Alexander- Endgaining and the Means Whereby

Endgaining, in Alexander terms is focusing on achieving a goal at the expense of paying attention to the "means whereby" one accomplishes it. Endgaining is probably the default setting for most tasks for the majority of people.

You can take any task, and choose to try to do it in a way that focuses on the means whereby.

Focussing on the "means whereby" means being aware of how you are doing it. Using inhibition and direction while doing it.

Individual lessons usually focus on simple small activities, like sitting or standing. Gradually over the years I've been "Alexandering" I've increased the number of activities that I apply the technique in. I now more often than not remember to Alexander while I'm driving.

Mirror, signal, allow the neck to be free, manoever, in such a way that the torso widens and lengthens and sending the knees out and away.

It's combined so seamlessly into some of my yoga poses that I couldn't not do it.

Learning a new pose, then end gaining creeps in again.

Too many people about, or too much stimulation in general makes applying the technique difficult for me. Feeling rushed or hurried or desperate to finish the task in hand, is pretty much a dictionary definition of endgaining.

Some tasks are more amenable to the "means whereby" than others.

For me I think I will have reached a sort of Zen type mastery when I can manage a large supermarket shopping trip while concentrating on the means whereby rather than "get me out of here".

Or dig up couch grass without getting as much root as possible pulled out becoming more important than not clenching my jaw or hurting my hands and back while doing it.

Equinox -balance and stillness

I always think the equinoxes are a time to balance - take a breath - pause and take in the scenery before the wheel plunges on with its relentless forward motion. There always seems so much to do around this time - the sap is rising in us and everything around us, the decks need cleared, the seeds planted, houses spring cleaned.



I have only barely paused long enough this year to acknowledge that searching for a brief moment of stillness is a worthwhile goal. Today I didn't even stop long enough for twenty minutes of being time --much too busy being a human-doing.

pausing, stopping, paying attention

The starting point of the Alexander Technique is stopping. And stopping, doing nothing is not as easy as it seems. This is a quote from a guided meditiation tape by my teacher, Glen Park ( author of The Art of Changing).

I have gotten out of the habit of lying semi-supine. I have all sorts of excuses, the floors are too cold in winter, and often there isn't room to put up the massage bed, which is the most unportable portable thing ever, and I can't manage to put it up without help.

And now I really struggle to lie still and quiet for more than five minutes before the ants in my pants make me get up again.

Hence going back to first principles and listening to Glen's tape. The very fact that I'm finding it so hard to do means that it really is what I need to do most.

That and go for a top up lesson.

self portrait

This self portrait was done after a body-scanning exercise during a very painful bout of TMJ.
The doctor offered anti-inflammatories and the suggestion " I don't do NLP, but if I did I'd try re-drawing it smaller, rounder and in pink "

I now use a combination of techniques to keep this "pattern" at bay which includes NLP, Cranial Osteopathy, Accupuncture and Alexander Technique.
It doesn't include anti-inflammatories at all since I discovered MSM, though I used to take one or two if I had a severe attack.

Will there be Chanting?

I'm not sure quite how this blog is going to shape up. I plan for it to be about Health and Happiness. In my first draft of this I typo'd that as Hippiness....yep, there might be chanting.
So general well-being stuff. It'd probably end up in the mind, body, spirit section of the book-shop.

Topics covered will probably include
Alexander Technique, Bodywork, Feldenkrais, Somatics and Yoga.
Herbalism, Nutrition, Essential Oils.
Singing, Chanting, Toning, Dancing, Whirling and Celebrating.

May you have well-being, may all beings have well-being