Mountains, Bogs and Snares

I've been talking to some new students about the process they can reasonably expect to go through as they begin to apply the Alexander Technique in their lives. Thinking about it at home recently, I realised that I could probably distill it into some common ideas. It's a bit like the heroes of mythical stories setting out on quests with a guide telling them about the kinds of obstacles that they could expect to encounter on the way.

The first, of course, is failure. What could it be, in mythic terms? A mountain they have to climb? An ogre they have to slay? However you think of it, it's the state where you try and try and you're very aware that it's not working. People come back after a first, second or third lesson and say," You know, I tried those directions at home, and nothing happened."

Or people who've had a few lessons say," Yes, I can do it when I'm quietly at home, but let me get to work and in front of the computer, and bam! everything just slams back to square one. Just can't do anything about that."

The thing is that this is a process where we are challenging some of the deepest and most entrenched habits of mind and body; habits which we weren't even aware of. Not surprising if it takes a bit of time. We just have to give ourselves the time and space to allow it to work itself out. There's absolutely no point in giving ourselves deadlines and saying - "Okay, I have this really important party next week, and there are going to be a lot of people I want to impress, so I want my shoulders nicely released and broad, please." There's not much hope of that happening, especially if we're going to be obsessing about it all the way to the party.

The best way to climb this particular mountain - or kill this particular ogre - is to stop worrying and learn to enjoy the process. Forget about the party - or decide to enjoy it anyway, broad shoulders or not. We probably have a much better chance of impressing our target audience if we do that!

I've found that people who are able to do that seem to get on much better with applying the Technique in their lives; they also seem to be the ones who stick with the Technique, start actively enjoying it and getting fascinating insights into the way their bodies and minds

work.

Another difficulty we may face is stagnation. Mired in the bog. Nothing happening at all. This is especially hard for us to take if we've been noticing a real difference in the days or weeks past. We suddenly feel that there's no response to our directions; in addition, because we've started to become aware of subtler levels of tension, we feel that not only are we not responding, we're actually tightening up even more!

When my students complain about being stuck, I usually suggest that they give themselves a pat on the back for picking up the tightening in themselves. I also remind them that they have challenged their bodies in a really deep, fundamental way, and that time may be needed for real assimilation to take place. In other words, even if you think nothing is happening, there's a lot going on. Encourage it by quietly continuing with the directions as before and allow the response to emerge.

After all, the best strategy when you're mired in a bog is to do nothing at all, but keep very very quiet.

True to the traditions of myth, the last one is the deadliest - the trap of success. It's a really heady feeling when we start picking up on the releases that are happening in ourselves, and realise that we have the ability to influence what happens in our bodies. We start feeling confident that we can do it - and from there it's a short and slippery slope to 'doing the directions'; rushing into action instead of staying quiet and allowing the directions to work themselves out.

The remedy? A healthy dose of failure -the poisoned goblet that carries the promise of rebirth; and the best thing to do is to drink it down and start afresh.