Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual - Choice Quotes

Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual was first published in 1923. These quotes and page numbers are from the 1997 STAT Books edition. I've included quotes from John Dewey's Introduction as his commentary is as relevant today as when it was first written.

The all-important consideration, therefore, in bridging the gap between theory and practice is the make-up of the individual, particularly the sensory make-up. (p7)

As my technique evolved it became increasingly clear that by its procedures, provision is made for coming into contact with the unknown, because the improved condition of psycho-physical functioning brought about is not the result of working for a previously conceived and directed end (the known), but emerges as the indirect result of the employment of reasoned means whereby improved conditions in the use of the self are brought about (the unknown). (p9) 

The principle and procedure set forth by Mr Alexander are crucially needed at present. Strangely, this is the very reason why they are hard to understand and accept. For although there is nothing esoteric in his teaching, and although his exposition is made in the simplest English, free from technical words, it is difficult for anyone to grasp its full force without having actual demonstration of the principle in operation. And even then, as I know from personal experience, its full meaning dawns upon one slowly and with new meanings continually opening up. (from the Introduction, by John Dewey, p15)

Consequently, only when the results of Mr Alexander’s lessons have changed one’s sensory appreciation and supplied a new standard, so that the old and the new condition can be compared with each other, does the concrete force of his teaching come home to one. In spite of the whole tenour of Mr Alexander’s teaching, it is this which makes it practically impossible for anyone to go to him with any other idea at the outset beyond that of gaining some specific relief and remedy. Even after a considerable degree of experience with his lessons, it is quite possible for one to prize his method merely on account of specific benefits received, even though one recognizes that these benefits include a changed emotional condition and a different outlook on life. Only when a pupil reaches the point of giving his full attention to the method of Mr Alexander instead of its results, does he realize the constant influence of his sensory appreciation. (from the Introduction, by John Dewey, pp15-16) 

I use the word co-ordination, both in its conception and in its application, to convey the idea of co-ordination on a general and not a specific basis. Specific co-ordination of any specific part of the organism, such as the muscles of the arm or leg, may be brought about by means of a direct process, during which process, however, new defects in the use of the organism in general will certainly be cultivated, whilst others already present will become more pronounced. These harmful conditions will not be cultivated if the specific co-ordination is brought about by means of an indirect process involving, primarily, the general co-ordination of the psychophysical organism – that is to say, an integrated condition in which all of the factors continue to make for satisfactory psycho-mechanical use. (p31)

Many who are brought for the first time face to face with the fact that the sensory appreciation of most of the people of our time is more or less unreliable become unusually disturbed, especially when they realize that this fundamental factor in human activity has been practically ignore by our experts and leaders in educational and other spheres in their attempts to effect reforms in the civilizing plan. (p46) 

It is only necessary to watch the movements of many who are experts in the subject-matter of physiology and anatomy to realize the futility of their knowledge from a practical standpoint. For the knowledge of the ordinary anatomical and physiological workings of specific muscles does not enable any person to re-educate or co-ordinate them on a general basis in the acts of everyday life, and it is on this basis of common sense and practice that the value of any knowledge or principle must be judged. (p57)

This being so, it is obvious that the reason a person falls a victim to some unreasoning fear is that his condition of general psycho-physical functioning at the time when he receives the stimulus, to which the fear is the reaction, is below a normal and satisfactory standard. For, if his condition of general functioning were normal, his reaction to the particular sensory stimulus would be a normal reaction, not an unreasoning “phobia.” (p77)

Will psychoanalysis as practised restore a reliable sensory appreciation to the patient, and co-ordinate and re-educate his psycho-physical mechanisms on a general basis? Certainly not. The psycho-physical condition which permitted the establishment of the first phobia will permit the establishment of another. All that is needed is the stimulus. (p77)

The child’s early efforts in learning any simple subject which forms part of the curriculum are on a specific basis; that is, the child’s work is planned for him from the beginning on “end-gaining” lines of teaching him to do specific things in specific ways, and of teaching him to try to get these specific things “right,” and long ere the stage of adolescence is reached, this “end-gaining” procedure will have become established, associated with a bad psycho-physical attitude towards the acceptance of new ideas and new experiences, and too often with a serious deterioration in memory. When these defects and shortcomings are present, they constitute two impeding factors which could account for the general lack in the majority of adults to link up knowledge. (pp90-1)

