like, some other force for good) is always showering us with good things and that the only reason they don’t manifest in our lives is that we push them away for one reason or another.

The usual kinds of positive affirmations that go with this might be: “I am allowing God’s good to come into my life.” and “I am freely expressing God’s good in my thoughts, words and actions.”

The problem with these is that one may not be capable of “allowing” or of “freely expressing.” just as in a more traditional Alexander Technique direction: “I am letting my neck be free” we may not be capable of the “letting” and so it’s more useful to use something like “I am not tightening my neck” since we definitely know how to tighten and we know what “no” means.

So, I came up with: “I am not restricting the flow of God’s good into my life.” and “I am not restricting the free expression of God’s good in my thoughts, my words and my actions.”

Have you been experimenting with negative Alexander Technique directions?  Have you ever used them for changing emotional or psychological states?  What has been your experience?

Here’s a podcast about negative directions I did with Alexander Technique teacher Amy Ward Brimmer:

Other podcasts about negative directions can be found here.

 

Uncle Sam talks about the Alexander Technique

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I recently interviewed Uncle Sam about his experiences with the Alexander Technique:

Me: Uncle Sam, thanks so much for this interview.  It’s an honor for me to speak with you. As a child growing up in Washington, D.C. I saw images of you everywhere and was very curious to learn more about you.

Uncle Sam: It’s a pleasure to talk with you Robert.  As I’m sure you know, there are all sorts of stories about how I originated – everything from an early 19th Century meat packer in Troy, New York to a lyric in a late 18th Century version of Yankee Doodle.  The truth is that I’m an iconic figure that represents the United States government and to speak of specific origins doesn’t make a lot of sense.  I morph as the our country morphs.

Me: Well, that’s been a lot of morphing. Does that have anything to do with deciding to take Alexander Technique lessons?

Uncle Sam: Yes, that and the fact that in recent wars I’ve become associated with military readiness, and that’s created a whole new set of challenges for me.

Me: Could you say more about those challenges?

Uncle Sam: Well being ready for action takes it’s toll on the body.  I found myself becoming stiff with tension, always anticipating the next threat to our nation.  Terrorism has been particularly difficult for me to handle because it can come from anywhere, any time, and from inside and outside America.

Me: How did your Alexander lessons help you with that?

Uncle Sam: My teacher used the analogy of a cat stalking a mouse.  The cat is incredibly still, hardly a muscle moving, and he watches the mouse and is ready to pounce at exactly the right time.  The cat doesn’t tense up.  My teacher showed me, using her hands as guidance, how I could be vigilant without being tense.  More vigilant in fact.  And she showed me I could train myself in this skill.

Me: So that makes you a more effective guardian of our country with less wear and tear on you.

Uncle Sam: Precisely. And for that I’m extremely grateful to the Technique, to my Alexander Technique teacher and to F. Matthias Alexander who came up with the basic ideas of the Technique.

Me: You mentioned your longer term role morphing to match changes in our country and that the Technique helped with that as well.

Uncle Sam: Yes, well being able to change – to adapt – to a constantly changing country requires a good deal of mental and physical flexibility.  You can’t afford to become complacent with just one identify.  And the development of that kind of flexibility seems to just come with lessons in the Technique.  I’m no expert, but I assume it’s related to the loss of habitual harmful physical tension.

Me: Well you’ve certainly demonstrated that ability to change as times change.  And I’m glad the Alexander Technique is helping you do that.

Thank you again for taking the time talk with me.  I’ll be sure to post this interview on our country’s birthday.

Uncle Sam: You’re very welcome Robert.  I wish you an enjoyable Fourth of July!

 

The Dark Side of Fitness

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crutchesA New York Times article, “Doctors See a Big Rise in Injuries As Young Athletes Train Nonstop” highlights a serious and growing health concern for teenagers and their parents. Typical injuries include stress fractures, cracked kneecaps and frayed heel tendons and damage to the alignment of the spinal column brought on by excessive flexing. As the article states, “…doctors in pediatric sports medicine say it is as if they have happened upon a new childhood disease, and the cause is the overaggressive culture of organized youth sports.”

The consequences of this new “disease” can be very serious, often requiring many months of expensive rehabilitation or even surgery. Some young athletes are left facing a lifetime of pain and physical restrictions.

The article emphasized the role played by pressure from coaches and parents and by a culture in many sports that places so much emphasis on performance, and on winning, that players often ignore the pain signals coming from their bodies.

