A Few Gems from Man’s Supreme Inheritance

July 20, 2011

Part 1: The Premise

In this first book Man’s Supreme Inheritance, written in 1910, F.M. Alexander argues that we now struggle in all kinds of ways (social, economic, legal, physical, moral, ethical, educational, governmental, and of course personal) because we do not stop and think before we act. (He wrote this book 100 years ago. I wonder what he would be saying if he lived now!)

Alexander observed that we continue to rely on our instinct (the subconscious mind) to guide us, even though instinct can no longer be satisfactory for our present needs.  If humanity is ever to reach its full potential, we must cultivate conscious, reasoning mindfulness so that it dominates the subconscious mind.

Early man evolved slowly and became essentially different from other primates.  He conquered fire.  He developed powers of thought, and was endowed with curiosity and enterprise.   (I have a mental image of man wondering ‘What is over on the other side of those mountains?’ and leaving his home in the rift valley, thus starting his trek to inhabit and finally dominate the world.)

For a long time man was able successfully to rely upon his sense of feeling (his sensory appreciation) in order to meet the demands of survival.  If he sensed, for instance, that winter was coming, or felt that he and his tribe had better move in order to find better hunting grounds, his instincts still served him well.  Thus he survived.

But as man progressed to a stage of more complexity, he established permanent settlements; the start of civilization.  This was a huge shift and it brought with it lots of problems.  As man developed consciousness, reason, and logic, he made changes to his environment that would make his life much more complicated.  His subconscious mind was still dominant, and thus, instinct still ruled.  But as it was no longer reliable, man was at odds with himself. In many ways this is our crises facing us today.

My next blogs will continue this theme.

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Stopping

June 1, 2011

by Stella Weigel

In Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, FM Alexander provides the following illustration:

A seven-year-old boy was given an aptitude test designed to measure “control.”  The test involves an electronic apparatus with holes varying in size.  His task was to touch the centers of the holes with a small, pencil-like, metal rod without touching sides of the holes.  If he touched the sides, an electric flash would result.  He was warned ahead of time to avoid this at all costs, and “he at once became so excited through the fear of making a mistake that his hands shook and he stiffened and tensed his whole body unduly in making the first try” (original emphasis).  Needless to say, he performed very poorly on the test.

The boy did not have a means whereby to inhibit his habitual, fearful reaction to the thought of failure.  Instead, he remained caught in the vicious circle of end gaining; having failed to avoid the flash in the first instance, he continued the test repeating the pattern.

Alexander Technique lessons can help us to learn a practical means whereby, and give us a process to inhibit our habitual fear reflexes of one sort or another which lead to disappointment and failure.  Over time, it will also lead us to an improved sensory appreciation.

First and foremost we must learn to stop.  We must learn to say “no” to whatever harmful habit is inferring with our Use.  Only then can we come back to ourselves.  From this place of inhibition, we are able to make a new, conscious choice.  This capacity to choose will allow us to change.  Developing such awareness takes time, an incredible amount of time, which is why the Alexander Technique is truly an ongoing re-education.

As a teacher-trainee, I find that “stopping” during vacation is equally as important as “stopping” during the work undertaken during term.  I now take this opportunity to marvel at the abundance of Spring blossom, reconnect with family at home and abroad, and to enjoy inordinate hours of sleep.

Stopping to observe what is happening with us right NOW is definitely worth the wait!

Guest Blogger, Stella Weigel, is an Alexander Technique student at The Constructive Teaching Centre, London, the world’s oldest and largest Alexander Technique training school.  She had Alexander Technique lessons from 2006-2009 before embarking on her training in April 2009.  She lives in the city of London.

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Alexander’s Primary Control in Action

May 26, 2011

Giraffe Birth on YouTube

It takes less than five minutes for this animal to adjust reflexively in gravity.  Notice the HEAD LEADS, then the partial or secondary patterns follow (first with the forelegs then hind legs) becoming reflexively coordinated.  The reflex travels down from the head end to the tail and co-ordinates the entire animal.  There are some Alexander Technique “teachers” who actually dispute that the primary control even exists.  This is because they are badly trained.  There is no nice way to put it.  But here is the principle of it for everyone to see for themselves.

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Alexander Technique for Kids

May 12, 2011

We seem to be more and more nervous, mentally unbalanced and muscularly unfit. Our children are fatter, becoming less motivated and more entitled, showing all the signs of ill health (of course diabetes, but also many are emotionally maladjusted) and they seem to have all the signs of a terrible life ahead of them. They don’t move, or play. They sit at computer games and go online, connecting to sites that are mostly a waste of valuable youth. Some of these sites are criminal and dangerous. They don’t use this time to shape themselves for their futures. And nobody is guiding them either!  They take all manner of drugs and many are addicts before 15. Others are fixated with celebrity and they want recognition as a validation for themselves.  This alone shows a total lack of values and the power they should be developing to make a life in the future. They can only become shallow, angry adults without a shred of the wherewithal to face life.

Seeing such children lumber around deformed and unhappy, I ask myself Why is this? How can it auger well in the future for all of us if these young generations are already so dysfunctional and delusional? Everything about them screams out at the casual observer and these are the young that will run the governments, make the policy and shape the way our world is run.

We adults seeing this, seem incapable of lifting even one finger. So I decided to offer either free lessons or nearly free lessons to some children who I believe need this work. They fill all these criteria of need to change their ideas of self and life. I can’t change the world but I can help one person or even two. Maybe it helps them and maybe it falls on deaf ears, I don’t know, but I am doing this because it is the heart and core of Alexander’s principles to work with the individual. One child at a time.

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Human Excellence

April 14, 2011

“There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellence that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellence will we have lives blessed with happiness.”

 Aristotle

 I contend that FM Alexander managed to offer us a pathway to develop this very human excellence.  By overcoming our shortcomings and the traits that block us, we can learn to more fully realize our potential and enjoy a greater measure of happiness.  What is demanded of us is a great deal of self-examination.

 But how does the practical work of an Alexander lesson relate to human excellence in the general sense?  How do we possibly connect standing and sitting in a chair (with some gentle “adjustments” along the way) with an excellence that leads to happiness in life?  What on earth has one to do with the other?

 Think of it this way.  If we are habitually distorting ourselves just in order to stand on the planet, if we’re constantly contorting ourselves as we move, and slumping to sit, if we go about the very basic tasks of life while simultaneously pushing ourselves down and lifting ourselves up, then we are in a bad fix.

 In this condition, as we set about to master any specific trade or occupation or any avocation with specialized demands, we bring all of our habitual baggage with us.  In the process we can make an even bigger mess of things.  We pressure ourselves to excel, practice longer and harder, and get better and better at distorting and blocking ourselves.

 The process of learning that FM Alexander discovered, offers us a way to change this condition, because it offers us a way to change our habits.  With the help of a good teacher we can have a new experience; we learn to Stop/ Think/ Observe/ and Allow change.  This leads to self-possession and toward self-mastery.  This is the kind of excellence I believe Aristotle had in mind; excellence that can help us to “have lives blessed with happiness.”

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