Fifth Post: Alexander Technique

Anthony de Mello 1) The most important thing you can do when no one can help you is self observation. No one can help you there and no one can show you a technique. 2) The difference between self observation and self absorption is that help absorption is preoccupation, when you are worried about yourself. Self observation means to watch everything in you and around you as if it was happening to someone else. Meaning that we do not personalize what is happening to you. 3) We suffer from our depressions and anxieties because we identify with them. By telling ourselves that we are depressed, instead of saying we are experiencing a depression right now. 4)Anthony de Mello defines the self/"I" as we are the sky and we are observing all the different clouds. We are a passive detached observer. 5)If we understand things they would change. 6)"What you judge you cannot understand." Reflection 7) I believe that "I am not my depression, I am not my joy." Means that although you may feel depressed or feel joy you are not depression. This is something that is happening that you, you are experiencing it. It does not define you. Seductive, charismatic, ditzy, and oblivious. These characteristics account for everything that I experience about myself. Because these characteristics do not define me. I am just being a passive detached observer of what I am experiencing. The Alexander Technique 1) When we experience fear, stress, and anxiety we shorten in stature, we narrow in size, we pull our heads back and down and compress ourselves. Because its our survival mechanism kicking in. 2)The Alexander Technique enables us to choose a different response and makes conscious how we are using our body. 3) "Nature would prefer to be in balance, she would prefer that we are sharing our body weight evenly between both feet." 4)Three points of contact on your foot is the base of the big toe, base of the little toe, and the heel. 5)The three hinges in our legs are the ankles, hips, and knees. 6)The hip joints are on the crest of your pelvis. 7)Allow the pelvis to be heavy like an anchor. 8)The top of the spine is between the ears and behind the eyes. Reflection 9)The mind is about the mental processes, thought and consciousness. The body deals with how the brain is structured. The mind and body become one and work with one another to create a balance.