I recently shared this meme on Facebook, and received a strongly positive response:
I was being a bit facetious about the hope and achievement part, but then again, not really. One of the best features of the Alexander Technique, for example, is the principle of non-doing and the way the AT uncovers the myriad ways a person over-efforts in moving and performing activities. When you take Alexander lessons, one of the things you learn is how to do less (and consequently gain more).
But wait, you might respond, I don't have enough time to do everything I need to do now, and you want me to do less?
Guess what?
The fascinating truth is, you have enough time. You have more time than you think. The thought, "I don't have enough time" is just a thought, and is rarely true. Two basic things happen to people who feel like they are scheduled every single minute of every day, and couldn't possibly give themselves the time to slow down and recognize the present moment's experience. Either they never slow down or rest in any way, in which case eventually their systems rebel and breakdown, leaving them sick or otherwise unable to function without a long stretch of "time off." Or else folks do find patches of time, and use it to numb out, ignoring their anxious overwhelm with binge-watching or video games or compulsive exercise or Facebook or [your favorite obsession here]. I know it is not easy, especially for parents raising children, and caregivers of all kinds. Even with all that brings, still we habitually distract ourselves with projects we feel we must do, status we must gain, things we must get or hold onto. It's called a Rat Race for a reason.
That's an excerpt from More Time Than You Think, which includes an easy (and brief!) experiment, so you can test this truth: when we stop rushing, time expands and we are less likely to be late or to "run out" of time.
When we choose to stop working so hard we shift our relationship to ourselves as well as to our social circles. We expect less and question what we believe is expected of us. We might end up doing exactly the same number of things as before, but "I Have To" becomes "I Get To," as we allow more spacious awareness in both body and mind. We can learn to ease up and stop trying to push the river, as they say. Letting go is one way to do less. Letting be is another.
You don’t have to try to catch the universe in the same way that you would try to catch a grasshopper or a flea. You don’t have to do something with what you have experienced, particularly. Why don’t you let it be as it is? In fact, that might be necessary. If you want to use something, you have to let it be. -- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
These words of advice come from the world of Tibetan Buddhism in regard to mindfulness meditation, but the perspective is identical to F.M. Alexander's approach to moving mindfully. When applying the Alexander Technique to any activity, I have learned -- and keep learning -- that I need to leave myself alone, stay out of it, and allow nature to unfold.
This sounds simple on the face of it, but it is not. If I'm trying to accomplish something, the trying gets in the way. On the other hand, if I'm simply taking an action, the action essentially does itself. Moving in cooperation with how I'm designed to move leads to ease, freedom, and far less effort and interference. If I want to use myself well (that is, freely engage my whole body-heart-mind), this cooperation is necessary, and in order to cooperate, I need to do less. In many instances, I need do nothing at all.
Does this sound suspiciously like a bad zen koan meme on social media? How do you take an action if you're doing nothing?
Watch this 3-minute video of expert Alexander teacher Marjorie Barstow, demonstrating the difference between unconscious, habitual movement and conscious, easy movement. [Learn more about the incomparable Marjorie here.]
This is one of the clearest examples of the simplicity and power of Alexander non-doing I've ever seen. It delights me every time I watch it. The everyday act of reaching to pick up a book on the table in front of her provides a perfect example of the ways we continuously interfere with ourselves rather than simply staying open and allowing our systems to operate according to their natural design. Of course, this tendency to interfere and overdo and overcorrect for what we think we need to do is also part of our human nature, and learning the Alexander Technique can be the key to unlearning the conditioned habit of thinking that just a little more effort or force will get us what we want.
If you meditate, you will recognize this urge to push or hold tightly or concentrate harder, when what is really powerful is to do nothing, to stop trying to make something happen and let it be.
If you'd like to learn the Alexander way of moving powerfully by letting things be, take some lessons. If you want to stop trying so hard in your meditation practice or on your spiritual path, learn some new ways of being in your body-heart-mind, and see what results you discover. This is the mission of Way Opens Wellness and my personal, spiritual, and material wish for us all: less work, more joy. Less effort, more ease. Less doing, more being.