Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved is a Pulitzer Prize winning book and the latest we are reading in my book group.  I will not attempt to discuss this remarkable and brilliant book about enslavement but there is a section that I wish to quote.

Love yourself and your flesh

Baby Suggs has been praying, surrounded by a group of escaped slaves who had been dancing in a secluded woodland glade. She talks of the cruelty of the slave traders towards her people ‘Yonder they do not love your flesh’  ( I have not included those parts here) and she passionately tells her community the way in which they can begin to heal themselves.

‘In the silence that followed, Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart… She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine….

In this place , we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard… Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face…. You got to love it, you.. This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance. Backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I’m telling you….  So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up… and all your inside parts…. hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize’ 

Self Care

The Alexander Technique is described as a form of self care but too often it is just seen as a way of ‘fixing a problem’.  For instance, research has shown that the AT helps back and neck pain. It’s also known for reducing tension and improving our posture. Lesser understood is that it is also a way to help us accept ourselves as we are, to love and care for ourselves in a way that allows us to blossom and grow. These qualities are harder to research scientifically, so it hasn’t been proved.  However, Morrison’s words resonate deeply with the essence of AT work.  This deep love and respect for ourselves is also incorporated into the Psychosynthesis Therapy training that I did.

Love your hands!

What a difference it makes to someone struggling with the pain of RSI for instance, if they include the idea of loving their hands. We can get annoyed with ourselves and our hands if we have RSI!  But annoyance merely increases the tension and then the pain. Loving our hands allows a different way of dealing with the problem and will enhance our Alexander lessons. Healing is likely to take place more quickly if we are kind to ourselves.

Toni Morrison said that in her book Beloved “The conceptual connection is the search for the beloved – the part of the self that is you, and loves you, and is always there for you.  Her words are well worth absorbing into our awareness so that we can begin to embody them. This will surely help us to heal and live our lives more richly.

Teaching for over 35 Years

Back in 2022 I reached a milestone, having been teaching the Alexander Technique for 35 years. I am grateful that I’ve been able to help hundreds of people over this time. Also, the Alexander Technique has been such an invaluable asset for me and it really is a skill for life. Not only is my work something that I love doing (and pays my bills) but it also helps me personally whilst I teach it. How does it do that? In order to convey the idea of Alexander work through my hands as I touch clients, I need to simultaneously think about my own body use. If you like, I also give myself an Alexander lesson.  The AT is a great example of self-care and lifelong learning.

Alexander teachers think about our own body use whilst teaching others

Self-Help Skills

Over the years, the Alexander Technique has been a wonderful tool I have used to help myself. When I started learning, as a mature student and single parent doing a degree, the AT helped me manage my stress levels and a back injury I had gained as a teen during ballet training.

Some years after I qualified as an Alexander teacher, I had a major operation followed by a long period of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS. Being able to use the technique aided my recovery. It helped me pace myself and to avoid getting into lots of unhelpful habits of body Use whilst being so depleted.

Do You Experience Shoulder Tension?

Another example of how the AT can help me personally is during the act of teaching. Most people experience shoulder tension at some time and many pupils come to me hoping to reduce theirs’. I am far more likely to help them if I can let go of my own tension first, by working on myself. So I need to be aware of my own habits of misuse and constriction, then let these go, so that my hands do not communicate my tension to the pupil.

As I teach I think about my own body use. I remind myself to let my movements be free and easy, so I avoid creating tension as I work. Consequently, I look after myself at the same time as I help someone else. As a result, the quality of my teaching is improved and I protect myself from developing strains. It really is a win-win situation!

Learning the Alexander Technique Gives You a Skill for Life

Learning the Alexander Technique helps us become aware of our unhelpful habits and then we aim to avoid getting into them them during our activities. By using our thinking and applying the AT in our lives, we reduce strain and move more easily. Gradually this becomes a way of life.

