The Alexander Technique as a Martial Art
The Alexander Technique is multiform. Its underlying principles can be considered as universal, timeless, and never-changing. But its practical framework - the manner in which each teacher understands the principles and imparts them to his or her students - is personal and individual, and varies greatly from teacher to teacher, according to the teacher's background, temperament, training, and so on.
Some teachers have a psychological or therapeutic bent. Others are keen on anatomy and physiology and teach accordingly. Others still come from dance or theater backgrounds and see the Technique primarily as a study of movement. Such diversity is inevitable and desirable; the important thing is for a teacher to be coherent and efficient in his or her approach, and for a pupil to work with a teacher who suits his or her needs and wants.
One of the possible frameworks for the Alexander principles is that of a martial art. There's a quote from Alexander that I like repeating in lessons and seminars. It comes from the aphorisms in Articles and Lectures, and it's Alexander's view on the nature of a lesson.
You are not here to do exercises, or to learn to do something right, but to get able to meet a stimulus that always puts you wrong and to learn to deal with it.
Like all lapidary phrases - indeed, like all words - this can be interpreted in many different ways, and perhaps some teachers will feel that what I hear in Alexander's utterance isn't what he meant by it. This possible objection notwithstanding, I use the phrase above to define my role as a teacher, which consists in tempting my pupil to end-gain (by presenting him with a stimulus that "puts him wrong") while at the same time showing him the necessary means to "learn to deal with it." My teaching, therefore, contains an element of psychophysical provocation: I attack my pupil by trying to put him wrong, and the pupil defends himself by inhibiting and directing. In the Alexandrian martial art, then, non-doing is the best self-defense.
In this essay I plan to show some parallels between the Alexander Technique and martial arts, especially the Japanese art of aikido, of which I have long been an ardent if undisciplined admirer. Aspects that I'll discuss include the following:- provocation as a teaching principle
- ways to provoke: verbal, situational, rhythmic
- "ki" and direction
- balance and its loss
- the lunge
- the connection between the back and the pelvis
- aikido-informed grips and holds as triggers of opposition
- the "kiai"
To find out more about aikido, click on the links below.