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I'm going to try to explain Alexander Technique using an idea from computer science: functions I am not a dev so forgive any mistakes a function is a separate chunk of reusable code that is called from the main program, does something, then the main program continues
what Alexander Technique reveals is that humans have functions lots and lots of functions and of various complexity for example, one human function is "sit down", which itself likely calls a bunch of other functions, but let's not worry about that for now
these functions are built up over time through our lifetime at some point you didn't know how to sit down, then you learned how, and now you 'just' sit down without thinking about how to do it this is obviously a very useful and energy saving thing to be able to do
here's where things get fun when you practice Alexander Technique you start to notice a few things about these functions the first thing you might notice is that there's a kind of 'reduction in consciousness' while functions are running it's like you "check out" a little bit
put another way, there's a subtle sense of the world 'going away' for the duration of the sitting process and the world sort of comes back when you've sat down this is hard to notice on your own because that reduction in consciousness affects your capacity to notice it
you might also call this function a 'groove' or 'pattern of habit' once you're in the groove, you have very little control, like you're a ball bearing following the pre-set path the function has already laid out but, you think, what if I want to change? how do I do that?
this was F. M. Alexander's key insight: he realised that when he tried not to do a particular habit, not only was he not able to, but he *emphasised his existing habit more* put another way, when he tried to not call the function, he ended up smashing the 'call' button harder
the way out of this problem, he learned, was to learn to notice the moment just where he was about to call the function and to PAUSE there sort of in a state of "yes I see that could call the function, but I'm not going to yet' this is called 'inhibition' in AT land
what happens when you can do this seems kinda magical at first for one, this 'not yet' / 'not calling any functions' state is one where you are fully conscious, aware and present the world is bright and vivid, because it's not being diminished by the running of functions
then you realise that being able to pause before calling a function gives you a whole new level of agency because you realise how much of the time you were just leaping from pre-written function to function before you learned to notice what was going on now you can choose
"I see that in this moment that I am habitually inclined to call that really familiar function that I use a lot. That might be what I want, but it also might not be, and it's useful to have the time and space to decide for myself"
one final magical thing I'll talk about here is when you learn not to call any of your pre-written functions when you stop calling functions from your "learned, conditioned habits" function library you gain access to a WHOLE NEW LIBRARY of functions that 'you' didn't put there
put another way, if you can inhibit / not call any of your habitual sitting down functions... a new way of sitting down emerges that seems to 'do itself' in ways that are unfamiliar to you, but also seemingly much more elegant and less effortful
your job is just to keep not calling your known, familiar functions, because it seems that doing that interferes with these, other, unfamiliar, but somehow easier ones this is where I want to do more thinking and research, because I'm not sure if the 'two libraries' thing holds
another way of looking at this is that if you can stay fully conscious with the functions while they run, they actually run differently mixing metaphors, it's like 'reduced consciousness' mode is an engine that needs oil, while 'full consciousness' mode is a well oiled engine
but learning not to call the function in your habitual ways is the key to this happening the end result is that you are more conscious, the world is more vivid, you have more agency and everything you do is lighter and easier more like a wild state, but fully conscious of it
oh I could do the growth hacker thing if you liked this thread you can help me out by retweeting the first tweet (below) and following good old @m_ashcroft you know, if you want, no pressure https://t.co/5pSOp08tRe
I'm going to try to explain Alexander Technique using an idea from computer science: functions I am not a dev so forgive any mistakes a function is a separate chunk of reusable code that is called from the main program, does something, then the main program continues
relevant https://t.co/9yoYjLain6
since this is doing some amount of numbers I will share that I have a course that teaches you how to do this, which will be rebuilt and improved in the next four weeks or so https://t.co/bVYv1gvFeg
Hello, I teach Alexander Technique, which gives you conscious control of your awareness. This lets you play in the space between stimulus and response, get out of your own way, embrace the unfamiliar and find ease in daily life. Join 700 students here: https://t.co/GHzsyr4ILq
I know this is meant to be some kind of sick burn but it’s objectively funny https://t.co/V1JGwFaetm
I turned this into a long form article with much more detail and nuance https://t.co/dMbZY9irDK
@m_ashcroft Idk what the structure of your Tana workspace, but I bet you would benefit a lot from playing with a Discourse Graph structure based on the stuff you’ve been putting out lately trying to re articulate the same points with many different arguments and phrasings
@m_ashcroft https://t.co/CKNktGl2Nj
Basically: organize around your questions. Read sources (context) in support of those questions, note down your observations, combine observations into claims, and combine claims to work through your answers to the questions. Everything is connected logically to its precedents.
@RobertHaisfield I think you’re right, but as yet I haven’t figured out how it would work I’m getting closer though I don’t read as much as I should - most of what I come up with is based on internal machinations not ideas I get from external content but I should read more
@m_ashcroft this is a really great metaphor for AT 🙌 I've seen you grope around for one for a while now and obviously this one's primarily well-suited for parts of our circles but it's great to see this result of your searchings