I recently went to a concert and was pleased to meet a musician who had been my client about twenty years ago. He had come to me with shoulder problems associated with playing the violin and had found the AT very helpful. It was really affirming to hear him say ‘Alexander work has stayed with me all this time. I still think about it and use it on a regular basis’. When people like him take responsibility for their learning and apply what they learn, they can gain a skill they can use throughout their life. It is important to remember that the Alexander Technique is a form of learning, not a treatment.

Alexander Technique Introductory Books

There are an increasing number of excellent books on the Alexander Technique and its application to many aspects of our lives. A  good number may be found in my bookshop. One introductory book happens to be called ‘The Alexander Technique: A Skill For Life’. Author Pedro Alcantara obviously agrees with me!

A Skill for life

This testimonial shows that when people take AT on board, it really can give them a skill that can last for decades.

 “I learned AT from you for a year and a half around 1991. I have recently resumed Alexander lessons with a former student of yours… and it has been wonderful to rediscover all the things I learned from you… I have never entirely forgotten what you taught me and the muscle memory and other memories keep coming back…. after 30 years”  

The Thinker

I went to Tate Modern to see ‘The Making of Rodin’ exhibition. This was the first time I had been to a Gallery for some time, because of Covid restrictions.  It was so good to see art again!  Rodin’s plaster models in the exhibition show him experimenting with how to portray movement and form.  He even explores how a man can be thinking with every muscle in his body.

‘The Thinker’ by Rodin illustrates the concept that bodies express our thoughts and feelings, that our mind and body work together as one unit. This concept underpins F M Alexander’s technique that we still teach today. Many people just associate the Alexander Technique with issues such as reducing back pain, which it has been proven to do. But AT work goes far deeper than people realise. For instance, when we react to stress, we often tighten our necks and backs, thereby contributing to painful problems there.  We can learn how to avoid doing that….

Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ at Tate Modern 2021

I was interested to see a great quote from Rodin on the wall. This reveals how Rodin made the Thinker think with his whole body:

‘What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist, and gripping toes‘. Rodin.

Alexander would have appreciated this statement as he believed we tend to ‘translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension’ (Aphorisms). However Alexander realised this tendency can be modified by our conscious control. We can re-educate ourselves to respond differently.

Psychophysical Re-education

Alexander used the term ‘Psycho-physical‘ to express this mind-body unity:

‘The term is used…. to indicate the impossibility of separating “physical” and “mental” operations in … the working of the human organism’ .  Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual 1923.  

Alexander said he was forced to use the words ‘psycho’ and ‘physical’ because there is no other word that expresses the amalgamation of both concepts.

If Rodin’s Thinker was having Alexander lessons  his teacher could explore how much pain he experiences in those scrunched up feet, neck, shoulders, wrist and back. How often does he assume that position? Is it a habit, or a one-off expression of internal turmoil? Can he re-educate himself, let go of his habit and learn to change the way he reacts to situations? If so, he can learn how to continue his thinking but without reacting in that way and creating more pain.

Psycho?

Unfortunately Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Psycho’ has greatly contributed to ‘psycho’ being associated with mental instability and psychosis. This can create a misunderstanding when AT teachers use the word psychophysical! But the AT is not to do with mental illness.

Alexander described his work in a rather heavy-handed Victorian style. Unfortunately, this also includes some passages that are considered offensive and racist today. Thankfully, at the end of his most popular book, ‘The Use of the Self‘, Alexander states he deplores prejudice, ‘racial or otherwise’. Teachers are searching for a new vocabulary to express Alexander’s ideas and his books are gradually being edited to make them easier to read and more acceptable for all audiences. The essence of Alexander’s discoveries is still valuable today, so it is well worth reading his books, with an understanding that present day teachers do not hold his Victorian views of the world.

All Aspects of our Being

An important part of Alexander lessons is when pupils begin to understand this concept of psychophysical unity, of how our minds and bodies work together.  When we accept and embrace this fact, changes can take place.  This can be very healing, as can be seen in this testimonial:

‘Having someone remind me how to connect with myself again and to be aware of how I use all aspects of my being was exactly what I needed’