Zen Mind, Alexander Mind

By Bill Olson

I don’t claim to be an expert on Zen Buddhism, or meditation as a practice, or enlightenment.  But in the course of my teaching I have had more than one student, some of whom are more conversant with Zen thought than I am, comment on how “zen” the practice of the Alexander Technique is.  The “zen” quality of the Alexander Technique stems from the sense of calm control it offers, which is free from the fretting and grasping that most activities trigger in the course of daily life.  And it all grows from one of the more confusing concepts in the world of Alexander Technique, inhibition.

Most people carry their routine daily tasks with them throughout the day.  For example, when we get up in the morning and brush our teeth, we don’t stop when we put the toothbrush down.  Instead, we continue to carry whatever tension or anxiety might arise from the activity.  This could range from a feeling of unwillingness to go to the dentist next week to frustration about the sink draining slowly to the habitual tension of the hand holding the toothbrush.

So we go on to get dressed, but in some ways we’re still brushing our teeth.  We still suffer the physical effects of the worries or habits we indulge when brushing.  And once we’re dressed, we don’t put down the stresses or habits we associate with that activity.  Say the need to hurry up or the distress that our clothes don’t fit the way we’d like.  This is how it continues throughout the day, picking up more and more activities with the stresses and tensions that go with them, without putting them down before we move on to the next.  As we drive to work we are still brushing our teeth and getting dressed, at work we’re still driving/brushing/dressing, and so on.

By the end of the day, no wonder people feel like they’re a mess.  The sigh at the end of the day is an attempt to finally put all these burdens down.  Breathing exercises, as are common in meditation and other disciplines, are in part an attempt to remove the tensions that those everyday activities bring out. 

How much easier would it be if we put down one activity before we picked up another?  If we stopped driving completely before we greeted our co-workers or sat at our desk?  How many things are we carrying by the time we get home from work, the gym and a trip to the grocery store? 

Or even better, what if we never “picked up” the activity in the first place?  What if we decided that whatever motions we wanted to complete, we weren’t going to take on the tensions/anxieties/habits that come with the activity? 

Then we would be inhibiting.  We would be choosing a new path that allows less tension and more freedom.  Why does this end up feeling “zen?”

Because when we inhibit, when we say “no” to picking up the activity in the first place, we have to also choose to be present in the moment as we perform the activity.  So we aren’t “brushing our teeth.”  Even that would be end-gaining.  Our mind would already be ahead of our body, forcing us to feel rushed and out of control.  Instead, we need to be present for all of the experience, simply choosing to raise our our arm toward our mouth, or move our arm to create friction between brush and teeth, leaving ourselves open to experimentation and observation just the way Alexander did himself.  If we truly are present, we can even take into account changes caused by the activity itself and continue to make new choices as conditions alter.  Even in the midst of the activity.

At that point, if we’re lucky, we experience the ease of movement and freedom from tension which grants us calm and control that is only possible if we truly inhibit.  While it may not be Nirvana, inhibiting allows us to turn any activity into an act of meditation so we can “be here now.”

December, 2018