Regular readers of this blog will know I spend a lot of time writing about how we look and the importance of seeing. The last two weeks have been no exception, looking at the importance of allowing oneself to focus over attempting to concentrate. In these, I described concentration in terms of increasing muscle tension around the eyes and face, as one fixes one's attention on an object. There is another element that is particularly relevant to working on a computer, reading a book, and, as I increasingly see on visits to London, watching films or TV programmes on a iPhone. It is also an element that comes up in inter-personal relations, of which more another time.
This element concerns the desire to pull forward, which in itself is not a bad thing; it is, as in everything from an Alexander perspective, a matter of how it is done - the 'means whereby'. The advantage of pulling forward from a visual perspective is a loss of peripheral vision; it is harder to be distracted, which is often what we are looking for in a busy office or on a crowded train.
If you want, you can test this now by just moving towards the screen. As you get closer, you will notice that your world narrows to the screen and you lose awareness of your surroundings. All too often we take this a step further in the way we pull forward and lose ourselves, if we are lucky, in interesting work, only to be reminded by tiredness or aching limbs of our corporeality, our embodiment. If we find the work boring then the pull forward can involve a collapsing and or a holding oneself in place using excess muscle tension. Whichever way we pull forward, unless we first stop and make sure we lengthen as we go, we will shorten in stature and hold our breath, creating excess tension.
Answers to this vary and include the aforementioned lengthening to go forward. However, when it comes to reading, the answer is often to raise the book higher, so that we do not have to collapse to read it. When it comes to working in an office, the answer is to train ourselves to focus and not be distracted by our colleagues, to train ourselves to be conscious of the micro decisions and acts we make every day, to become aware of the implications of these decisions in terms of our functioning and general well being, as well as certain specific problems that might ail us.
If we can do that then we have a chance to remain poised, calm in the face of whatever difficulties work throws at us, not rushing or straining at it, but allowing ourselves to be at our most resourced, our most resourceful as we undertake what needs to be done.
No blog next week as I am away in London for a board meeting, among other things, so it will be two weeks before I post again. Until then take care and best wishes.
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