Step 3: F. M. Alexander's 5-Step Process "continue to project these directions until I believed I was sufficiently au fait with them to employ them for the purpose of gaining my end" Step 3 arose from Alexander's observation that...
In this series, I will share ideas and activities to provide a practical context for Alexander’s 5 step process* as written in the chapter “Evolution of a Technique” in his book “The Use of the Self.”
The Use of the Self is considered by many as Alexander’s most accessible and practical text, and I have heard it referred to as the “textbook” that he wrote to support the teachers-in-training when he began group training in 1931. Up until that point, he had trained teachers in an apprenticeship fashion.
STEP 3
"continue to project these directions until I believed I was sufficiently au fait with them to employ them for the purpose of gaining my end"
Step 3 arose from Alexander's observation that as soon as he turned his efforts to his original task, the changes from step 2 evaporated and he performed the task in the same habitual way.
This step is about shifting priorities. From a nervous system point of view, the original pattern to perform the task was triggered just by thinking about it. When I think about lifting my arm, neurotransmitters begin to signal certain muscles to contract, others to release. It's like a custom, shortcut program in my "movement software". Hit the "lift arm button" and the complex sequence starts to happen.
Taking the time in step 3 allows the pre-set pattern to fade or retreat, in order to create the possibility of a different version of lifting my arm to happen. Alexander's directions are designed to create the potential for that action to happen with more efficiency and poise, and less compression and disruption to my posture and balance.
How you might learn and practice Step 3 in lessons
Your teacher asks you not to respond to her verbal prompt to rise from the chair. Instead, she asks you to continue thinking your directions. She may have her hands on in the same way she does when she guides you out of the chair, but she is also taking time and not carrying out her habitual way of using her hands to guide you. She and you both have a chance to quiet the inner conversation about when and if it's time to move. You both "table" the action, and spend longer than you might sending the directions.
You are on the table and your teacher is going to lift your leg, bend your knee and place your foot on the table. With her hands on, she may stay there and delay or abandon lifting your leg. You are practicing thinking the directions and interrupting any observable action of lifting your own leg.
How you might learn and practice Step 3 on your own
Before you carry out your activity, after step 1 and step 2, you postpone carrying out your action for a period of time, during which you think the directions, noticing how much you are still attached to the action, and perhaps waiting until you are more interested in the directions than you are in the action.
If you are laying down, you can use the action of bending or extending your leg as the Step 1 stimulus. You can extend the timeframe for step 3 with a timer, or with your internal sense that you've given yourself enough time to reduce your habit.
*From the chapter Evolution of a Technique in Alexander’s third book Use of the Self
Supposing that the “end” I decided to work for was to speak a certain sentence, I would start in the same way as before and
1) inhibit any immediate response to the stimulus to speak the sentence,
2) project in their sequence the directions for the primary control which I had reasoned out as being best for the purpose of bringing about the new and improved use of myself in speaking, and
3) continue to project these directions until I believed I was sufficiently au fait with them to employ them for the purpose of gaining my end and speaking the sentence.
At this moment, the moment that had always proved critical for me because it was then that I tended to revert to my wrong habitual use, I would change my usual procedure and
4) while still continuing to project the directions for the new use I would stop and consciously reconsider my first decision, and ask myself “Shall I after all go on to gain the end I have decided upon and speak the sentence? Or shall I not? Or shall I go on to gain some other end altogether? “ - and then and there make a fresh decision,
5) either
not to gain my original end, in which case I would continue to project the directions for maintaining the new use and not go on to speak the sentence;
or
to change my end and do something different, say, lift my arm instead of speaking the sentence, in which case I would continue to project the directions for maintaining the new use to carry out this last decision and lift my hand;
or
to go on after all and gain my original and, in which case I would continue to project the directions for maintaining the new use to speak the sentence.