Second edition published July 2015
Mouritz
London UK
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Foreword
This book began as a collection of Patrick Macdonald’s notes taken from1955 to 1987. When they were found, his wife, Alison, suggested that they be published in book form. Mr Macdonald refused, stating that all that was needed for the well-being of humanity had already been written. At the behest of his wife, I approached him regarding the issue of publication some months later. We sat together for quite some time as he considered the matter in silence; when he finally spoke, he granted his permission, saying, “At least it would do no harm.” What follows contains the kernel of his unique approach to the teaching of the Alex- ander Technique. This new edition is made more comprehensive by the addition of interviews and exchanges of letters not previously published.
Mr Macdonald maintained that there were but two ways one could go in life: up or down. If you were not going up, then it followed that you were going down (and most likely taking others down with you). Contrary to the generally held view that humanity is progressing and developing, he averred that it was mostly going forward and down, a direction that we needed to become aware of and go against. Mr Macdonald encouraged those who studied with him to grow up, to become responsible and face the difficulties and challenges of life and learning. Uncompromising yet compassionate, exacting yet never rigid or pedantic, he offered his teaching with grace, spontaneity, and humour, sometimes remarking that it was “all too serious to be taken seriously”.
Under his guidance one initially learned the Alexander Technique externally, as in the martial arts; that is, the necessary steps were learned as an outer form. It takes many years and the right kind of effort for the movements to manifest from inside and ultimately to be informed by an intelligence that is not of the body. As with any discipline – dance, learning to play an instrument, acting – it was far from a given that one could learn these vital movements, even in their outer form, let alone be able to impart the teaching to someone else. Mr Macdonald provided the form consistently, which might or might not in time be met by what he called, with characteristic simplicity, “IT”.
Mr Macdonald had the rare ability to take a pupil up from a place of manifest stillness. With his hands, he was able to facilitate a number of conditions–all together and one after the other–simultaneously and immediately. He was able to effect a free neck and a powerful yet subtle vibration up along the spine. The up came into being through the balancing of complementary opposite forces within the spinal column from whence a harmonizing, pulsating motion – at once inner and outer – arose. Such a condition encouraged other oppositions which enabled the body – paradoxically, but in fact – to fall upwards towards a finer level of attention more receptive to subtle energies emanating from a mysterious source.
Mr Macdonald was a man of few words; his remarkable economy of expression reflected his simplicity. A master at his work, he brought still- ness and movement together. He demanded simply, and with the right kind of seriousness, that you knew “where up is, and what up is”. Words are not the best way of communicating his teaching, as words have a tendency to get stuck in the ordinary mind rather than being weighed and “placed upon the heart” so that they can be helpful towards a seeing that is well beyond our usual perceptions.
Through his own life and search for a quality of participation in it, he was aware of the many dangers, diversions, and pitfalls to which our inner divisions leave us prey. In the journey of reasoning from the known to the unknown, his call to awaken and take ourselves up was both strong and consistent. In this he demanded we pay attention to see what it is we are actually doing and not what we may “think” we are doing. The gift of a teacher such as Mr Macdonald is that he can create the conditions to help you to see, until such time as you can see for yourself.
Ted McNamara
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