Our first consideration, therefore, in all forms of education must be in regard to securing for the child the highest possible standard of psycho-physical functioning during his attempts to master the different processes which make up the educational scheme. (p91)

Yet in spite of all that I have written on this point, I have been criticized for “keeping things back,” because I would not give in my book instructions and set exercises that people could do at home by themselves! In all such instances I point out that I will not be guilty at this stage of my teaching experience of adding to the mass of literature on the subject of exercises, or take the grave responsibility for the harmful consequences which are certain to result from the practice of exercises, according to written instructions, by people whose sensory appreciation is unreliable and often positively delusive. (p95)

It is absurd to try to teach a person who is in a more or less agitated or even anxious condition. We must have that calm condition which is characteristic of a person whose reasoning processes are operative. (p97) 

For the fact that emerges from all these considerations is that our approach to life generally, our activities, beliefs, emotions, opinions, judgements in whatever sphere, are conditioned by the preceding conceptions, which are associated with the individual use of the psycho-physical mechanisms and conditioned by the standard of reliability of our individual sensory appreciation. (p108)

The aim of re-education on a general basis is to bring about at all times and for all purposes, not a series of correct positions or postures, but a co-ordinated use of the mechanisms in general. (p111-2)

Of what avail, therefore, is it for the pupil to “feel better,” if he is still left with a defective sensory appreciation to guide him in all his activities during his waking moments as well as his sleeping hours? It is only a matter of time before the unfortunate pupil will be awakened from his dream by discovering that he has developed certain other serious conditions. (p137)

It is only by having a clear conception of what is required for the successful performance of a certain stroke or other act, combined with a knowledge of the psycho-physical means whereby those requirements can be met, that there is any reasonable possibility of their attaining sureness and confidence during performance. (p147)

“Muddling through by instinct” is unintelligent enough, but deliberately to induce in human beings by artificial means (such as the processes involved in methods of “faith cure,” auto-suggestion, religious revivalism, etc.) a condition of lowered control, where intelligence and reasoning are superseded by uncontrolled emotions, is a procedure which may be described as an insult to even a very lowly evolved intelligence. (p151)

In other words, the pupil is not taught to perform certain new exercises or to assume new postures for a given time each day, whilst continuing to use his faulty mechanisms and unreliable guiding sensations in his old way during his other activities, but he is shown HOW he may at once check, more or less, the faulty use of these mechanisms in the general activities of his daily life. (p160) 

The projection of continued, conscious orders, on the other hand, calls for a broad, reasoning attitude, so that the subject has not only a clear conception of the orders essential (“means-whereby”) for the correct performance of a particular movement, but he can also project these orders in their right relationship one to another, the co-ordinated series of orders resulting in a co-ordinated use of the organism. (p174)

This habit of taking faint impressions in reading is repeated daily by millions of people who rarely read a book in the way of study, a form of reading which would make for the registering of definite and lasting impressions. “Skimming” – that is, receiving only faint impressions of what is read – is a harmful habit which, if indulged in, rapidly becomes established, and very soon the person concerned is aware of a growing loss of memory in all spheres. (p180)

Experience has proved to us that children are unusually interested in the working of their own psycho-physical machinery when the processes employed are concerned with re-education on a general and conscious basis. They find a new interest in all activities to which they can apply an improving use of themselves, and their happiness in finding, for instance, that they can improve their games by a conscious general direction of themselves (a very different thing from the usual specific directions they receive in coaching lessons) is a happiness which increases with their psycho-physical improvement. (p190-1)

I shall now endeavour to show that the lack of real happiness manifested by the majority of adults of today is due to the fact that they are experiencing not an improving, but a continually deteriorating use of their psycho-physical selves. (p191)

One of the greatest factors in human development is the building up of a form of confidence which comes as the result of that method of learning by which the pupil is put in possession of the correct means whereby he can attain his end before he makes any attempt to gain it. By this method the attempt he makes will be more or less successful from the outset, and a series of satisfactory instead of unsatisfactory psycho-physical experiences will follow, and with them that intelligent confidence and state of happiness associated therewith which is the “consummated conquest” of the human being on a conscious plane. (p196)

Increasing awareness in this connection makes more and more for successful accomplishment in accordance with reasoned and satisfactory “means whereby,” and connotes a continuous process which introduces a special interest and pleasure into the most ordinary acts of life. (p197)

Book Review – Man’s Supreme Inheritance: Conscious Guidance and Control in Relation to Human Evolution in Civilization, by F. Matthias Alexander

I last read MSI in 2007, and when I returned to it in 2012 I found it more invigorating, more fundamental, and more precise than I’d recalled. It was Alexander’s first book, published in full in 1918, although major components had been published as early as 1907 as pamphlets and smaller books.

