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Author: Lulie Westfeldt

51. The Word is Not Enough

51. The Word is Not Enough

For a person who is attempting to learn Alexander’s work from written or verbal instructions, there are pitfalls at every turn. Alexander himself never learned through words. He learned through a series of experiences. So the pupil, to learn, must be given the experience again and again, so that the experience and the appropriate words will be associated in the pupil’s consciousness. The general semanticists say, very properly, that words are maps of a certain territory, but they are not…

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28. Primary Control

28. Primary Control

He used these words to describe a relationship of the head, neck and back in which the neck became progressively freer, the head tended to go forward in relation to the neck and up, and the back tended to lengthen and widen. When this relationship or pattern is working, all parts of the body involved in use and movement work cooperatively together and to the best advantage. Such right use in the ordinary activities of everyday life had a dramatically…

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12. Back to Lenghten and Widen

12. Back to Lenghten and Widen

One thing that it is important for us to realize in considering the thoughts given to the back is that the back includes the pelvis; it does not stop at the waistline. And what Alexander meant by “lengthening the back’ is that one must think the whole back, including the pelvis, upwards.Lulie Westfeldt (“F. Matthias Alexander, The Man and His Work” – Chapter 13 p140)

11. Head to Go Forward and Up

11. Head to Go Forward and Up

“Head forward” might have several meanings. Most people think of it as head forward in space. Alexander in using the words meant head forward in relation to the neck. It took a long time and hard work to find this out. One realized in time that his hands, which he used in demonstrating and teaching, were always tending to take the neck back and the head forward in relation to it. Once one had discovered this, one could ask him…

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2. Inhibition

2. Inhibition

Alexander’s technique of inhibition must also be described. When Alexander first discovered the new head, neck and back pattern and tried to maintain it in speaking, he found he could not do so. After much reasoning and experimentation, he finally reached the conclusion that there was an inseparable fusion between the idea of speaking and the body pattern always used in speaking. If he was to get rid of the old body pattern that had caused his voice trouble and…

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