1. I like how viewpoints kind of makes us step out of our comfort zone to learn how we can move and work together. The activities we did created such a sense of togetherness and I really enjoyed that. I wish I had been able to be in class for the second day of learning about viewpoints, I'm sure I would have got a lout out of it and had more to say about all of this.
2. I think the moment that felt most alive was when the group of us had to get in the diagonal line and we could not all see each other but a number of us had to be seated and standing at the same time. It's ironic since this was probably the most quiet moment we shared, yet I think it was the most alive. I could feel the energy and I could sense all of us working together in the silence and darkness once we closed our eyes, and somehow as an ensemble we were able to achieve what we set out to.
3. At times, the activities did seem a little forced, but I think it was all in my mind. For the most part I don't think it felt dead and forced. It is easy to lose focus on what we are doing and why we are doing so the second I was able to snap back into focus the activities seemed meaningful. It was easy to feel a little stupid jumping around or moving by body a certain way when people surrounded me all over the room. Many people like me are at least somewhat self conscious. But again, when you let go of that thought and allow yourself to fully grasp the thought of what we are learning with viewpoints the activities have a purpose and do not feel silly.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Body Learning part 2
Primary control refers to the importance of the relationship between the head neck and torso. It is not a specific button on your body so to say, but a relationship to help functioning in every position. It has to do with grace and ease in movements, and correct Use. Primary control leads to easier and more natural breathing and a fuller grasp of your internal experiences interacting with outside stimuli. You can't force your body into things, you have to allow it to maintain correct and upright posture, for example. "The primary control serves as a key to coordinating the organism as a whole."
Unreliable sensory appreciation refers to when your feeling of rightness of action is untrustworthy. How can we be sure we are actually doing what we think we are doing, when we are not really watching ourselves? It is easy for our bad habits of Use to become familiar and right to us, even when we have bad Use. We can feel at ease and correct when in fact, we are wrong. For example, we do not always know the correct amount of tension and energy we need to use for simple tasks and we often over exert, although it feels natural. Discovery an accurate sensory appreciation leads to finding and fulfilling our true needs.
Inhibition is the ability to stop and delay a response or choice until we are adequately prepared to make it. To improve your Use, one must not comply with our bodies habitual response. Humans have the ability to almost control their inhibition and choose the response to make, either right or wrong. In today's society it is easy to become worked up and tangled in problems. We need to stop and allow our inhibition to take charge and take more care of our responses.
Direction refers to how Alexander learned how to allow his body to do things, instead of doing something or putting his body in a certain position. He learned to direct his body into certain patterns of Use that became more habitual and like a pattern. This takes a high level of awareness because we are usually not aware of every movement and choice we are making. Direction sets out to energize the reflex that holds the body up against gravity.
Ends and means is about the process of attaining something, and being prepared to try and try again instead of simply focusing on the goal itself. We have a tendency to allow ourselves to be taken up by large focus on goals in our near future, However, ends and means is about finding a way to reach our ends intelligently. "Until one takes intermediate acts seriously enough to treat them as ends, one wastes one's time in any effort to change habits." The goal of this technique may be to ensure that our means are always rationally ans physiologically the best for our purposes.
The thing I find most interesting is when they talk about the real life examples of his teachings and how it affected certain pupils and even the author himself. This makes me very interested in these techniques and want to try them myself. It just blows my mind how these things that all seem so simple in retrospect, are actually very complex and have a way of changing a persons life. It is so cool to me.
Unreliable sensory appreciation refers to when your feeling of rightness of action is untrustworthy. How can we be sure we are actually doing what we think we are doing, when we are not really watching ourselves? It is easy for our bad habits of Use to become familiar and right to us, even when we have bad Use. We can feel at ease and correct when in fact, we are wrong. For example, we do not always know the correct amount of tension and energy we need to use for simple tasks and we often over exert, although it feels natural. Discovery an accurate sensory appreciation leads to finding and fulfilling our true needs.
Inhibition is the ability to stop and delay a response or choice until we are adequately prepared to make it. To improve your Use, one must not comply with our bodies habitual response. Humans have the ability to almost control their inhibition and choose the response to make, either right or wrong. In today's society it is easy to become worked up and tangled in problems. We need to stop and allow our inhibition to take charge and take more care of our responses.
