Self-Help Alexander

by Robert Rickover
Imagine for a moment that you have a friend living on a distant
island who can never hope to study with an Alexander teacher in
person. Your friend is impressed with the many beneficial results
you've obtained from studying and applying the technique and
wants to know how he or she too can benefit from Alexander's
discoveries. What would you tell your friend? We know that
Alexander received many written requests for help, and that he took
them very seriously. I recently met a lady, who grew up in the north
of England during the 1930's and 40's who told me of her father's
correspondence with Alexander. The two men exchanged letters on
a regular basis over a period of many years.. Her father had been
interested in putting into practice the ideas he had read about in
Alexander's books and Alexander spent a considerable amount of
time and effort to help him in this project, even though the two men
never met. Alexander was very clear in his published writings that a
serious student of his work could accomplish a good deal without
the assistance of a teacher. "Anyone who will follow me through the
experiences I have set down, especially with regard to 'non-doing',
cannot fail to benefit" he wrote in the 1945 preface to the new
edition of Use of the Self. It is now nearly half a century later and
we've learned a lot more about the process of teaching the
technique. We also have new tools, like portable audio and video
equipment and the internet, that were not available in Alexander's
time. Yet very little has been done to encourage and empower the
beginning student prepared to work on his own, or with only
occasional hands-on help. What follows is a first draft of the advice I
have for such a person to help him or her started. It is intended as a
discussion piece and I welcome any comments and suggestions. I
also welcome feedback from any isolated somebody willing to
experiment... Start by reading Use of the Self, Alexander's third
book, particularly Chapter 1, "Evolution of a Technique". As with all
of Alexander's writings, these pages must be read carefully and with
a great deal of thought. Begin observing yourself in a mirror. A full
length one is best. Pay special attention to the relationship of your
whole head (not just your face) to the rest of your body. Notice how
this relationship changes as you perform simple activities like
talking, walking or raising an arm or leg. How does what you see in
the mirror correspond to what you think you're doing, and what do
you feel you're doing? Which do you think is more accurate? Take
plenty of time to explore and compare your experiences with
Alexander's. Experiment with changing the relationship of your head

to your body, perhaps tilting it a little forward or backward from the

top of your neck and observe what difference these shifts make to
your movements and to your breathing. Alexander found that the
most useful change he could make was to mentally direct his neck
to be free so that his head, followed by his body, could release in an
upward direction - delicately, without any stiffening or undue effort.
Try this. What do you notice? Does anything look or feel different?
Now, try doing the opposite. Stiffen your neck a little as you gently
push your head down towards the rest of your body. What effect
does this have on your ability to breathe, speak and perform simple
activities? What happens when you just leave yourself alone? Is
there a relationship between your head and your body that you tend
automatically to go back to? 'Exaggerate yourself' for just a
moment. Notice what happens to your head/body relationship when
you do this. Feel free to experiment in other ways that occur to you.
Pay close attention to the results of your experiments. Remember
that you are both the experimenter and the object of the
experiments. So you are always going to have to be careful that you
are not deceiving yourself. Continue comparing what you see with
what you're thinking about and what you feel. After you've
experimented in front of the mirror long enough to have made for
yourself some of the same kinds of observations that Alexander
wrote about, extend your self-study to your daily round of activities.
Can you sense how your body reacts to stressful situations, for
example? How about pleasant experiences? Does the presence of
some people act as a stimulus to tighten your neck? Do others seem
to encourage freedom and expansion in your body? Notice the
effects of sound on your physical mechanism. Experiment with
scanning your auditory 'horizon' and noting the effects of actively
listening to the highest pitched sounds available to you. These could
be high musical notes, the chirping of birds, even the sound of wind
blowing through the branches of a tree. Then, shift your conscious
attention to the lowest-pitched sounds you can hear - drum beats,
the sounds of heavy machinery, for example. What effect does this
shift have on the way you're using your body? Keep in mind that
Alexander's purpose in performing his investigations was to improve
the quality of his performance. So begin to observe other people-and animals and small children--with a view toward becoming a
good judge of quality of movement. Keep a look out for particularly
good examples of ease, balance and co-ordination. Look also for
particularly bad examples. Can you make any generalizations about
quality of movement and the nature of the head/body relationship?
Remember that Alexander spent a long time observing himself in a
mirror before he made his important discoveries. Don't expect
overnight miracles. Alfred Redden Alexander, FM's younger brother
and a brilliant teacher in his own right, gave this wonderful piece of

advice to anyone using Alexander's discoveries as a tool for selfexploration:

"Be patient, stick to principle,and it will all open up like a giant
cauliflower."
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