The Space Between the Spaces

One of the most common assumptions that people who come for lessons make is that the Alexander Technique is meant to be practised in peace and quiet.

If only we were so lucky as to have peace and quiet to practise the Alexander Technique, or anything else we put our minds to!

The sad truth is that for a lot of us, life is a series of actions - of duty, pleasure, social obligation, leisure, professional obligation ... the list could go on for ever.
We step into our day in the morning, and are instantly sucked into this round of work and leisure.

The proportions of each could vary for different people, but the elements remain the same. Even the leisure isn't leisurely - it's scheduled, and limited to a certain time and duration in the day.

When we want to get that sense of large and leisurely expanses of time, we go away on holiday to get it. If we're lucky.

So people come for lessons and go away thinking that the skills that they have learnt in the lesson are something to be used when they have an idle moment.

Since most of them don't have many idle moments, they end up not thinking about what they've learnt until the time comes round for the next lesson.

So it's a good idea to start our Alexander practice with the thought that this is going to become an integral part of life - personal, social and professional. We don't need to immediately start applying it to everything we do, all the time, but we have to have the intention.
That is important because that's what's going to set the tone of Alexander work in our lives.

We keep the intention of using Alexander skills during meetings, or performances, or presentations; we don't divide our day into

'Times I can use Alexander'

(when I'm sitting quietly/drinking a cup of tea/reading the newspaper/doing nothing in particular)

and

'Times When I Simply Can't Think About It, Ever'.

(when I'm about to leave for work/when I'm running for the bus/when I'm in a meeting/when I'm talking to my boss/doing the important things in my life)

We can start by using the relatively quieter moments of the day to think about release. When we're waiting for the bus, for instance. Or browsing in a shop. Waiting in line for tickets. TheAlexander Moments .

These are the little pockets of quiet that we miss out on, because we're so caught up in the general busy-ness all around us.

But well used, they could help us when we have to go in to face an angry boss, or tackle a difficult presentation, or finish a hundred different things before running to catch the bus to work.