I am wary of such language as "body mapping". Which body is being mapped, who is doing the mapping, and for what purpose? There is the body of the blood, of the muscle, the nervous system, the bone, all interwoven into what we call the body; there is also the electrical body, the atomic body, and the sub-atomic body. Then there is what my martial arts teacher Rose Li called the psychic body. What body was she speaking about? Mr Macdonald more than once indicated that the essence of the Alexander Technique was the awakening of, direction of, and vibration of a specific energy in the spinal column. He was the only teacher under whom I studied in the ‘Alexander World’ who could instantly and accurately release and direct this energy upwards. This energy is not what many people misleadingly call Kundalini, and it needs to work in harmony with another vital current of energy moving down the spine. Add to this Miss Goldie’s counsel – “stop barging about.” Miss Goldie noticed a sign one day which advertised, "Play Music Better with the Alexander Technique". She and I had an exchange about this, at the end of which she said, “It is not about doing things better. It is about not doing things at all.” My experience of the Technique as taught in music schools is that the curriculum is organised back to front or upside down. As long as the Alexander Technique is something that is tacked on it will always remain secondary or even less than secondary. The principles of the technique need to be at the centre, otherwise as Mr Macdonald often indicated, its essence will get lost. This applies as I see it to music, dance, gardening, singing, whatever – Miss Goldie used to say, “You young teachers talk a great deal about it but when it comes down to it you don’t really believe it.” In the Vedas there are indications of 112 Techniques, techniques (as Pandit Shiv Sharma explained) for generations long gone, for generations of this time, and for generations yet to come. If one studies these great writings carefully, one can find there the Alexander Technique, though obviously called by a different name. F. M. Alexander discovered something for himself and along the path of his exploration he entered upon something utterly profound. Mr Macdonald was never against exploring different techniques; what he was very clear about was that you were thoroughly trained in any technique you studied and you were clear about which one was the centre of your practice. Otherwise distortion, confusion, and probably the biggest danger of all, going wrong by degrees, will ensue. Without clarity and understanding of hierarchy, there is no possibility of an appropriate approach towards helpful lasting union. Many teaching, therapy and other organizations have long since confused unity with Union; thus you are left with a situation where only lip service is paid to principles, and what passes for principles can be interpreted by everyone as he or she pleases. If the fundamental teaching authority and obedience to it is rejected, then sooner or later even errors count as interpretations and must be endorsed and tolerated. I know of no music and only one acting school in the West where the ‘Theology of the Body’ is at the centre of the training. I use the expression in its more ancient/medieval sense, so finely indicated to us by Leonardo Da Vinci, William Shakespeare, and Fra Angelico. F. M. wrote of the primary control and allowing the neck to be free, but it came as a wonder to me after 25 years of ‘teaching’ that the neck was not al all what or where I thought it was. To those who intend to continue working in music schools, I would encourage you to preserve the integrity of the technique. Seek proper rooms in which to teach, offering lessons to those who wish to receive them. The ideal for a pupil is lessons three times a week for the first year, twice a week the second, once a week the third, and once a fortnight thereafter within the school training. That for me is the base line of having any real (however fragile) chance of approach to the learning of 'Not to Do'. If I may return to the beginning and pose the question, what is a map? What do I understand about a map, what does a map tell me? So much of the world’s view(s) - political, cultural, geographical, anatomical - is shaped by maps at terrible cost, and have so often led to a fundamental loss of direction regarding our place and purpose on earth. Some of this can be explored using the work of the cartographer Tim Robinson. As Mr Macdonald forever reminded us: there are levels, and if you are not orientated up, where are you going? The orientation up prepares the body to receive the fine mysterious force that can enter and penetrate us from above. "This is the essential work; all else is merely politics." Of this force Mr Macdonald said, “How much is ‘It’ suffering to come down to meet us?” For our part is it not so that all that is asked of us is to open more upwards towards its compassion and to surrender to Its Loving power.
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