Themes

MSI sets out Alexander’s grand vision for human progress, individual and collective. Its central theme is that “instinctive” modes of behaviour are inadequate to meet the demands of modern, rapidly changing societies and that a conscious and reasoned approach to behaviour is necessary in order to deal effectively with situations for which there is no precedent in the life of the individual or in the evolution of our species.

Alexander had already been teaching what was to become known as the Alexander Technique for nearly 20 years at the time of MSI’s publication. On the basis of this experience and backed up by deductive reasoning, he asserts that any serious approach to conscious guidance and control will need to address humans as whole beings whose mental and physical aspects are inseparable. He claims and offers many case studies to show that his “method of re-education” is able, by engaging people as psycho-physically whole, to address a gamut of problems from appendicitis to stuttering to undue emotional responses and immature political machinations.

It’s interesting how much Alexander discusses the effect of poor co-ordination on the heart, lungs and viscera. He argues convincingly that when these are displaced and constricted through poor co-ordination of the whole person, then circulation, digestion and elimination become sluggish and toxins accumulate, resulting in reduced resistance to illness and further degeneration. Very few people seem to come to the Technique to improve their circulation or digestion or to boost their immune system. Perhaps in this day and age of degenerative disease and obesity I should give more emphasis to these benefits in my own discussion of the Technique.

The other area that Alexander emphasises is the relationship between conscious co-ordination and the level of rationality we are able to sustain in challenging and novel situations; the “heat of the moment.” Alexander argues that a poorly co-ordinated person who has no practical knowledge of how he or she organises, and therefore how he or she may also redirect, his or her own behaviour, will revert to archaic and formulaic responses whenever confronted with a new situation, despite the patent inapplicability of the old behaviour to the new context. By contrast, the well co-ordinated person who also enjoys conscious engagement with his or her co-ordination will be able to assess each context specifically and to spontaneously generate new behaviour that is uniquely suited to the novelty of any context. Alexander cites politics, business and other interpersonal domains as being especially suited for application of his methods.

The Process

Alexander briefly mentions that he uses his hands to facilitate for his students new experiences of “correct” co-ordination. However there is very little else about the “how” of his process other than that it deals with the “means” by which an end may be obtained, rather than direct pursuit of the end along habitual lines. The book is clearly intended as a call to action based on a new conception of what humans are and how we learn, rather than a handbook for the particular action to be taken.

This is consistent with Alexander's insistence that, given the uniqueness of each person, his teaching will play itself out differently in each case, and no general formula for action could possibly apply to the diversity of individual needs and circumstances. It also reflects the challenge of rendering a highly subtle, multi-sensory learning process in words that may be comprehensible to anyone other than those who’ve already had similar experiences.

Who is it For?

MSI’s broad vision may appeal to anyone interested in human education and development although much of the detail is perhaps too abstract to be of more than passing interest to those who’ve not had any experience of the Technique. However, for serious students of the Technique and of course for teachers and trainees, it is essential reading. It was ahead of its time in scope and rationale, yet also tainted by some of the prejudices of its time as well as Alexander’s own idiosyncrasies; there are some passages that can only be described as racist as well as some bizarre denigrations of music and dance as recreations.

