Changing times: On-line

Changing times: On-line teaching

By Malcolm Williamson

Alexander used an analogy borrowed from nineteenth century technology to explain “primary control”. He described it as the body’s self-regulator operating like the governor of a steam engine that prevents its moving parts from running amok and causing irreparable damage to itself.1 Interestingly, a governor was also known as an ‘inhibitor’ and Alexander’s major contribution was to develop a self-help way of bringing an inhibitory control over disruptive habits (misuses) as key to the “harmonious working of the parts” of the human body. Although inhibition is necessary it is not always sufficient. Alexander thought mankind had ceased being a natural animal.2 In adapting to the conditions of a rapidly changing, industrialized world most adults have developed habits that interfere with the integrated functioning of the organism. Restoring this organization is fundamental to our ability to adapt successfully and respond moment-to-moment to our surroundings. But there is a problem with trying to do this directly for ourselves. The familiar “guiding sensations”3 (feelings) we use to organize our movements are themselves the product of our aberrant muscular habits – the very things we may want to change. Now, the idea of nerves as telegraph wires carrying information is another analogy borrowed from engineering. In-put (afferent, sensory) nerves transmit information about our environment. They also transmit information that gives rise to the “resident” feelings produced by our body as it moves. This was William James’ explanation:

[W]e have, whenever we perform a movement ourselves, another set of impressions, those, namely, which come up from the parts that are actually moved. These kinæsthetic impressions . . . are so many resident effects of the motion. Not only are our muscles supplied with afferent as well as with efferent nerves, but the tendons, the ligaments, the articular surfaces, and the skin about the joints are all sensitive, and, being stretched and squeezed in ways characteristic of each particular movement, give us as many distinctive feelings as there are movements possible to perform.4

As for information transmitted by the out-going (efferent, motor) nerves that innervate our muscles, these send us no feedback (or feelings) whatsoever. Sherrington noted:

I reflect that various parts of my brain are involved in the coordinative management of [the act of standing], and that in doing so my brain’s rightness of action rests on receiving and despatching thousands of nerve messages, registering and adjusting pressures, tensions, etc., in various parts of me. Remembering this I am perhaps rather disappointed at the very little that my mind has to tell me about my standing.5 intervene between our wishing and the act that follows. Many theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon from Descartes’ notion about the pineal gland to divine interventions! The one that gave support to Alexander’s empirical discoveries was ideomotor theory that still retains credibility.6 Quite simply, we think an action (James gave the example of getting out of bed on a winter’s morning) and, so long as there are no other conflicting thoughts – “It’s cold and dark outside” – it happens.7 To summon up a movement voluntarily, according to the theory, we have to think of what it felt like on a previous occasion:

James concludes, before performing a voluntary action (e.g., making a toast at a dinner party), one must have an idea of what that action is to be. These ideas are often based on memory. As James (Vol. 2, p. 487) . . . notes, ‘If, in voluntary action properly so-called, the act must be foreseen, it follows that no creature not endowed with divinatory power can perform an act voluntarily for the first time.’ These representations are not of the action itself but, rather, of the perceptual consequences in the world (or in the body) of the action having been expressed.8

James wondered how it is that we make a particular movement for the very first time. He could think only of random and reflex movements, or “passively received experiences” as when we allow someone else to move us.9 The first chiefly relies on trial-and-error; the second can be more reliable but is obviously impractical as a permanent solution. Whatever, the fact remains that, until we have experienced the ‘resident’ feelings produced by a movement, we have no conception of what it feels like to do it. But there is a third way unknown to James (cue fanfare): the way of working developed by Alexander:

. . . teaching to the principles of conscious guidance and control on a basis of re-education and general coordination . . . [the pupil] can be taught to inhibit the faulty movements, and his teacher can assist him to gain slowly but correctly the necessary experiences in the correct use of those muscular mechanisms which will enable him sooner or later to govern them properly without the aid of the teacher, and to employ them with accuracy and precision . . . 10