I was struck by the parallels between this teenage phenomenon and the wave of injuries reported during the early stages of the fitness boom of the 1980s. At that time, there were a great many newspaper and magazine reports of everything from severe shin splints caused by prolonged running on concrete to serious back and neck pain due to improper methods of weight lifting.

I can well remember the sudden influx of students during that period who came for Alexander Technique lessons after giving up on demanding exercise regimes because of pain or injury. They just wanted to learn how they could get back to where they were before. Sadly that was not always possible. It seems that when a new fitness or sports trend begins, there is a heavy price to be paid by some participants.

What strikes me about both the current spate of injuries and the one that took place three decades ago is that in both cases, a huge emphasis on quantity of exercise almost completely obliterated any concern with the quality with which the exercise was performed. All too often fitness programs tend to be about things like how many miles you run, how many pitches you pitch, or how many hours you swim rather that how well you’re using your body as you run, pitch or swim.

It’s a bit like driving a car as fast as you can, for a long distance, without bothering to learn how to drive it well!

I am convinced that the current over-emphasis on quantity is one of the main reasons there are still so many sports and fitness related injuries. Sometimes it comes from the athlete him or herself – perhaps reflecting a common cultural idea that more is better. Sometimes it comes from outside. That certainly seems to be a large part of what’s going on with some young athletes today.

Anyone who studies the basic ideas of the Alexander Technique will very quickly see just how important the quality of one’s posture and movement is to the effectiveness and safety of any activity. This is true whether it’s a vigorous activity or something as mundane as using a computer or even watching TV. And if they decide to take up a new sport or fitness program, they have the knowledge and ability to approach it with skill, and with an appropriate level of body awareness and care.

Here’s a podcast interview about sports, fitness and the Alexander Technique:

You can get more information about how the Alexander Technique can make fitness activities safer and more effective here: alextechexpress.com/fitness

(The article, “Doctors See a Big Rise in Injuries As Young Athletes Train Nonstop” can be found on page 1 of the February 22, 2005 issue of the New York Times.)

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Make it So”

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Make it so – Jean Luc Picard, Captain, USS Enterprise

$(KGrHqRHJBQFEfucYOjzBRIp,bB(P!~~60_1The phrase has entered our language thanks to the popularity of Star Trek.  But have you ever wondered just how it (whatever it was) was “made so?”

Obviously a lot of crew members, machinery and computers had to be mobilized to fulfill the Captain’s order.  The command structure of the Enterprise was such that more often than not, it was quickly and efficiently “made so.”  Jean Luc was then free to continue focusing on the big picture – be it the attack of a Klingon war ship, trouble with the Borg or Q, or an unexpected and messed up situation on one of the planets they were exploring.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way for us to make a decision about how to improve the way our body functions – perhaps  improving our posture, or releasing harmful tension – that we could then  just “make so” as we went about our lives?

Well there is, thanks to a man named F. Matthias Alexander.  Alexander was not the kind of guy you’d see on the Enterprise.  He was short of stature, seemed to always be wearing dark suits, and personality-wise not one to fit in with any kind of command system.

Nor did he have the kind of specialized training that Jean Luc and the other Enterprise crew members went through.  He was largely self-taught and his early career path involved acting and reciting.

He was born of humble origins in a distant outpost of the 19th Century British Empire, long before anyone was thinking about exploring the “new frontier” of space. The frontier territory  in which he grew up, Tasmania, was a penal colony for British cast-offs and the site of systematic slaughter of the island’s aboriginals.

A serious vocal problem caused him to take a close look at what he was actually doing with his body while reciting and acting.  His investigation enabled him to solve his problem and, in the process, make some fascinating discoveries about how our thinking affects our actions – discoveries that formed the basis of what is today called the Alexander Technique.

Alexander came up with two very specific mental processes – “directing” and “inhibiting”  in Alexander Technique jargon – that allow us to identify habits of thought and movement that are getting in our way, and to systematically release them.  (Alexander’s inhibiting has nothing to do with Freud’s use of that word – there is no repressing thoughts and feelings in Alexander Technique teaching.)

By using these mental processes we can make a decision about how we want to change the way we function, and then “make it so.”

Of course Captain Picard’s commands had to do with what he wanted to be done, knowing that the people and equipment on his ship were organized in a way that it would indeed be done.  Alexander, on the other hand, was concerned with how we human beings function in whatever activity we choose to do.

