Turning On The Light (Again)

Today is the 58th anniversary of Alexander’s death. He died October 10th, 1955. So yeah, his copyright has run out in most places, but not his long persuasive influence on the work. Chair and table work is still the international norm, and a BodyChance purpose is to change that totally over the next 25 years. I want to live to see it. I have ample evidence these days that in many places the reputation of our work now suffers because of it. Not the least with performing artists, who see no sense in spending half and hour being taken in and out of a chair, or cannot segue lying on a table into an effective meanswhereby for coping with the moment-by-moment demands of a performance in action. I did chair and table work for 10 years too, so if I am critical, I am critical of me for wasting all those years doing this kind of work, when I could have been developing what I am developing today. Of course I didn’t know better (most likely I don’t now either!), nor do a vast proportion of Alexander Technique teachers today know any better. They are innocent, but not harmless. Which is why next month I am going to do another daily blog on how to segue you from chair and table individual lessons, to activity-based group teaching. This is not ideological, this is about sustainability. Alexander Technique teachers are either going to have to charge outrageous prices for shorter lessons, or find a way to benefit a group of people as effectively as they now can one person. Next month is going to be about that. It’s going to be about You. The Purpose of You Anyway, I am in that kind of (critical) mood today, and so first off, I really want to write about that. I’ve had a few useless days, perhaps in my mind only. That’s the thing about business – the primary management job is the management of my Self. How I operate me, is how I operate my business. Can you separate the two? The more you pay for biz seminars, the closer you touch you. It surprised me the first time I entered a high-end Mastermind club: this was about YOU, not about business. Business was a playground, a game where the story of you gets amplified. The hidden proclivities of a low-stakes life are thrust into highlight: your obstacles are finally unmasked, and it turns out that until you change you, you will never get a great business. I’ve watched my own behaviour these last few weeks in Australia, and I’ve lost focus for awhile. I have set very high ambitions for my life, and I see more clearly that ever that the higher the objective, the clearer the breakdown becomes. It’s a gift. When you want to learn about you, just decide to do something outside of your framed Self: it’s guaranteed to grow you if you are sincere about your objective. It’s all back to Step One – your passion gives you drive, which needs focus to get you where you want to go. When you have clarity, that is linked to your passion, you let you see what you are doing to you. The clearer you make your objective, the quicker you grasp loss of focus. I know immediately when I veer off the path, because I am moving at a high velocity towards a known destination: little breakdowns stand out; new instabilities and frustrations come into existence; what once seemed friendly is now recognized as an obstacle. Your life is gets highlighted. Inevitably you crash. It is to be expected in this game. So what do you do then? How To Climb Out Of Your Own Hole

Or how to reboot after crashing your operational system. It’s been my mood these last few days – do nothing. So I did nothing. It happens every now and again – I get these dark-mood, self-manufactured crises which appear to overwhelm my ability to be consciously constructive. I believe it is part of being human, and these days I am much kinder to me about it. I know the causes, I know the solutions – but neither feel available when the mood takes over. Even Katie couldn’t help, not completely. I am sure you can all identify with this in your own way. Many of us – I believe – are in the work because we have identified self-growth as an existential need, not a choice. We either degenerate or grow – it is not possible for us to live homeostatically. That’s not an option for us, though it appears to be so for many others. These days, I just ride it out. I don’t guilt my Self, don’t rubbish my Self (sort of), give my Self permission to be dark, to be moody, to be less than perfect in what I do. I have found that if I give in to these moods, like a thunder storm in summer, they lift to reveal a crisp new freshness and joy. So that’s what I do. What do you do? https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/