The Alexander Technique is about becoming conscious of our habitual reactions to things, and seeing instead whether we can encourage a set of responses that is kinder to us. You could say that, at any moment in time, we can either orient ourselves towards greater ease or towards greater tension. The choice is ours.
What this means in practice can feel very obvious after a one-to-one session: clients tend to feel taller, lighter, more expansive, more energised, freer emotionally and (quite literally) as if a weight has been taken off their shoulders.
But how to keep it going outside lessons? Keeping it going is, after all, the point of the Alexander Technique: it is a self-management technique, and not a therapy (though undoubtedly a session can feel therapeutic).
Improving our ‘use’ through our environment
Let’s return to some basic Alexandrian Directions designed to encourage (in Alexander’s words) an ‘improved use of ourselves’. These are the kind of Directions which students often encounter in Alexander sessions, and we can employ them any time we wish:
Let the neck be free so that the head can go forward and up so that the back can lengthen and widen, all together, one after the other
Bruce Fertman has written inspiringly on how, with practice, we can associate a long set of directions such as these with a single word such as ‘One’ or even a sound such as ‘Paaaah’ (the Japanese sound for an arrow being released by a bow).
Bruce goes further, though. He suggests that we can also look outside of ourselves and begin to associate objects in our environment with these Directions too. He calls this ‘the Voice of the World’.
The simple example of a red traffic light comes to mind. We can play with its basic meaning so that whenever we’re waiting at a traffic light, we can allow it to signify both stopping in a conventional sense but also a profound psychophysical stop (Alexander’s Inhibition) and a release into expansiveness (Alexander’s Direction).
In summary, then, we can experiment with the following links in a chain:
Choosing external triggers for better ‘use’
The example of a traffic light is a good one. Anyone living in an urban area will probably come across a red traffic light at least a few times a day. The traffic light is not so present to us as to become overwhelming or meaningless, but serves as a useful reminder a few times a day.
Another simple example is the presence of a tree. It is already well established that the sight of anything natural in our environment can improve wellbeing. It doesn’t take much to deepen this relationship a little; we can allow the upward expansiveness of a tree to trigger our own upward expansiveness.
The key is to experiment and be playful.
Three types of triggers
You may decide to begin this exploration by choosing relatively neutral aspects of your daily routine as your triggers. Examples such as waiting for the kettle to boil, brushing your teeth or getting into your car or on your bike spring to mind. Often not much else is going on at these times, and so it might be easier to find a little more headspace for our Alexander Directions.
The next level up might be to choose triggers where we know we are likely to significantly interfere with our ‘use’. One example for many people is driving a car. What if we could associate placing our hands on the steering wheel with our Alexandrian Directions? Another example in my case is going up a flight of stairs. Unless I pause for a fraction of a second and Direct, I know that I am likely to shorten my stature so that going upstairs will be more effortful and feel heavier than it needs to be. However, these days I am able to prevent my habitual reaction to going upstairs on most occasions. The stairs themselves have become the trigger.
The third set of triggers you might experiment with are situations, in particular those which you know from the outset are going to be stressful. A business presentation. Public speaking or performing. A difficult conversation. A claustrophobic journey on a crowded train. The question here becomes: can I get good at associating these situations with looking after myself instead? Both before and during the event? In other words, can I change the meaning of this situation (even slightly) to my benefit? Can this situation be saying something to me which is different to my normal associations?
Conclusion and exercise
You could say, we need stressors in our lives to help us develop the skilful resilience fostered through the Alexandrian principles of Inhibition and Direction. Although not exactly the same, I’m reminded of what the Dalai Lama has said about enemies and how we need them to help us practise patience.
As an exercise, then, write down five external triggers you’d like to experiment with over the coming week. You could start off small and choose five objects such as a traffic light, a kettle or a toothbrush. And then the following week, you might then choose a mixture of relatively neutral (brushing teeth), challenging (going up stairs) and stressful (a business presentation). For example:
- neutral
- neutral
- challenging
- challenging
- stressful
It’s of course up to you, but writing down the list and sticking it on the fridge (for example) is going to make the activity much more conscious.
And wait! A colourful list – enhanced perhaps with an Alexander aphorism or two – can become a trigger in itself. How about that!
