Beret Arcaya: How Thought Becomes Action
What is thinking actually? How are habits a bias for good or ill in the attaining of a goal?
As with all of FMs’ life and work he asked questions. Those questions led him not to answers but to better and better questions! He reasoned from the known to the unknown. Can we learn to live this in ourselves and in our work? We can all gain greater freedom from answers (knowing) and instead find discovery and the abundance that comes from not knowing.
We will cover the principles that FM taught privately and in his training courses, and we will hopefully discover more cogent, skillful language with which to convey his ideas to our pupils and friends.
Because there is no division into parts and because nature is always integrated, we must improve the way our thinking becomes language. We don’t have one complete word to express mind-body-character-integration. These concepts are still too new for English to adequately convey.
The inventive use of metaphors can help, and well selected existing words can give us more clarity as we speak about the work, however we must learn to precisely describe the work and answer the questions that will come up.
There are many teachers who can effect changes in a pupil, but they cannot express what is actually happening. They can’t talk about it. They can’t clothe their work in simple direct and easy to understand language. This can be very frustrating to pupils.
There are many teachers who can’t use their hands with skill, but they may be pretty good at speaking about this work. This can be quite frustrating to pupils.
And then there are teachers who are quite at sea in both areas. This is really frustrating to them and their pupils.
Frustrated teachers tend to stop teaching and their pupils tend not to return for more work with anyone. This situation can and must be remedied.
I’d say all of us can improve in these areas, but we must think differently so we can look at the weak spots we may otherwise skirt around. I want to start a process with you all to address this. When we finish, I hope you will have greater skill whereby your thinking and verbal connections are stronger and your hands on work will happily reflect this.
Participants should bring:
one short paragraph you write (no ChatGPT please) explaining what the Alexander Technique is
a thesaurus
3 resistance bands, one heavy, one medium, one light (these are also called Dyna Band or TheraBand)
2 or 3 magnets such as one finds in a children’s toy store
a mat for a lie down and books for head support
a chair for some procedures
a way of making notes for yourself if you wish
Set up your space with room to walk a bit, lie down and use a chair.
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