Step 15 - An Unwinnable Contest Between Countless Muscular Contenders. Time for Losing.

It was August 1988, the year of the Brighton Congress and the first time Marj had stepped on to the shores of England since (she said): "…the Germans came and went." I'd been an Alexander Technique teacher for 8 years, now suffering a humiliating and debilitating injury: I could hardly pick up a cup of tea in my left hand. Three months earlier my father had died; and just before arriving at the Congress, I had dislocated my left shoulder while rock climbing in Sweden. I hated rock-climbing, and I was trying to honour my friends while dishonouring my Self. Stupid, but innocently so. So there I am, about to work as an Assistant teacher on Marj's big workshop at the Steiner Centre in London after the Brighton Congress, and I all I can feel in my upper left arm is this dull, impenetrable ache that is more commonly known as "frozen shoulder." Me, an Alexander Technique teacher with the kind of problem I was supposed to be able to educate you out of! I was shaming my Self and not feeling good at all. Seeking Help From The Best However, on my right side is one of the greatest teachers of the Alexander Technique to have ever lived - Marjorie Barstow, the first official graduate of Alexander's original Teacher Education course in 1933, and an innovatory force in the teaching methodologies of the work. "Marj" I said "I need your help." She sat me down in a chair and started her process with me… You need to understand, that with Marj at during this stage of her teaching - she was now 88 years old - you rarely got more than a few minutes of her touch. In those few minutes she would blow you away and give you enough information to keep you going for years, if you let your Self take it in. She worked with me for 40 minutes. Never before, or after in our long relationship, did I ever see her devote so much time to one person. I was truly privileged to get this help, and I was desperate. That day, I also discovered the truth about frozen shoulder, and what Alexander's Discovery has to offer if you are up for it… What Marj Did With My Frozen Shoulder Marj asked me to move my arm as she guided it; she took each finger and wiggled it about; she asked me to move my wrist; she practiced me going forward and back in the chair I was sitting; she was very tough when I started moving from anywhere but my hips as I came forward. This went on and on for a long time. At one point she declared: "I am no arm fixer" while she continued working with me. Finally we were done, and the big surprise was that there was no big surprise. No epiphanies, no magic change, nothing of the spectacular, sensory experience I usually possessed after even a quick session with Marj. My arm felt better, sure - but I could not sense anything significant had happened. Yet. Then, two hours later… Fireworks! I was standing at the back of an audience of teachers who were watching Marj work on the stage when, imperceptibly at first, a little fireworks started happening inside my shoulder. I can't tell you how exquisite that felt. From an area that had been dull and inaccessible, slowly a growing torrent of brightly coloured sensory experiences were popping into my consciousness. Soon hundreds, until I felt my shoulder containing a fireworks display exploding on New Year's Eve. From hardly feeling a thing within my upper arm, I perceived the agonist/antagonist muscular synergies that were towing back and forth as my arm battled to find it's true relationship with the rest of my whole self. Anyone who has experienced lessons knows those delicious, tingling feelings that arise as you experience an area - that has been long locked into a fixed holding pattern - slowly dislodging and reorganising itself around a new co-ordinating paradigm. Imagine that increased by a factor of 10 and you can get an insight into what was happening to me that day. It was not so much that I unlocked tension, more that I woke up to tension I needed to unlock. The process led me to understand a process that continued for years, and became the solution to my frozen shoulder. How I Managed My Frozen Shoulder Whenever the dull ache reappeared, I knew my first job was to get my mind back in there, to wake up to the sensory truth of what was going on. The area was in lock down, I needed to undo that message. When I prevented that protective lock down, what I discovered was nothing short of anarchy. It was a unwinnable contest between countless muscular contenders, all believing in their own pull, but being influenced by each other in ways that made no sense until everyone finally decided that a lock down was the only sensible solution to this chaos. Lock down squeezes off sensory information, letting "Ache" assume the role. A constant, dull soreness that defies all efforts to alleviate it, because effort is the meat it feeds upon. It's catch 22 in the body. Have you experienced this kind of ache? An ache that is not remedied by movement or massage; that feels impenetrable to thought? This knowledge turned into my key resource - thought was the tool I required. Clean clear intention without muscular effort. Using a laser-like application to the area, within the context of a model of unified co-ordination, and for sustained periods of time, I was finally able to energise that mammoth dead spot into a fount of information. Information that was vital for my conscious intent to successfully reorganise my arm around my head/spine relationship. One day someone will make sense of my word picture in neurological terms - I haven't a clue right now about that. I only know that this was the way to rid myself of frozen shoulder. Today, I have nothing like that, and if it comes again - which it can - I know what to do. It always works: I am not a victim anymore. Thank you Marj. How To Write Your Sales Letter - Part Five [NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid area getting more practical about my general comments above with the other teachers and students in my ATSuccess group. You can join anytime to be part of our discussions.] When you are writing about your solution to a person's problem, be careful not to script your Self as a God of no pain; as a God of no injury. It begs for scepticism, and can discourage the reader ever feeling capable of climbing over their mountain of choice.

Today's post is dedicated to Imogen, and others who have shared in Facebook about their own struggles in the work. Who is perfect? None of us thank goodness. Why would we want to stop learning? In your sales letter: what can you say about you, that honestly shows you continue learning? In the construction of your sales letter, you want to "disclaim" somewhere because that's more believable. Nothing can be everything, and if you appear to be saying that to your reader, you can lose some of them. For example - if you are teaching musicians and you are not a musician, or teaching radiographers and you are not a radiographer - this is the moment to tackle that issue head on. For some people, it becomes the elephant in the room, so better you deal with it up front, rather than waiting to be asked. Gather All The Doubts and Answer Them Can you recall objections past students have given you about their sessions? Write them down, make a list. Now see if you can find answers for these. It's around this point that you want to express what you can NOT do for the person, what this work is NOT about. Now you have an opportunity to introduce the "switch." What's the "switch"? It's the moment when you clarify the responsibilities of the reader. This can be done many ways, but one of the most powerful is to admit your own weaknesses - share where you are struggling. Share how this is also a process. Share your weakness, and probably theirs too. In Alexander Technique I often remind students: this work will not prevent injury or pain, because life happens. Stress happens. It's natural. What you are gaining is an effective and reliable method to deal with your stress, pain and injuries that is based on sound principles. NEXT: Create a Sense of Urgency, And Be Generous In What You Give https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/