Q: I assume that there must have been any number of people who were eager to learn the Technique but who would have said to Alexander: “Now, that’s all very nice. It works beautifully while I’m here in the teaching room… But what about applying this to real life?” A: Indeed. But FM encouraged them to work on themselves when he wasn’t there. …”Now, when you get ready for bed tonight I want you to go about your business very…
“And as I have said previously, he [Alexander] was always telling us how to use our time constructively. For example, you’re waiting for a bus, and it’s late. ‘Now, there’s no point getting frustrated,’ he used to tell us. ‘Do a bit of work instead.’”(Taken from “Alexander Technique: The Ground Rules” – part 3 p101)
“Have I ever told you how FM came to use his hands in teaching? No? Well, after FM recovered his voice, he earned part of his living teaching drama students. I remember him telling me: ‘It never occurred to me that they wouldn’t be able to do what I told them. But they just couldn’t understand what I was talking about. So when they pulled their heads back, I just put my hands on and made an adjustment.’ Later on,…
I remember sitting on the tram on my way back to Streatham Hill and thinking, “Now, should my back be here or should it be there?” I was experimenting a lot in those early days although I didn’t understand that that wasn’t how to go about it at all. I think nearly everyone does that in the beginning. And, of course, it does take time, especially if you’re very young like I was, to appreciate that it’s all going to…
The great enemy is fixing, holding, trying to keep it. He [Alexander] used to say, “It’s not having it that matters, but it’s knowing how to get from where you are now to something a bit better.” Marjory Barlow (Direction Magazine Vol 2, No 2 – “The Barlows” p18)
It was serious work but he wouldn’t let us get heavy with it. Sometimes he would come into the room where we were all waiting, and he’d look all ‘round at our faces and he’d say, “Go and walk ‘round the block. You’re no good to me looking like that. You’re too serious, too grim.” So we often had to go and take a walk.Marjory Barlow (“Taking Time – Six interviews with first generation teachers” – p71)
FM would sometimes walk a pupil at the end of the lesson. He’d say, “Up to put the foot down because we all think down to put the foot down.” That was his shorthand version of what was involved.Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground Rules” – part 3 p103)
As I’ve said previously, FM was a very practical man. And although a lot of people got the wrong end of the stick, he always emphasised that this work wasn’t about getting in and out of chairs. It’s about paying attention to how you’re using your body whatever you’re doing – even standing on your head if that’s what you want to do!Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground Rules” – part 1 p66)
And we must always keep in mind that what distinguishes the Technique from other disciplines is that it’s a re-educational process. The pupil has to become aware of what it is that he or she is doing, and find out what’s wrong in order not to carry on doing it…Really, this is the magical thing about the Technique if it’s properly taught. The teacher doesn’t merely point out to someone what’s wrong, but instead shows them how to prevent it…
For example, as training course students he used to tell us that if we were waiting for a bus and it was a long time coming, or if we were caught in a traffic jam there was no point in getting upset about it. He would say: “Don’t get angry, give your orders [directions] instead. In that way, you can begin to extend the Technique to your emotional reactions.”Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground Rules” – part 1 p65)
The great enemy is fixing, holding, trying to keep it. He used to say, “It’s not having it that matters, but it’s knowing how to get from where you are now to something a bit better.”Marjory Barlow (Direction Magazine Vol 2 No 2 – “The Barlows” p18)
I think that a major difficulty is that the problem lies much further back than most people including a lot of Alexander teachers imagine. Everyone nowadays thinks that what they are doing is inhibiting getting in or out of chairs, but that’s not what it’s about at all. Instead, what has to take place is inhibiting the response to the first reaction to get out of the chair. That is the essence of the Technique.”Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground…
You’ve got to have the intention in the work and the attention to the details. Begin with the simple things, the things within your control, and gradually you’ll be able to extend that control even to very strong emotional reactions. That’s where people don’t apply it. That to me was such a lifesaver because I was so emotional.Marjory Barlow (Direction Magazine Vol2 No2 “The Barlows” p19)
After all, the only thing we’ve got to help us is to do it wrong, and then learn from it. I realise, of course, that this is not the attitude of most people who think that they’ve got to be right all the time. Which reminds me of something FM used to say to us: “You are right – there’s nothing wrong with any of you. You’re all quite perfect, except for what you’re doing.” That’s rather wonderful, isn’t it?Marjory…
“Neck free (or free your neck), head forward and up, back to lengthen and widen” and, very importantly, “knees to go forward and away.” He [Alexander] said to me, “If I stand beside you and say those words, you can’t go wrong. But I can’t be with you all the time so you’ve got to learn to do that for yourself.”Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground Rules” – Part 1 p29)
There’s a “still point” as Elliot would say, where, I don’t say it’s unaffected, but it’s not pushed off its perch – you’re able to keep something going whatever happens to you outwardly. And that’s the secret of life really. You don’t have any say in what happens to you, but you do have a say in how you react and that’s what this work is all about – never mind good use and all that. That’s what this work…
Then first thing in the morning when you wake up, don’t leap out of bed otherwise it will be 11 o’clock before you even think about freeing your neck. Stay there for a while with the knees drawn up and give your orders. Then get out of bed slowly – don’t rush it. It’s not good for you to go from lying on your back for hours and then to spring out of bed. Then you can work out the…
Really, it’s all quite simple: as soon as you stop pulling your head back, what else can it do apart from go forward? But you certainly won’t get it by making any sort of movement of the head, although I know that’s what a lot of people, including Alexander teachers, try and do. Let me put it another way: you’re already making the movement by pulling the head back and down, or over to the side or any of the…
Irene Tasker had some nice advice about walking. When I was working with her at Ashley Place before I went on the training course she told me that as you walk forward, you should think that your whole back is going in the direction from which you have come. It’s a preventative, and it stops you throwing the body forward. It’s wonderful – I think everyone should try it!Marjory Barlow (“Alexander Technique: the Ground Rules” p103)