Picard’s commands usually took effect almost instantly.  The processes for change that Alexander developed can take longer to be fully implemented – our brains and bodies are far more complex and intertwined than than any bio-mechanical system, even one as complex as the Enterprise.  But, as Alexander said, “We can throw away the habits of a lifetime in a few minutes if we use our brains.”

We can, in other words, we can take the steps needed to “make it so.”

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Here’s a podcast interview about Alexander Technique “negative directions” – which combine directing and inhibiting, the two key mental processes that Alexander developed:

Other podcasts about negative directions can be found here: bodylearningcast.com/teachers/negativedirections

 

 

Mind your Manners

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http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-hungry-dog-image23266694In my last blog, When will I finally get it?, I wrote about the impatience that students sometimes feel about their progress with the Alexander Technique.

F. Matthias Alexander, the developer of the Technique,  famously said: “We can throw away the habits of a lifetime if we use our brains.” Why then, after weeks, months – even years! – of Alexander lessons and working on our own, during which time we have experienced many obvious changes for the better, haven’t we completely “got it”?

I gave a short answer saying basically that while our habits can be dispatched quite quickly with effective Alexander Technique directing, there is no guarantee they won’t come back to bite us.  Nor does it mean that our body will change at the same speed as our habits of thinking.

A helpful way of thinking about this a little more deeply is to examine Alexander’s concept of “Use” –  a term he borrowed from horse trainers.

What did Alexander mean by “use”?

Use refers to the habitual and characteristic manner in which a person moves and uses their body, all the time, whatever they are doing. Our use is influenced by our thinking and by our emotions and to bring about changes in our use, we need to allow changes to take place in our thinking and in our reactions to things. – From Alexander teacher Hilary King’s excellent Glossary of Alexander Technique terms.

Alexander further distinguished two kinds of use: “Conditions of Use” and “Manner of Use”.

“Conditions of use” refers to the state of our coordination and physical structure that exists – whether we are directing ourselves or not.

“Manner of use” refers to the effectiveness of our self-directing. Over time, improved manner of use will improve the conditions of use. Improved conditions of use make it easier to improve manner of use.

Although it’s a bit simplistic, I’ve found an automotive analogy useful in thinking about and explaining the interplay between these two “uses.” A badly-designed and maintained car – one having, in a sense, poor conditions of use – might be driven by a skilled driver and thus have a good manner of use. Over time, this driver might well make some necessary repairs and useful adjustments, thereby improving the car’s conditions of use. And that, in turn, will make it easier to drive the car well.

In the same way, if you learn how to work on yourself effectively (improving your manner of use),  you will improve your conditions of use over time.  And that will make it easier for you to continue improving your manner of use.

It’s a very powerful positive feedback loop but there can be periods when one of those two “uses” (usually conditions of use) seems to get behind the other.  And that can lead to frustration and impatience.

When my conditions of use seem to be lagging behind for an extended period of time, I’ve sometimes found it useful to explore other methods of self-improvement. For example, I’ve used, and benefited from, chiropractic, a specialized form of physical therapy, and cranial sacral work.  Other possibilities could be exercise, nutritional coaching, psychotherapy – the list goes on and on.

These methods have in common the possibility of addressing harmful patterns for which Alexander Technique self-directing may not be very effective – at least within a reasonable time frame. For instance just one lifetime!

But I’ve learned over the years that in the moment – right this second! – it’s Alexander Technique directing that is probably going to be most useful for me to make a positive change in the my physical functioning.

In other words I would do well to mind my manner of use.

Here’s a very short interview I did about conditions of use and manner of use with Eileen Troberman for Alexander Talk

And here’s an article I wrote on this topic some time ago: What’s the Use?

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I’d love to hear your experiences with conditions and manner of use.  Have you ever been impatient with your progress?  How did things resolve themselves for you?  What is your advice for new students of the Technique?

 

 

When will you finally get it?

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ID-10056403Picture this Alexander Technique workshop scene:

About 30 people of widely varying ages and experience with the Technique are seated in a circle in a basement classroom of a university music department.

Standing in the center of the group is the teacher, a small frail looking woman in her 80s.

The workshop lasts for 14 days, 6 hours a day, and it’s about halfway finished.  It’s now the start of a new day.

One of the participants is a very tall and athletic young man, probably a student at the university, who has come to the workshop for a the past couple of days.

The woman running the workshop starts by asking if there any questions.

