Attention Creates A Tension

There are certain constructs, distinctions if you like that are crucial to learning the Alexander Technique and developing Constructive Conscious Control, that are also relevant to any skilled activity. They are often not mentioned or understood poorly, in part because it takes a long time to recognise them and understand them, not just theoretically but practically in the acts of daily living. One such distinction concerns the use of the eyes and where we direct attention, as much as how we direct attention. 

Taking the importance of where we direct attention, it is worth considering Alexander’s practice in teaching. He had a roundel of stained glass in his window that he both intended and encouraged people to look at, according to Walter Carrington.* Although Walter did not have a roundel of stained glass in his window, in every lesson I ever had with him, the invitation was always made to look out his window and engage my attention with a tree or something else. It is a practice I continue with my pupils for the following reasons.

First of all a place we all go wrong, is by wanting to attend directly to ourselves when we aim to do anything. This makes us self-conscious rather than conscious or aware. It is an understandable habit, it comes from wanting to know what is going on and unless we happen to be blind, our primary way of beginning to know is to look first. If we do this though it creates the problem of knowing ourselves in attention, rather than knowing ourselves in awareness. 

What we want as American Alexander Technique Teacher Frank Peirce-Jones** pointed out is an ‘expanded' field of attention. Meaning that we need to be able to both attend to what we are doing and be aware of the use of ourselves at the same time. So a horse rider gets on much better when instead of attending to the horse or themselves they look in the direction they want to go. The horse understands this and will move freely in the desired direction of travel. Or with an actor or performer, they need to be free to attend to other performers and the audience. A self-conscious performer is no fun to watch – they lack fluency, as well as freedom. 

For people in pain short-term or chronic this distinction is of tremendous importance. For pain first arises in our awareness, then we attend to it, tighten up muscularly in the relevant area before starting to construe the implications of the pain and discomfort. Where the pain becomes chronic or lasts for a long time a person can get into the habit of looking for it, thereby continually re-creating the pain over time, further debilitating themselves, and losing confidence. It is worth always remembering that in attending directly to ourselves the ATTENTION CREATES A TENSION. 

What is required is the recognition of the fact that although it may seem like an instinct to look, it is a behaviour and if brought under conscious control, it allows for freedom of movement in thought and action to be restored. As part of this it is important not to be trying to sort oneself out directly before proceeding. What is important is in a phrase Alexander used increasingly used as he got older to ‘leave oneself’ alone, to allow oneself to begin to focus on what one wishes to do next and to create the awareness which goes with lengthening and released breathing. It is an awareness that comes from shifting the focus of attention elsewhere to the task in hand, the person we are with, the thought we need to have. This is a shifting of focus and not concentration, the importance of which I will turn to next time.

* Private communication with Walter Carrington.
** Jones, F.P. (1976) Body awareness In Action. Schocken Books: New York