Jann and I were on Skype call together.

Jann has almost finished a year deep-diving into the ATSuccess makeover for teachers who join our community. I was asking her how her experience now compared with the period of her post-graduate teacher training in 2010.

Back then, she said…

‘’I literally had to break down my concept of who I was and what I was, and start again. And I am feeling that same thing now. It’s like I am falling apart, I don’t know which way to go. I know what, but I don’t know how to get there.”

I was in Betty and Paul Collins’ house in Onslow Gardens, N10 in London.

It was 1977 and I was in my second year of AT training. Robert Rickover was waxing lyrical about this American teacher I had never heard of – Marjorie Barstow.

“She talks about the head moving…” I remember Rickover whispering to a few of us in the back room. I was scandalized.

That’s dreadful, I thought to myself, doesn’t this woman understand non-doing?

Once upon a time (it’s a true story) I was learning in a workshop with a respected colleague, and as she was demonstrating how the relationship between head/spine influences behaviour, she commented something to the effect:

“This is just a truth about vertebrates. We haven’t even got into Alexander land yet.”

I was startled.

First, I absolutely agreed with her.

Second, I thought: “If that’s not Alexander land, what is?!”

How brave are you?

Read on, and you will understand why I am asking this question.

This morning I was reading Peter Drucker – a famous management consultant who often worked in Japan - and a sentence in his book jumped out at me as quite profound. He wrote:

"Individual self-development in large measure depends on the focus on contributions."

How you can contribute to Society is a tricky question.

Do you know what it’s like to be a rabbit?

As a mammal, you’ve got brain circuits that resemble a rabbits. Heck, all mammals have the same blueprint – same bone structure, same muscles, same control systems. Of course each species has its own spectacular adaptations, but our human penchant to anthropomorphize has a sound physiological basis.

Why am I going on about rabbits?

Right now I am in the process of ripping apart my past to find a way to my future.

Contained within my past is a modus operandi that I conceive holds back my ability to act effectively and efficiently. To get to the future, I think I need to understand my past.

Maybe you identify this same tendency in you? I am certainly not alone in this…

Recently I posted on Facebook, and got quite a response.

It was an insight I’d had into my own behaviour – which I am posting to Facebook all the time so what’s new? Yet this one hit a chord with a lot of folks! I was surprised by the rich reaction it garnered. Many people commented, I got unsolicited emails privately, and now I’m reading a book about it!*

When did another person last say to you: “You don’t understand!!!”

Whenever a person tells you that, they are right. You don’t understand their story. You only understand your story about their story! It’s natural, except…

How do you get past that?

Previously in my blog – “Standing Is Just A Story You Tell Your Self” – I asked you to explore the way that you and others stand…

What did you feel when you woke up today?

How did you make sense of it?

You don’t need to make sense of your positive experiences – they are wonderful! It is the negative experiences you want to examine. When you experience a strong negative emotion, what do you do?

My guess is that you give this negative experience a name.

You call it “tired” or “worried” or “depressed” or “sad” – whatever. Words are called forth to give your experience a name.

What do you believe about how you are designed to move?

There are two schools of thought:

1. I have a flawed design – I must find a way to improve it.
2. I am perfect – I can discover how to use my design well.

I follow the second idea...

You are already perfect – there is nothing wrong with you.

Pain – if you have pain or discomfort – is friendly. It is trying to tell you something is being used incorrectly. Pain is not what is wrong about you, pain is what is right about you.