The young man stands up: “This is my third day here!  Why haven’t I mastered this Technique you’re teaching? Why haven’t I got it yet?

The rest of the group perks up – very curious to hear how the teacher will respond.  Many have been coming to her workshops for years and have a finely-tuned sense of when something really interesting is about to happen.

There is a long, long pause. Maybe 30 seconds or more. You can almost see wheels turning in the teacher’s head as she considers her response.

Finally, she looks up at him, directly into his eyes, and very slowly says: “I don’t think your body could take it.”

The whole class, including the questioner, erupts into laughter.

The teacher was Marjorie Barstow and this is a wonderful example of her teaching brilliance.  When she was asked a question in class, she was always aware that the whole class was listening.  Her answer had to be helpful to the person asking it, and to everyone else.

It’s also a reminder that although the Alexander Technique is simple (“too simple” as Marj used to say), it’s not always easy to learn at first.  And when you do start to really understand it, and get good at applying it, it takes awhile for your body to adjust – even if you’re young and any harmful habits you’ve developed haven’t been around for a long time.

It’s true, as F. Matthias Alexander the developer of the Technique said: “We can throw away the habit of a lifetime in just a few minutes if we use or brains.”  But he didn’t say they wouldn’t sneak up on us again – and again!

Nor that changing our habits would fully work it’s way through to the way we function on a physical level “in just a few minutes.”

As Marj said, our bodies just couldn’t take that.

If you’ve been an Alexander student, does this resonate with you?  Were you ever impatient to “get it?”  What advice would you give to new Alexander Technique students, based on your experiences with the work?

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Here’s a short video clip of Marjorie answering a related question – also about impatience – this one from an experienced Alexander Technique student:

And here’s an interview I did with Michael Frederick, another Alexander Technique teacher who studied extensively with Marj, about her teaching:

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

Taking Mr. Alexander for a Drive

Body Learning Blog Posted on by

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-carefull-driver-image2943208The late Alexander Technique teacher Marjorie Barstow had a special interest in the way automobile drivers carried their heads on top of their spines.  She would frequently suggest we take time to look at other drivers while we were stopped at a traffic light. “You’ll be amazed at what people do to themselves in a car” she would say. And whenever I’d drive her somewhere – often to her favorite steakhouse – she would comment on the bizarre postures she observed in the cars we passed.

It’s actually a pretty interesting exercise.  And a useful one particularly if you ask yourself: “Could I be doing that too?”

Some of us spend a lot of time driving and there are all sorts of opportunities to tighten our necks, restrict our beathing and clench the steering wheel in response to traffic conditions, other drivers’ bad behavior, the weather, the news on the radio…the list goes on and on.  And of course as texting and talking on cellphones while driving becomes more common, the opportunities for distorting ourselves have expanded significantly.

A few years ago, I’ve started to notice that I was clenching my jaw and tightening my face and neck while behind the wheel, even when there was no obvious source of stress.  I realized that just the act of sitting in the driver’s seat was enough of a stimulus to cause me to create some unnecessary tension in my head and neck – tension that rapidly spread to the rest of my body.

Even here in serene Lincoln, Nebraska, recently voted the happiest city in the whole USA!

I decided that driving was the perfect opportunity to give myself some useful Alexander Technique preventative directions.

I found that negative directions worked best for me because in addition to being highly effective, they require very little mental energy and were less likely to take my attention away from my surroundings, whether I was driving on city streets or on the Interstate.

In addition to the classic, “I’m not tensing my neck” I often use, “I’m not compressing myself” and, “I’m not tightening my face.” Sometimes, “I’m not frowning.” After a few weeks of this kind of self-directing I found that I was generally less tense while driving and that I could usually let go of any in-the-moment irritation when, say, another driver cut me off.

Of course the same sort of thing holds for other forms of transportation like bicycles, buses, trains, planes and feet. Not to mention horseback riding, which F. M. Alexander, the developer of the Alexander Technique, was so fond of. They all provide wonderful opportunities to explore his discoveries.

As one Alexander Technique student recently mentioned on Face Book, even while commuting on the New York City subway – “sardine city” as she nicely put it – a little self-directing can go a long way.

Here’s a podcast interview I did with Mark Josefsberg about external stress. and internal tension, and how the Alexander Technique can make it more likely that the first of these won’t cause the second:

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Have you experimented with Alexander Technique directing while traveling?  What did you notice? Did you encounter any unique or unexpected challenges?