The 1996 6^th edition contains a review entitled The Philosopher’s Stone, by Professor James Harvey Robinson, first published in the Atlantic Monthly, April 1919. I feel this excerpt to be as relevant now as it was nearly 100 years ago:

… I am not inclined to contend that all his ideas are new, or that his book, which clearly reflects the genial exuberance of its author, might not have been better arranged; or that anyone need accept all the philosophic reflections which accompany the exposition of his system. Nevertheless, no one interested in human improvement can afford to pass by his plan without carefully considering its nature and bearings. (p229)

In summary, there are better introductions to the Technique, but no other work of which I’m aware comes close to MSI in its analysis of the challenges faced by human beings as we change our own environments at ever-increasing rates.  Ad-hoc, faith-based and instinctive reactions to new circumstances are rigorously critiqued and debunked. An alternative approach to dealing with civilised life is articulated in principle and illustrated with many examples. As such, this work also makes an excellent case for readers to get off the couch and actually go and have some classes or lessons in the Technique!

Man's Supreme Inheritance (Parts 2 & 3) Choice Quotes

These quotes are not necessarily representative of the text as a whole. I chose them more as evocative aphorisms. The original was published in 1918. Page numbers here are as per the Mouritz 2002 corrected 6th edition.

The popular misconception of the subject’s responsibility in the matter leads him to be commonly pitied as for unavoidable defects, whereas it is of the first importance that he should realize the responsibility is his, and his alone. He must be made aware that such defects arise from his own fault and are the outcome of his ignorance or wilful neglect. Once this new mental attitude is firmly established there is hope for the afflicted person, and he will have the satisfaction of knowing that he is, as it were, working out his own salvation on common sense practical lines, devoid of pernicious sympathy, face to face with real facts, and stimulated by a principle which cannot fail to secure the very best efforts in the right direction of which any ordinary person is capable. (p117)

Without conscious control the subject or patient may know he has defects, may know further what those defects are, may even know at what explicit improvement he is to aim, and yet may be quite unable by means of imitation or the orthodox and traditional method of instruction to gain the desired end.

With conscious control, on the other hand, true development (unfolding), education (drawing out) and evolution are possible along intellectual as against the old unorthodox and fallacious lines, by means of reasoned processes, analysed, understood and explicitly directed. (p141)

He had opened his mouth imperfectly and had been ordered by his teacher to open his mouth wider. But there had been no recognition by the pupil that he had not opened his mouth sufficiently, neither had there been any analysis by the teacher of the pupil’s failure  to open the mouth (a seemingly simple thing but ex hypothesi not simple to the patient), or of the concomitant contortions and automatic reaction. As well say, “You have been speaking improperly, now speak properly,” and call that a lesson, as indeed it would have been called in the early Victorian era, as, “ Open your mouth wide, speak up, and don’t make nervous movements.” It is not the “end” that the teacher and pupil must work for, but the “means whereby.” And this discovery of the “means whereby,” differing in different subjects and not to be stated in a general formula, can only be the result of trained observation and careful, patient investigation and experience. (p142)

Men have learnt the meaning of many things which to the savage were inscrutable, but when faced with the unknown they betray the same lack of control. Suddenly-angered men will make a retort which in the light of reflection appears to them foolish and inadequate. It is an everyday experience. In the calmer moments that follow they think of the “things they might have said,” the things they might have done, which is a simple indication of the fact that in the heated moment their emotions held sway over them, whilst their reason and control were in abeyance. The subconsciously controlled person is immediately thrown into a state of panic when faced by any emergency which presents an element of danger. (p150)

Obviously he should begin then by ceasing to do what is wrong, not by endeavouring blindly to do what is right. (p157)

My experience has proved that the pupil at first will act in precisely the same way if I attempt to perform the act for him as if I had asked him to do it without my assistance. He is just as apprehensive as a result of one request as of the other, and in this state of apprehensiveness he is, mentally and physically, impossible to deal with from the standpoint of re-education. He conjures up in his mind all kinds of fears that he will do this or that incorrectly. … The re-education work really begins here, and it takes weeks, nay, sometimes months to bring the pupil to a stage in his co-ordination when he will be really once more in communication with his reason. With these facts before us I feel that my reader will advocate with me the necessity of adopting principles which will create new and correct habits, and eradicate needless apprehension and fear from the souls of human beings. (p159)

The foregoing applies to a very wide range of bad habits over the whole organism, such as:

1. the cultivation of harmful habits in consequence of misdirected energy and mental delusions which cause disorders and defects of the eyes, ears, nose and throat etc.;
2. the development of the dangerous habit of not hearing any instructions, opinions, advice, or argument, which if put into practical procedures, would be contrary to the psycho-physical subconscious habit associated with some defect, peculiarity, or other abnormal condition;
3. the development of over-compensation in some direction: “running an idea to death,” as we say; (p161)

