Alexander Technique Midterm Blog Project- Installment 2- Morgan Farmer-Section 14

                         

         F.M. Alexander, the Australian creator  of the Alexander Technique must have been something of a philosopher because in all his writing and teaching he stressed that his technique was anything but purely physical. The above quote is his opinion that every thing that happens to us and everything we do is based on the proper use of our minds.  He believed that every single thing we think is translated and manifested physically, through habits built or muscle tension. 

          Another philosophical thought that helped to shape Alexander's work can be taken from this quote, “Everyone wants to be right, but no one stops to consider if their idea of right is right.” F.M. Alexander. Alexander believed that if there is something wrong with a person, and they believe that they are doing everything in their life right, then something that they believe to be right is actually wrong.He used both of these philosophical outlooks in all his teachings because he wanted students to see in themselves that their habits may be what causes their problems in life. It is also an important part of how he encourages students to try  different ways of thinking or doing things. 

     Alexander also believed that it was pointless to try and do anything.He was a testimony to the belief that it was better to just be.  He commonly used his own different terminology in practice rather  than "do" or "try". He preferred  the terms "allow yourself", or "ask yourself". He believed that if a person was doing something wrong, then if they keep trying, even if they try different things  it is useless, because they would more likely than not continue to make the same choices,  habits would  remain, and people would just become frustrated  and give up trying to change what they are doing wrong. He believed that the proper way to live and function is something we all know and learned naturally from birth, but this natural knowledge at some point gets  corrupted by society and that to re-gain it people must be entirely re-educated consciously, so that 

knowledge will return and stay with them.

        One of F.M. Alexander's most notable students and peers was American philosopher John Dewey.  Dewey decided to take lessons with Alexander because he was taken with the mind-body unity involved in the discipline and to help with his physical awkwardness. Alexander thought Dewey's mind was " drugged with thinking" . Dewey was a firm believer that the Alexander Technique had effects on one's moral and intellectual life as well as their physical bodies. He also felt that his own personal abilities as a philosopher were freer and more clear after Alexander lessons. He had no limit of praise for F.M.'s lessons and the two became quite close. Dewey even wrote introductions for all of Alexander's books. Dewey believed that Alexander brought to life many mind-body theories that he had philosophized about. 

John Dewey's philosophical work after encountering Alexander Technique was heavily influenced by what he had learned. In his book  Human Nature and Conduct, Dewey devoted a chapter to what he thought about habit. He believed that like breathing and other physiological functions, habits, though learned rather than innate, involve a relation between an organism and an environment and cannot be understood by looking at the organism alone. He believed that habits were not individual components but that that they are all  integrated and could tell you a lot about a person's character. He, like Alexander stated that habits should be plastic and creative and also made by intelligent choice rather than feeling. His general law of habit stated that only a man with good habit can know what good is.

     One important aspect of Alexander Technique is to come to a place where you stop end-gaining and focus more on the actual process of things. This was an incredibly important part of Dewey's philosophy. He was convinced that experiences must come first in life and then later conclusions can be drawn from that. He asks the question, if our concepts of things linked to flawed experiences, how is change possible? He found his answer in Alexander's inhibition, that we must focus on how to do something rather than what is to be done. Eliminate the "what's next" aspect of life and eliminate the ends that one is trying to achieve. 

    Dewey's philosophical work has been labelled as instrumentalisim, which is a philosophy in which scientific theory is viewed as a vital instrument in understanding the world. In his later books, it is arguable that most of Dewey's research used the Alexander Technique as said instrument. Dewey was often said to be the father of educational philosophy." Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living." This quote of Dewey's that shows how much the Alexander Technique has influenced him in all aspects of his philosophy.

In my next installment, I will discuss how some other philosophers relate to the Alexander Technique.