"...all those who wish
to change something in themselves must learn to make it a principle of
life to inhibit their immediate reaction to any stimulus to gain a desired
end, and...they must continue this inhibition whilst they employ the new
direction of their use."
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Coordination
Many people who think
of "coordination" think of "physical" coordination--a great athlete making
a brilliant play, or a ballet dancer leaping into the air. For us,
coordination is not simply "physical." It is the sum total of how you are
being in any given moment. It is the ability to decide to do something and
decide how you want to do it, and to be able to do what you decided in the
way you decided to do it. It is as much, if not more, about "thinking"
than it is about "doing."
Thinking
Many people who
think of coordination as a "physical" activity, think of "thinking" as a
"mental" activity. Thinking, however, is an embodied activity. Although
you may not be making any large movements when you are sitting in a chair,
reading, or working at a desk preparing a report, you are still
moving--you breathe, you swallow, you blink your eyes, you make small
adjustments as you sit. How does this moving happen? Who decides to shift
weight, blink or breathe? You do. That deciding--whether you are aware of
it or not--is part of what we call thinking.
Habitual
Actions
Some actions, such as breathing, blinking and
swallowing, are almost entirely automatic. Although you can consciously
decide when and how you breathe or blink, these actions do not need any
conscious attention to happen.
Many other actions--shifting your
weight in a chair, reaching to pick up your cup, walking--also seem to
happen without much conscious attention. If you are like most people, you
may be aware of deciding to pick up a book that is across the room, but
after deciding you want the book, and beginning the action that will take
you to it, you probably don't consciously pay attention to how you are
getting there. You walk, as you do most activities, habitually, without
being consciously aware of how you are walking.
"How" is a
Quality
When we talk about "how" a person moves, we mean the
quality with which they move. When the quality of a person's moving is
free and easy, if what they are doing looks graceful and effortless, we
say they are "well coordinated." If they look tense or awkward as they
move, we say they are "mal-coordinated" or "poorly coordinated."
How do you usually move? Is your walking easy and free? Do you
feel easy and graceful as you reach for your cup? Can you sit comfortably
on a bench that doesn't have a back for more than a few minutes?
"Good" and "Bad" Coordination
Why do some people
seem to be naturally well coordinated, while others seem awkward and
clumsy? Why do some people stand and move easily, and have "good posture,"
while others have "poor posture?"
Sometimes people have
physiological conditions that affect how they move. They may have cerebral
palsy, arthritis, or other neurological or structural conditions which
make it difficult for them to move freely.
Most often, however, we
interfere with our natural coordination. We usually don't know we are
interfering. A person does not wake up one morning and say, "I think I'll
interfere with my coordination today, so my moving will be awkward and
clumsy." Instead, as we grew from an infant to a toddler to a child to an
adolescent, we began to interfere with our coordination, without knowing
that we did.
Why Would We Start Interfering?
There
are many reasons. Perhaps we got good grades in school by studying hard,
but "studying hard" meant hunching over our books, and gripping our pen
tightly as we wrote. Perhaps we learned to play the piano, or some other
musical instrument, and made sounds our teacher liked by using extra
effort when we played. Or perhaps we had a teacher of music, dance or
sports who told us to move in a certain way, and as we tried to do what
our teacher wanted, we mis-coordinated ourselves to do it.
Whatever
the reason, most of us developed habitual ways of doing all our
activities, habitual ways that include interfering with our natural
coordination as we do them.
If We're Mal-Coordinated Because We
Interfere, Why Don't We Just Stop Interfering?
Remember that
most people don't pay attention to how they move. Their moving is
habitual. It is the way they always move. Because their way of moving is
habitual, it feels normal. What feels normal also feels right. Here's an
experiment to try to demonstrate how right something can
feel:
Without thinking about it, clasp your hands together. One or
the other thumb should be on top. How does that feel? If it is the way you
usually clasp your hands, it will feel "normal," "usual," something you
are accustomed to.
Now unclasp your hands, and re-clasp them, with
the other thumb and fingers on top. How does that feel? For most people it
feels "not normal," "awkward" or "uncomfortable," and
"wrong."
Clasping your hands in the usual way is like walking,
sitting, standing, or doing any activity in your usual way--it feels
normal, and feels right. So, even if you know that your usual way of doing
activities is "mal-coordinated," it still feels right--or at least it
feels like what you are accustomed to. A new way, even one which is "well
coordinated" will feel "not normal" and may feel wrong. So why don't
people stop interfering? Because they don't know they are interfering in
the first place, and because to stop interfering and move in a new way
would probably feel wrong. And why would anyone choose to do something
that feels wrong?
So How Do I Stop
Interfering?
Fortunately, the Alexander Technique provides a way
to learn how to stop interfering with your coordination any time you
choose. It is a simple technique, but requires patience and clear
practice. You will have to learn how to keenly observe how you move, and
to change how you are directing yourself to move--in other words to change
your thinking.
Please let us know how your experiments turn out. Contact us at the
TPS Post Office.
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