There can be no such thing as a “correct standing position” for each and every person. The question is not one of correct position, but of correct co-ordination (i.e. of the muscular mechanisms concerned). Moreover, any one who has acquired the power of co-ordinating correctly, can readjust the parts of his body to meet the requirements of almost any position, while always commanding adequate and correct movements of the respiratory apparatus and perfect vocal control – a fact which I demonstrate daily to my pupils. (p171)

For it should be evident, I think, that the good effects of fresh air and gentle exercise will be practically nullified if the patient can only obtain them by exaggerating and perpetuating the defects which have led him to the prescription. (p174)

The displaced parts of the body must be restored to their proper positions by re-education in a correct and controlled use of the muscular mechanisms. In this process the blood is purified, the circulation is gradually improved, and all the injurious accumulations are removed by the internal massage which is part and parcel of the increased vital activity from such re-education. (p177)

In the very breaking up of maleficent co-ordinations or vicious circles which have become established, a new impulse is given to certain intellectual functions that have been thrown out of play. (p177)

For instance, though it may not be possible to control directly each separate part of the abdominal viscera, we can control directly the muscles of the abdominal wall which encloses the viscera, and in reducing a protruding abdomen we can control many other muscles, notably those of the back, which, when they are properly employed and co-ordinated, will, by widening and altering the shape of the back, make place for the protruded stomach, allow it to occupy the natural position from which it has been ousted, and so give free play once more to the natural functions of the viscera that have been distorted and pinched by the forced positions they have had to assume. Here we see that though conscious control does not affect by a process of direct command, as it were, the lower automatic functions, there is great danger in assuming that such functions are beyond the reach of my methods. (p179)

Man's Supreme Inheritance (Part 1) Choice Quotes

These quotes are not necessarily representative of the text as a whole. I chose them more as evocative aphorisms. The original was published in 1918. Page numbers here are as per the Mouritz 2002 corrected 6th edition.

…  a human being functions as a whole and can only be fundamentally changed as a whole. (p.xii) 

The failure of subconscious guidance in modern civilization is now being widely admitted, and the consideration of this fact has led a few to the logical conclusion that conscious guidance and control is the one method of adapting ourselves not only to present conditions, but to any possible conditions that may arise. (p7)

Defective Mental and Physical Control. The most common form of this defective control encountered in teaching work is when the teacher wishes to move the head, or hand, or arm, or leg for the pupil, in order to give the new and correct sensation in the proper use of the parts. Experience proves that the great majority are utterly wanting in the controls necessary to enable the person to gain this experience quickly. The teacher asks the pupil to lift his arm. He does so, but exercises an undue amount of tension. In order to give the pupil the new kinaesthetic register of the correct amount of tension necessary, the teacher asks to be permitted to lift the arm for him, but as a rule the pupil acts exactly as he did when he was requested to perform the act himself. (p15)

We see at once that the conception of a hidden entity is the primitive explanation which first occurs to the puzzled mind. (p25)

These writings exhibit, and have always exhibited, the fallacy of considering the mental and physical as in some sense antitheses which are opposed to each other and make war, whereas in my opinion the two must be considered entirely interdependent, and even more closely knit than is implied by such a phrase. (p28) 

In this case my first endeavor must be directed to keeping in abeyance, by the power of inhibition, all the mental associations connected with the ideas of speaking, and to eradicating all erroneous, preconceived ideas concerning the things X imagines he can or cannot do, or what is or is not possible. My next effort must be to give X a correct and conscious guidance and control of all the parts concerned, including, of course, the lip and face muscles, and in order to obtain this control, he must have a complete and accurate apprehension of all the movements concerned. (p34)

The phrase “conscious control” when used in this work is intended to indicate the value and use of conscious guidance and control, primarily as a universal, and secondly as a specific, the latter always being dependent on the former in practical procedure. (p36) 

Unfortunately, all conscious effort exerted in attempts at physical action causes in the great majority of people today such tension of the muscular system concerned as to lead to exaggeration rather than eradication of the defects already present. Therefore it is essential at the outset of re-education to bring about the relaxation of the unduly rigid parts of the muscular mechanisms in order to secure the correct use of the inadequately employed and wrongly co-ordinated parts. (p59)

