Concept Spotlight: Inhibition and Direction
As we discussed last time, the act of stopping to think is known in the Alexander Technique as “inhibition.” One of Alexander’s main principles is that habits are so thoroughly ingrained in us at this point that all it takes is the mere thought of an action to send us halfway into the habit. If we attempt to correct a habit after noticing that it is happening, we are already so far into the pattern that change is nearly impossible. In order to change the habit, then, we must get right back to the instant the impulse is given, and stop the habit before it starts. This is where Alexander’s “inhibition” comes in.
Think of inhibition as a game of Simon Says. You are given an order, such as “please take a seat.” Since Simon didn’t say to do it, you withhold your action, refusing to allow yourself to start a habitual movement pattern. In a practical sense, you stay standing. This opens up space for you to make a choice about HOW to complete the action. If you just sit without thinking, you’ve lost the game. In an Alexander Technique lesson, the teacher works with you to hone your skills at this Simon Says game until you yourself can play both parts, giving orders and at the same time withholding action upon them until you’ve made your choice.
That choice is known in the Technique as “direction.” You direct yourself to move in a specific way or take a specific action, consciously and intelligently. In practice, direction is like a sense of energy, tone, or qi, a thought that engages the musculature just a tiny bit, to create life and lightness in the physical structure without creating tension. In the Technique we focus on how small the direction really is, and how the mere thought of a movement can create the tone and energy without the student trying to help at all. Often a teacher will give a direction, such as “think of your head going forward and up,” and will follow it almost immediately with “just the thought.” This is because when told to think of something, we will all instinctively start to do it, even just a little, out of that old desire to be right and to show that we are listening and trying to do as we’re told. Studying the Technique is about becoming more and more able to think of a thing without doing it.
One of my favorite non-Alexander quotes is from Socrates, who said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Inhibition is like that; it’s learning to entertain a thought without your whole self jumping to embody it. At that point, you can decide for yourself what direction you want to go.
