Just don’t do something; sit there.
Sometimes in the early stages of Alexander Technique lessons, I might ask a student to ‘do nothing’ while they’re lying on the massage table, or to ‘let go’ as I move their arm. Often they will say something like ‘Oh, I’m good at doing nothing!’ They then may discover that not doing anything isn’t as easy as it sounds.
I’m asking the Alexander Technique student (we’re all Alexander Technique students) to inhibit. This isn’t inhibition as in suppressing; it more has to do with stopping your initial response giving you a chance to do something in a new, conscious, beneficial way. We start by stopping. We want to give ourselves a choice, instead of just reacting. Here are some thoughts about F.M. Alexander’s inhibition, starting with Alexander himself:
“Boiled down, it all comes to inhibiting a particular reaction to a given stimulus.”
F.M. Alexander
“Inhibition is the central function of a nervous system which, when it functions well, is able to exclude maladaptive conflict without suppressing spontaneity.”
Frank Pierce Jones
“Inhibition is the ability to stop, to delay our response until we are adequately prepared to make it.”
Michael Gelb
“The only way you’ll get a releasing process is if you stop…”
“Without saying ‘no’, the pupil’s habits come into play…”
“If you’re going to do something, you want to ensure as far as you can that what you’re doing is appropriate, that you’re using the requisite amount of energy, and that you’re doing what you intend to do.”
Walter Carrington
Pause.
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC
(917) 709-4648
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