What is required is not prejudice in either direction, but a calm, clear, open-eyed intelligence, a ready, adaptive outlook, an outlook, believe me, which does not connote indefiniteness of purpose or uncertainty of initiative. (p61)

Another form of predisposition arises from lack of purpose, and the mental habits that go with this condition are hard to eradicate, more particularly when the original feebleness has led to some form of hypochondria or nervous disease which has been treated with the usual disregard of the radical evil. It is not difficult for the most superficial inquirer to understand that in treating cases like these any methos which relieves the subject still further of the exercise of initiative – such a method as the rest cure, for instance, though I could quote many others – only increases the original evil. The lack of purpose is pandered to and cultivated, and after the six weeks or so the patient returns to his or her duties in ordinary life even more unfitted than before to perform them. (p61)

To encourage eccentricity is not to breed genius, and genius itself is more free and more creative when it is not hampered by eccentricity. Let us, at least, have some appreciation of rational cause and effect. (p81)

A child who tries to guide its pencil by futile movements of its head, tongue and shoulders may be preparing the way to ills so far-reaching that their origin is often lost sight of. (p81) 

Give a child conscious control and you give him poise, the essential starting-point for education. Without that poise, which is a result aimed at by neither the old nor the new methods of education, he will presently be cramped and distorted by his environment. For although you may choose the environment of a nursery or a school, there are few indeed who can choose their desired environment in the world at large. But give the child poise and the reasoned control of his physical being, and you fit him for any and every mode of life; he will have wonderful powers of adapting himself to any and every environment that may surround him. (p83)

Is it, I would ask, likely on the face of it that the right position in which a man or woman should stand for health’s sake should be one needing positive strain to preserve? The thing is preposterous, and I am convinced that nothing can result from the application of such principles but complete chaos, physical and mental. (p91)

Alexander in 80 Days

During one of the final lessons I taught last year, I was referring to some of Alexander's writings and it occured to me that it was time to read his books again.

Alexander's 4 books constitute the broadest, deepest, and most detailed account of the Technique yet written. They are:

• Man's Supreme Inheritance: Conscious Guidance and Control in Relation to Human Evolution in Civilization (1918)
• Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (1923)
• The Use of the Self (1932)
• The Universal Constant in Living (1942)

It's been a few years since I visited them thoroughly and they are the sort of books that take on different and deeper meanings as one's own experience of the Technique progresses. I was curious how I would encounter them this time around, and how they would relate to my 2012 ideas about the Technique.

Being the start of a new year, I decided to read them all in 80 days. That's only eleven pages per day, but some of those pages are pretty dense. I'll be blogging some choice quotes and reviewing each book along the way. I hope these posts will encourage you to explore the work further and think about it in new ways!

Practical and Flexible: Applications of the Alexander Technique

As 2011 draws to a close I've been reflecting on my teaching this year. What has struck me most is just how practical and flexible the Alexander Technique is. Rather than write an article about it I've decided simply to list all the activities in which I've helped students use the Technique this year, well at least as many activities as I can remember.

Some students wanted to do their activities with more power, some with less pain, some with more precision, others with less stress. Whatever the desired outcome, the Technique only exists in activity. As Cathy Madden says,"It's a 'how' not a 'what.' It's a way of doing something else."

This year my students' activities have included:

Acting

Sitting, Standing, and Walking whilst heavily pregnant

Listening to others

Playing the cello

Breathing

Dealing with needy colleagues

Speaking more loudly

Turning to look behind oneself

Running

Cycling

Establishing rapport

Learning new accents and pronunciation

Psychotherapy

Yoga asanas

Push-ups

Bends on a gym ball

Preparing for exams

Carrying small children

Fielding challenging questions

Lunges

Counselling

Public speaking

Humming

Operating heavy machinery

Using computers

Climbing stairs

Swimming

Singing

Meditating

Dancing

University lecturing

and last but not least, I've taught several students in the activity of teaching the Alexander Technique!

What is the Alexander Technique?

I've been asking and answering this question for more than ten years and the perfect, simple and universal answer still eludes me! Perhaps this is because the Technique is only ever manifest in particular instances of its application; it doesn't exist, and therefore cannot be defined, independently of the contexts in which it is learned and used. Alexander himself was reluctant to name what he did, saying, "How can you name something that is so comprehensive?"