In this case, it is usually a matter of changing a longstanding habit. So first, the pupil has to prevent it, and the associated feelings, from happening. He refuses to contemplate carrying out the activity by saying ‘no’ or withholding consent. Then, he must allow himself to be guided by his teacher in restoring primary control and gaining “the necessary experiences in the correct use of [his] muscular mechanisms”. And only then can he be taught with

«continued from previous page any certainty how to give directions for the new manner of use for himself. In March 1944, Alexander wrote that none of his pupils had had the necessary outlook and attitude to learn the technique until he had changed their manner of use with his hands.11 He admitted that some limited correction of a specific misuse could be made without “hands-on”. For example, Raymond Dart maintained that lying down in “infantile supine posture” (‘semi-supine’) could correct common postural twists if practised regularly for several months.12 But it is another matter to teach someone the means for reaching a plane of conscious control13 – “the reasoned control of his physical being, and [to] fit him for any and every mode of life.”14 In fifty years of teaching Alexander found that “hands-on” guidance was essential for enabling life-long “end-gainers” to appreciate and learn his means-whereby approach. But his pupils were mostly of a conventional or conservative upbringing. Could it be that in today’s more diverse society, and with the many self-improvement methods now on offer, our pupils are better informed and ready to learn? Recently, there has been an upsurge in the number of teachers offering on-line lessons that obviously precludes hands-on guidance. The situation is reminiscent of when teachers began offering telephone lessons some years ago. Then, STAT was quick to speak out against the untested practice. Today, we are all living in very different and difficult circumstances. The Society is understandably reluctant to discourage on-line teaching during the current pandemic when this is often the only means of livelihood for teachers. No doubt teaching will and should evolve to include the latest communication technologies. However, until we have more evidence of on-line teaching’s effectiveness, we “must set realistic expectations” and “dstress the importance of direct practical experience” to our pupils.15 And, in the longer term, it is essential that teachers continue refining their hands-on skills in their daily practice, not only for their own satisfaction but to keep this unique feature of our teaching alive for the next generation.

Endnotes 1 UOS (Gollancz 1985), 65; UCL (Mouritz 2000), 51. 2 MSI (Methuen 1910), 3; (Mouritz 1996), 4, 191. 3 MSI (1910), 80; (1996), 14, 58, 118, 148; CCCI (Mouritz 2004), 95, 131, 132, 150, 153, 180. 4 James, W. (1890/1950). Principles of Psychology, Vol. 2, 488. 5 Man on his Nature, quoted in UCL (2000), 117. See also James, “the discharge into the motor nerves is insentient” (Vol. 2, 493). 6 Ballard, K. (2015). “Ideomotor Principle. Was Alexander Correct?” in Rennie, C., Shoop, T. & Thapen, K. (eds.), Connected Perspectives (Hite), 49-71. Also Morsella, et al (2020), note 8. 7 James, Vol. 2, 524. 8 Morsella, E., Velasquez, A.G., Yankulova, J.K., Li, Y., Wong, C.Y., and Lambert, D. (2020). ‘Motor Cognition: The Role of Sentience in Perception and Action’. Kinesiology Review, (Ahead of Print). Human Kinetics, Inc. https://doi. org/10.1123/kr.2020-0017 9 James, “passive movements – movements communicated to our limbs by others” (Vol. 2, 488). 10 MSI (1996), 135. 11 Draft reply South African Memorandum, March 1944 in Irene Tasker by Stratil, R. (Mourtiz 2020, 322-5) and Letters Volume II 1943–1955, edited by Vineyard, M. & Fischer, J.M.O. (Mouritz 2020, 336-9). 12 Dart, R. (1947). ‘The Attainment of Poise’ in Skill and Poise, (STAT Books 1996), 134. Several teachers have reported corroborating cases. 13 CCCI (2004), 7-8n., 33, etc. and UCL (2000), 12. 14 MSI (1996), 83; cf. 1910, 72-3. 15 STAT Guidelines on remote working. https:// alexandertechnique.co.uk/for-members/notice/statguidance-remote-working (accessed 19/11/2020).

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