The Ministry of Silly Walks

In Osaka last week, I introduced my trainees to the Ministry of Silly Walks. 

I don’t know where I heard it, but I was once told that the famous Monty Python Skit by John Cleese called “The Ministry of Silly Walks” was based on his experience of Alexander Technique lessons in London, back in the early ’70s.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hwqki

Each trainee had to come up with a silly walk, then be able to explain the walk anatomically do that it could be recreated by someone by just listening to the description. Try it out!

Why do that?

Precision. 

To analyse the postural movements of others, your first order of business is to analyse your own. 

You can only see in others what you already know in your Self.

Years ago – when I first started observing Posture in others – I noticed this tendency. I was still a novice at observing, whereas the rest of the class had been doing it for years. My precious teacher Marjorie Barstow (1869~1996) – or Marj as we called her – would work with a student on walking and then the whole class would go…

Ahhhh… *** WOW * Look at that! 

And I would be quickly looking around thinking some famous person had just walked in the room…

But no, they were talking about the person walking after Marj’s lesson.

HUH?

I couldn’t see much; I thought it must be baloney.

And then Marj introduced me to some amazing changes in the way I walked and suddenly – almost like magic – I began to see the same changes in others.

Teachers of voice, yoga, music, martial arts, Pilates and even Alexander, cannot help others any more than they can help themselves.

Only when you understand your Postural movement with precision can you help others with theirs – and this especially true if you are working online.

That’s why at BodyChance, we take time to describe all changes anatomically – giving you an ability to analyse your Self. This is part of our Pro BodyThinking Training, but everyone at BodyChance starts this with their first lesson.

These days, I am pretty busy managing my school in Japan, so I continue to advise my readers to get a copy of my extensive course – 66 videos, 30 lessons and a lot of supporting materials – to upgrade your ability to describe – AND SEE – subtle postural movements. More about my offer here:

BodyThinking Online + “How to Teach Online (by example)”

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

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