Devastating News – Or Is It?

“I don’t want the person to go out thinking about their anatomy—they want to go out thinking about their sense of possibility.” 

Tommy Thompson, Zen BodyChance Pro Session, March 17th, 2024.

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When Tommy said that, I thought to my Self:

“OMG, I’m useless. I talk about anatomy all the time - I actually ENCOURAGE my students to go away with those ideas…”

At the time I was immersed in Tommy’s world - which is so different from mine. As it should be. 

Tommy’s work is full of heart, of transformation, of possibility. By the day he made that comment, I had been immersed in his work for 30 hours non-stop. Literally hundreds of people attended, most of them under 30.

Who am I then? What is my work?

Comparing your work to another can be constructive when you love your Self, when you respect, care and believe in what you do. That is true of me, so I quickly got over my “devastation” and asked my Self:

“Why do I want my students to know about their anatomy?”

And of course—then I realised—so does Tommy. He was full of talk about cranial nerves, the critical importance of the sternomastoid and trapezius muscles, and even his newly invented “triangular resonance” when using your hands to touch. I will post links to videos of those lessons in my coming emails…

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Alexander’s work is extraordinary in its breadth – from the specific anatomical details of movement to the being and doing of you. Who is you? Are you the sum total of the past that moves you into the present – or can you “withhold definition” and let an authentic self emerge from the ashes of yesterday?

I heard myself questioning my work – am I too technical? do I need more heart? – and discovering that I have my own contribution, different from Tommy’s.

In the old days of BodyChance, we used to talk about the “visiting teacher blues”. Some of us would regularly become “devastated” by the overwhelming skill, diversity and magic of visiting teachers. 

“Oh, I can’t do that.” But this refrain needs to move towards: 

“Oh, how do I do? What are my values? Why am I different?”

For example, while running this morning, I discovered a whole new way of using my arms. What amazed me was that as I let my arms move where they wanted to move, my legs changed reflexively. Suddenly, my arms—as they moved in a wider arc—caused my legs to lift higher and take longer strides. Not planned. Just happened.

I lost my shuffle and grew younger by the step! It was exhilarating and literally uplifting.

That’s my world: looking under the hood, fiddling around, discovering new aspects of our miraculous coordination and coming out lighter, freer and wiser.

Thank you Tommy - links to his lessons coming soon…