Direction refers to how Alexander learned how to allow his body to do things, instead of doing something or putting his body in a certain position. He learned to direct his body into certain patterns of Use that became more habitual and like a pattern. This takes a high level of awareness because we are usually not aware of every movement and choice we are making. Direction sets out to energize the reflex that holds the body up against gravity.
Ends and means is about the process of attaining something, and being prepared to try and try again instead of simply focusing on the goal itself. We have a tendency to allow ourselves to be taken up by large focus on goals in our near future, However, ends and means is about finding a way to reach our ends intelligently. "Until one takes intermediate acts seriously enough to treat them as ends, one wastes one's time in any effort to change habits." The goal of this technique may be to ensure that our means are always rationally ans physiologically the best for our purposes.
The thing I find most interesting is when they talk about the real life examples of his teachings and how it affected certain pupils and even the author himself. This makes me very interested in these techniques and want to try them myself. It just blows my mind how these things that all seem so simple in retrospect, are actually very complex and have a way of changing a persons life. It is so cool to me.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Body Learning Part 1
a. Summarize the life of F.M. Alexander
Alexander was born in Australia to a large family on a large farm. He was raised to be self-sufficient and had many respiratory problems which led him to be educated privately. He continued to learn about his passion for theatre he had while growing up. He had trouble making money and holding jobs due to his illnesses and temper, so he decided to fully pursue acting. He found he had a persistent trouble with respiratory problems and hoarseness and his doctors suggested rest. This solution wasn't good enough for him so he began to observe himself in the mirror and found he had patterns of misuse in the way he used his body. By changing and fixing his manner of doing his voice problems improved. These experiments led to what we know as the Alexander Technique. His practice became more well known and controversial as he began training and treating people using this technique as he moved around, from Sydney to London. He wrote multiple books that reached out to supporters all around the world. After winning a lawsuit against him in 1948, he grew very well and it is said his best teaching was done in this time. He died in 1955.
b. Summarize Use and Functioning, The Whole Person
The Use of self is all about choices. "The choices he made about the Use of his organism were fundamental because they directly affected his functioning and therefore influenced all his other choices." We have a million choices to make every day. We can literally change our lives at any minute just by making a different choice, and that is very important. Alexander calls choice "man's supreme inheritance." It is important to make good use, and not bad use. Both bad and good use have effects of our emotional and physical beings. Learning how t use your body correctly will make you a healthier and happier person. Many of our problems arise from a separation of body and mind, causing a conflict with our emotions. The whole person is our mind and body together. Alexander "argued that all training, of whatever kind, must be based on the understanding that the human organism always functions as a whole and can only be changed fundamentally as a whole." Nothing you do is purely emotional or strictly physical, it all relates back to each other somehow. Learning how to integrate the two and how they work to make you who you are can help one gain their full potential.
Alexander was born in Australia to a large family on a large farm. He was raised to be self-sufficient and had many respiratory problems which led him to be educated privately. He continued to learn about his passion for theatre he had while growing up. He had trouble making money and holding jobs due to his illnesses and temper, so he decided to fully pursue acting. He found he had a persistent trouble with respiratory problems and hoarseness and his doctors suggested rest. This solution wasn't good enough for him so he began to observe himself in the mirror and found he had patterns of misuse in the way he used his body. By changing and fixing his manner of doing his voice problems improved. These experiments led to what we know as the Alexander Technique. His practice became more well known and controversial as he began training and treating people using this technique as he moved around, from Sydney to London. He wrote multiple books that reached out to supporters all around the world. After winning a lawsuit against him in 1948, he grew very well and it is said his best teaching was done in this time. He died in 1955.
b. Summarize Use and Functioning, The Whole Person
The Use of self is all about choices. "The choices he made about the Use of his organism were fundamental because they directly affected his functioning and therefore influenced all his other choices." We have a million choices to make every day. We can literally change our lives at any minute just by making a different choice, and that is very important. Alexander calls choice "man's supreme inheritance." It is important to make good use, and not bad use. Both bad and good use have effects of our emotional and physical beings. Learning how t use your body correctly will make you a healthier and happier person. Many of our problems arise from a separation of body and mind, causing a conflict with our emotions. The whole person is our mind and body together. Alexander "argued that all training, of whatever kind, must be based on the understanding that the human organism always functions as a whole and can only be changed fundamentally as a whole." Nothing you do is purely emotional or strictly physical, it all relates back to each other somehow. Learning how to integrate the two and how they work to make you who you are can help one gain their full potential.
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