Body & Emotional Unity

In 1978 Paul Collins - one of the Directors of my original Alexander training school in London - told us his story about the London Bus service.

During Paul’s Alexander training, he noticed a significant improvement in the attitude of the now-extinct Bus Conductor. Paul said then when he started his training, he found them rude and impatient. But over the next three years, Conductors become friendlier, less irritable and more focused on his needs.

He was impressed.

But that illusion fell away instantly when one of his old friends remarked to him:

“You know, I don’t understand this Alexander thing you’re doing, but I think it’s been good for you.”

“How do you mean?” Paul asked back.

“Frankly, I see a big improvement in your attitude!”

Paul said he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise: “Say more…”

“It’s just,” his friend continued, “you are less irritable and more focused on other people these days.”

OMG.

Paul realised it wasn’t the London Bus conductors who were making this change – it was him!

***

Alexander’s Discovery begins as a logical, practical discovery based on measurable phenomena.

You can test FM’s Discovery very quickly – try a running jump while pulling down your head and shortening your spine. Then repeat your run and jump – this time releasing your head up and lengthening your spine. 

No question of the result: by reversing direction from down to up, you jump higher and travel further.

Measurable, concrete – easy to test and experience.

Which is why Alexander’s Discovery (aka Alexander Technique) is thought about as something Postural, something physical. In media, it has attracted the most attention as a method to relieve pain and promote ease.

But it is much, much more than that.

This is what I was learning from Marjorie Barstow (1899~1995) – FM’s first graduate from his training school in 1932 – as I organised workshops for her in Australia and Europe during the 80s. During this apprenticeship with Marj, a new question began erupting in my mind: how about emotional development? 

Does Alexander’s Discovery help with the emotional roller coast of your life?

As Paul’s story above illustrates –as you practice over time, your tension levels are systemically reduced. This improves the underlying function of your autonomic system. You move away from being in perpetual “fight or flight” readiness (sympathetic side of your autonomic nervous system) and instead move towards “feed & breed” (para-sympathetic side of your autonomic nervous system).

i.e. you are less worried about “you” and can more readily focus on “the other”.

But is that all? 

Is that the only way FM’s work impacts us emotionally?

I was about to find out. And as a result of my experiments, I would ruin my reputation, get scolded by Marj and end up losing a lucrative income as a teacher…

There is so much more to this journey than I cannot include in these brief Daily messages. When you want to make your own adventure, you can use the map I created in my two Online courses of ThinkingBody – or should I call it FeelingBody?

Find out more about that and order from the link below:

https://bodychance.mykajabi.com/store/TGFBWut4/