To DO? or to NOT-do?

Have you ever been told that you are doing too much? That despite your best efforts, your hard work and commitment, you are actually hindering your progress by “over-doing it?”

It can be frustrating to learn that we have a faulty sense of how we do things, even if the feedback comes from a mentor, teacher, or friend. But ultimately, it is helpful to gain perspective into how we do what we do, and know that our habits don’t always allow for us to have the clearest picture of ourselves. The Alexander Technique can be a wonderful tool to help us develop a more accurate understanding of ourselves by giving us the criteria to observe ourselves and sharpen our senses. In private lessons, a teacher supports you in this exploration by providing hands-on guidance. With a teacher’s help, we can easily feel what it is like to “do less” by trusting the teacher’s hands and feedback over our own faulty sense. We then begin to use a balanced amount of effort in performing a task, instead of a habitual amount of effort.

In constructive rest, we act as our own teacher, honing our skills of observation and learning to pause before taking action. When we cultivate this sense of awareness and space, we can direct ourselves into conscious action, instead of moving mindlessly through habitual effort. We learn the difference between doing a movement and allowing a movement. Another way of describing allowing is to say, “non-doing!”

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." - William Butler Yeats

What is the proper amount of effort for a task? F.M. Alexander said, “It is not the degree of 'willing' or 'trying', but the way in which the energy is directed, that is going to make the 'willing' or 'trying' effective.” This week, we explore what it means to direct our energy in constructive rest, and we observe the difference between DOING our directions, and NON-doing them.

Kateri & Alexandra

As I perform the action of sitting, I am directing myself in space by "pointing the bony ends" of my body in different directions. I point my head forward and up, my back long and wide, and my knees forward and away. Sitting and moving in this way becomes much easier! More on this in today's lie-down.