Somatic Therapy with AT – Origins of Touch

Tommy Thompson designed the most magical exercise I have ever witnessed.

You tell a traumatic story twice. Once as you remember it, then a second time while Tommy uses his hands as you tell your story again. The retelling is often profoundly different.

However, to accomplish this exercise at Tommy’s level, an Alexander practitioner will draw upon every particle of their touch training. I started training in 1976 so I’m in my 50th year of exploring Alexander Touch - yet I still get the jitters whenever I propose this exercise.

However, this exercise gently leads you into Trauma-Informed Alexander work.

The underlying process in any Trauma-Informed Alexander session is to continuously orientate the exercise or session to situate the client appropriately - with enough safety to venture into a traumatic event while minimising the risk of retraumatising.

Alexander Touch is an invaluable tool to use in this situation, a tool that only fully trained Alexander teachers have access to.

ALL ABOUT TOUCH

Touch is everything in Trauma-Informed Alexander (TIA) work.

Previously I wrote:

“Alexander teachers don’t seem to realise that their approach to trauma is decades ahead of its time. The approach Alexander evolved to deal with his trauma-based behaviour wouldn’t have a name in trauma science for another sixty years…”

Unbeknownst to itself, the origins of Somatic Therapy first emerged the century before last in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1895. We can guess that this is when Alexander first started to use touch as part of his work with others. *

Teachers today continue to develop this remarkable skill, which has a central role in Trauma-informed Alexander work.

TIA PREPARATION

Tommy’s exercise invites you on a talking journey into a traumatic event. You can choose an incident that feels completed: distant and no longer activating your attention towards it. This lets your session be safer psychologically: it becomes more insightful than emotional. The TIA guidance involves continuously orienting you this way. Let me explain…

TIA ORIENTATING

In any classic Alexander lesson, you are continuously monitoring the condition of your student in relation to the environment they are placed in, and the things you are asking them to explore. Each new request depends upon what is happening with your student. This is particularly true of “activity-based” teaching where the situation the student explores changes every session.

This exactly resembles a session exploring trauma.

Alexander teachers are therefore already well skilled in orienting their session to match a situation as it evolves. Once “Tommy’s Exercise” has started, touch also plays a critical role. What initially appears as alien concepts to Alexander teachers - Titration, Resource, Pendulation and Tracking ※, turn out to be what Tommy’s hands were doing, decades before any of us had a name for it.

NEXT: Somatic Therapy with AT - Using Touch

Stay Tuned.

* No one can agree on when Alexander started using his hands; he wrote very little about that. The NZ trip to Auckland in 1895 did happen, and Alexander mentioned in his unpublished autobiography that this was a turning point in his decision to pursue the work. Therefore, it seems as good as any time to postulate that FM began using his hands then to support his work.

※ Although I am using terms that have wide usage and common understanding in the Somatic world, I am subtly realigning my definitions to reflect how these skills have been utilised in Alexander lessons since FM started it all in 1895. Alexander teachers have been practising these skills for decades - they just didn’t have a name for it till now.

NOTE
This is the 4th in a series of 12 emails as a prelude to my Trauma-Informed Alexander workshop in London (August 23rd) and New York (October 25th). You can book at the link below. Email me for a discount if you are an AT trainee or financially challenged:

Information and Bookings