I’d like to begin with a rather wonderful quote from F.M. Alexander, the originator of the Alexander Technique:
You are not here to do exercises, or to learn to do something right, but to get able to meet a stimulus that always puts you wrong and to learn to deal with it.
It’s certainly an intriguing statement. First up is the idea that students of the Alexander Technique are not learning a series of exercises, positions or specific movements. This sets it aside immediately from other activities such as working out in the gym or attending a yoga or exercise class (if you remember from Week 0, the Alexander Technique is a method you can employ during any activity, the wonderful thing being that it is compatible with and indeed enhances other activities). Second is the idea that Alexander Technique lessons are not about ‘learning to do something right’. Just trust me on this one for now – it will become clear in time! And thirdly there is the idea that the stimuli around us are in constant danger of ‘putting us wrong’ and that we can learn to deal with them better.
The quote I introduced is so pivotal, it’s worth reading again:
You are not here to do exercises, or to learn to do something right, but to get able to meet a stimulus that always puts you wrong and to learn to deal with it.
It is in the last part of the statement that Alexander gets to the heart of the matter. As young children, most of us enjoy a natural, balanced coordination. However, over time, we develop habits which interfere in that coordination. Alexander called these habits ‘misuse’, and they get linked up, often unconsciously, with all sorts of stimuli. For example, we might:
- jut our head forward when using a smartphone, leading to what has been termed ‘text neck’;
- clench our jaw when standing on a crowded bus or train;
- raise our shoulders when eating our lunch in a hurry;
- hunch over when typing at a laptop;
- hold our breath and tighten across the chest when worrying about an important work meeting.
The examples above show that what can ‘put us wrong’ are not only stimuli in our environment such as things or people, but also, as in the last example, the thoughts in our own heads.
The potential to be put wrong is pervasive, and often we seem powerless to do anything about it even when we become aware of the habits that we’ve formed. This was the impasse which Alexander himself came up against as he tried to save his own career as an actor. Every time he was on stage he began to lose his voice, and yet the medical profession could not provide a diagnosis. Over time, and with the careful use of mirrors, he discovered that he was pulling his head back and compressing his voice box in reaction to the stimulus to speak, and that this was the likely cause of his hoarseness on stage. And yet, despite his best attempts to make the change he desired, his habitual reaction returned with a vengeance.
You can’t do something you don’t know, if you keep on doing what you do know.
F M Alexander
After hitting his head against a brick wall for quite some time, Alexander realised that the only way forward was an indirect one. He would need to break the association between the stimulus to speak and his habitual reaction to it once and for all. This was his discovery of Inhibition, or of stopping his reaction to a stimulus. You can read about how he managed it in his book, The Use of the Self.
Inhibition is a big topic in the Alexander Technique. However, the kinds of Inhibition which Alexander practitioners talk about can be usefully divided into three aspects as follows:
- a simple pause before acting;
- sensing and then preventing habitual misuse;
- becoming less reactive and more mindful over the long term.
All three aspects of Inhibition are valid, and as you begin to discover its potential you can have fun asking yourself where your most recent experience of the phenomenon fits in. Here are three examples of types 1, 2 and 3 for you to consider:
- you decide to allow the phone to ring three times before picking it up;
- while brushing your teeth, you notice that you are raising your shoulders and then decide not to do it;
- you sense that a particular emotion is beginning to trouble you, but then observe it nonjudgmentally for a while. Later on at work you then discover that you are able to be less reactive when dealing with a difficult client.
One of the best ways to practice Inhibition is through the discipline of lying down ‘active rest’ (my 16 minute audio will guide you through it here). I call it a ‘profound stop’ because it covers all three aspects above.
Developing Inhibition in your life can be very empowering. A lovely quote from a recent book suggests why:
By designing pauses for yourself, you have a hand in crafting how you experience time. This weakens the sense that your life is governed by an external, mechanical beat, set by someone else (or by a device) and allows you to move at a rhythm that is more your own.
Do Pause: You are not a To Do list by Robert Poynton
Based on the above discussion, you might draw some parallels between the Alexander Technique and mindfulness. However, the Alexander Technique is really embodied mindfulness, or perhaps bodyandmindfulness. That’s because we look to address how you respond as to the situations you find yourself in as a whole person, or as Alexander termed it, a ‘psychophysical whole’. This will become clear to you in further sessions and as your experience of the Alexander Technique deepens.
In summary, although Inhibition is certainly a deep concept, we don’t need to make it complicated. You can think of it as making more time in your life for stopping.
Here are some practical things for you to try this week:
➣ notice your reaction to some everyday objects such as your phone, lap top or toothbrush. Is your reaction to these objects causing you unnecessary tension?
➣ incorporate a ‘profound stop’ into your routine by lying in semi-supine daily.
➣ catch yourself ruminating or worrying about a problem. Do such thoughts interfere with your breathing and your ability to sense the world around you?
