Last week I introduced the Primary Control – or ‘head-neck-back’ relationship. You can think of a healthy, working Primary Control as the ‘master key’ because it improves your overall coordination at any time and in any situation.
I also suggested that if you get really good at preventing harmful reactions using Alexandrian inhibition, then the ‘right thing’ will do itself.
This is partially true, but you can also actively nurture your Primary Control through a set of instructions called Directions. Here are Alexander’s fundamental Directions which are worth memorizing:
- let the neck be free
- to let the head go forward and up
- to let the back lengthen and widen
There are also a raft of ‘second tier’ Directions for legs:
- let the knees release away from the hip joints
- to let the feet spread on the floor
and for arms:
- let the elbows release away from the shoulders
- to let the wrists release away from the elbows
- to let the fingers release away from the wrists
The point of all of these Directions is to help reverse the flow of unconscious, habitual and contractive relationships throughout the body. Directing in this way instead introduces healthy, expansive relationships between body parts, and brings control of your overall coordination onto a conscious level.
It must be said that Alexandrian Direction feels at first to most people like an entirely alien and mysterious process. In our day-to-day lives we are simply not used to interacting with our own coordination in this way. However, persevere because understanding Direction is hugely beneficial.
At this point it is worth stating that, in learning to Direct, there are a number of potential stumbling blocks for students. Read the following carefully and you will understand and then be able to avoid the pitfalls!
- Direction, movement and position are three entirely different things. Do not get them mixed up. Here’s a simple example. First of all, hold up your right index finger; this is a position for the finger. Secondly, wiggle it around; this is movement of the finger. Thirdly, think length along the finger; this is Direction. Notice that you can Direct along the finger either while it is in position or in movement. Remember, Direction is distinct from position and movement!
- Direction is something you allow to happen. It is not something to do; rather it changes the quality of what you do. It is an indirect process.
- Inhibition must always precede Direction, even by a fraction of a second. That’s because there is no point in encouraging a better coordination (Alexander’s ‘Use of the Self’) if you are continuing to react in the old, habitual way. Therefore, prevent the wrong thing (Inhibition), and then allow the right thing (Direction).
- ‘All together, one after the other’. Alexander used this phrase to explain that the Directions need to be layered up, one on top of the other. This means that you need to bear in mind all previous Directions in the sequence as you send the next one. It’s a bit like spinning plates, where you need to come back to the first plates, even as you set more of them going. Get all the Directions going well and you’ll end up in a ‘Directed state’.
- Don’t try to feel the results of your Directing. Alexander was very clear that his Technique was a process of reasoning out how to improve his coordination in the face of the unreliable nature of feedback from the senses. In other words, we habitually tend to do what feels right without stopping to reason out what could be going wrong. We will explore this concept of unreliable sensory appreciation later, but for now just trust that some of your Directions are getting through. Although they affect your muscle tone and coordination, Directions are more akin to intentions, aspirations or wishes. As you begin to develop stronger neural pathways, the influence of your Directions will get stronger.
As you get good at Inhibiting and Directing, you can activate them in a lightning fast way, no matter what you’re doing. Yet in the initial stages, it takes time to develop the skill and establish the new neural pathways. Alexander summarized the challenge facing students as follows:
My daily teaching experience shows me that in working for a given end, we can all project one direction, but to continue to give this direction as we project the second, and to continue to give these two while we add a third, and to continue to keep the three directions going as we proceed to gain the end, has proved to be the pons asinorum* of every pupil I have so far known. (*stumbling block, lit. ‘bridge of asses’)
FM Alexander, The Use of the Self
Over the next week, see if you can incorporate Direction into your daily activities. For example,
➣ Memorize the fundamental Directions as outlined at the top of this section.
➣ Choose a few key points in your day and see whether you can Inhibit and Direct at those times. For example, I always tend to Inhibit and Direct as I walk up a flight of stairs because I know there’s a tendency to shorten my stature in the face of an effortful activity. You could choose very different situations, such as getting into a car, loading the dishwasher or bending down to pick up a young child.
➣ Use the slightly silly acronym of the SOD principle – Stop (Inhibit), Organise (Direct), Do – to remember what to do.