Am I Overdoing the Underdoing?

In our work we talk a lot about effort - it's a big topic. And it is closely aligned with suffering - physical, mental, existential.

While exploring Alexander's work, we discover the needlessness of pushing, of trying - we call it over-doing to our students.

Then we make a silly mistake.

We overdo the underdoing. The Efforting translates into "not Efforting" which is an effort.

At least I did that, back in the 70s when I trained in London.

The blinkers first started to fall off my face one night when I was working as an usher at the National Theatre on the South Bank - and came across a group of my colleagues giggling…

They were surreptitiously watching a fellow usher pick up some flyers off the floor - flyers that one of the watching group had deliberately thrown there!

Why?

Because they wanted to watch how he picked up those flyers.

First, he stood before one flyer for many seconds before moving.

This was after deliberately positioning himself conveniently close to a flyer. As he paused, he took some large breaths - and that's when I started to feel embarrassed for me.

I knew who he was. He was another fellow training to be a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Not at my school, but another one closely aligned with it.

And he was doing exactly what I did.

Waiting, thinking, planning, feeling, organising - looking for a moment that seemed right to bend over into a "good monkey" that would garner the praise of my teachers…

"Yes! Yes! …. Oh wow!!!" Betty used to say to me when I sometimes got it right.

And here was everyone else - all my fellow ushers - thinking this was a lunacy show.

This kind of teaching won't work well in most business settings. It's a "stop and say no" plan; whereas you need "Yes and keep going" plan.

How to teach is an integral part of my "Getting Alexander Work in Businesses" course starting in May. If you are serious about moving your practice in a new direction, book on.

Anyone who books in the next week, gets a free consult with me before we start.

https://bodychance.mykajabi.com/p/Getting_Work_in_Businesses

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