With all of this in mind I've put together some answers that I regularly give to the question, "What is the Alexander Technique?" None of these say anything about how it is learned or how it works but are instead oriented to the sorts of practical interests that bring people to the Technique in the first place.

The Alexander Technique is:

• A way of aligning your intentions and actions.

• A way of learning about and improving the underlying patterns of co-ordination in anything you do. 

• A way to bring conscious and unconscious aspects of yourself into a more harmonious relationship. 

• A way of co-operating with your own structure in any activity.

• A way of creating and carrying out new patterns of behaviour.

• A way of organising yourself in time and space. 

• A way of bringing yourself into wholeness in the pursuit of a goal. 

• A way of creating new and better choices for how and what you will and will not do.

So the Alexander Technique is a way of doing something, rather than being an activity in itself. It is not the only way but it is surely an incredibly versatile and effective way of achieving the above qualities, states and behaviours.

I hope this list will get you thinking about what the Alexander Technique is for you, as well as what it could become for you if you were to expand your current definitions and goals.

I also hope it gives you some ideas for how you may explain the Technique to friends who are curious about what it is and why you, or they, might pursue it.

Who’s Talking? Aspects of Self in Communication

Our society is steeped in Cartesian dualism: both the mind/body dualism that was formulated by Descartes, and the more recent brain/body dualism that arose with the idea that mind equals brain.

Communication is one domain in which these dualisms exert a particularly strong influence on our concepts and behaviour. This article explores some ways in which we may approach a less dualistic and more whole mode of communication.

Talking Heads

The term “talking head” exemplifies the pervasive notion that communication is primarily a matter of words: words that are formulated by a brain and then spoken by an obedient mouth.

The Cartesian corollary of the talking head is the notion of “body language.” This is the stunted and ad hoc recognition that how we move the bits of ourselves below our heads is somehow a part of communication too.

Many of our politicians offer striking examples of this divided approach to communication. They spout formulaic platitudes and mantras whilst robotically waving their arms and raising their hands to somehow punctuate their vocal efforts. These gestures generally have a sense of jerkiness and compulsion about them and bespeak ambivalence and mal-coordination rather than congruence.

Approaching Wholeness: From Parts to Aspects

As a communication coach I teach my clients ways to constructively involve their whole selves as they communicate. As an antidote to the dismembering of the self into parts – talking head/languaging body – I refer to aspects of self that are not physiological divisions, but reminders of what is included as we re-member our wholeness.

As whole beings we have many aspects, including:

• Bodily aspects
• Social aspects
• Professional aspects
• Emotional aspects
• Sensory and sensual aspects
• Intellectual aspects
• Cultural aspects
• Spiritual aspects
• Unknown aspects

This list is open-ended, always incomplete, and there is a degree of arbitrariness to these aspects of self. They will vary in meaning and prominence between cultures, between individuals within a culture, and between different moments in the life of any individual.

The open-endedness and the cultural and personal relativity of these aspects of self are strengths. They offer a way for each of us to tap into our unique experiences and perspectives so that we can communicate authentically and originally. They also give us room to continue learning, changing, wondering, and growing in our senses of ourselves as people and communicators. 

A Whole Approach to Skill Development

I incorporate the Alexander Technique to accelerate and deepen this general approach to communication. But even without the added benefits of the Alexander Technique, I find that a simple reminder to my clients of their complex wholeness – which includes these aspects of self – strikes a chord of re-cognition and quickly enables new communication possibilities to sprout.

Alongside this general approach there will always be specific communication skills to learn, such as enunciation, linguistic patterning, choreographed moves, and listening and observation skills. By involving our whole selves in the learning and application of these skills we can ensure that they are authentic; not awkward add-ons to talking heads, but deeply integrated skills that enhance our capacities to express ourselves as whole people.

The sustained pursuit of such an approach to communication will be transformative. It will expectably lead to greater levels of spontaneity, responsiveness, rapport, and even wisdom. These qualities are the hallmarks of great communication, but are elusive if we try to pursue them directly. However, as we develop our abilities to function as whole people, we clear the way for these qualities to emerge harmoniously in each unique context that we encounter as communicators.