As babies, initially we can only clench and open our little hands, but the nervous system soon learns to differentiate and perhaps within a few years….

My tai chi teacher says, ‘yards, feet, inches’…

With patient practice we move from very basic to increasing levels of detail and nuance. Certainly true on the Alexander path.

At first I’m totally unaware of my bracing habits, but bit by bit I notice more.

Ah, if I don’t tighten my butt so much, I can perceive ankle, knee, hip joints…
Well, hello, opportunity for counterbalancing.

By noticing my rushing tendency, pushing forward, eyes narrowing… I can ease back and widen out my panoramic perception…

By just listening, not planning my response, I hear more of what lies behind my companion’s words…

Hooray for nuance!
Wooot for my head poised over my spine, free joints and elastic expansion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conversation between Anat Baniel and Jill Bolte Taylor (see credits):

AB: Any skill that we can learn to perform requires an increase in the number of connections in the brain, i.e., a greater degree of differentiation and a higher level of organization in the brain…

JBT: Any time there is an increase in the level of performance (be it cognitive, physical, emotional, or interpersonal), there is a corresponding increase in the number of neural connections.

AB: I like to demonstrate this idea in the following way:
If you were asked to create the image of a duck, and were given only three pieces, it might look like this first image. To other people this image might look like a duck or it might look like something else. At this crude level of differentiation, it is impossible to create a precise mapping of the body to the brain. 

 

 

 

When we add more pieces that are smaller and more refined, we can create an image that is more representative of a duck…

 

 

 

With continued differentiation (smaller and smaller pieces in greater numbers), we create a more full and precise map of our body in our brain. This provides us with the complexity necessary to organize high quality, elegant actions that match our intention.
In order to do something new or improve on something we already do—in order to create new possibilities—our brain needs to create many new “little pieces” which are the building blocks of learning.

 

 

When we try to improve performance by doing the same thing over and over again, the brain does not sprout new connections and we get stuck. We often tend to misinterpret this lack of ongoing growth as a lack of talent or ability to recover.

OK, now let’s try standing on one leg…
Free to fail, free to learn, free to make connections. Explorer hat, on…

I pause and feel the ground, letting my feet spread…
What does this moment look like?

Seeing, panoramically, from farther back in my brain…
Breathing, letting my whole back sail fill…
Soft and tall. 

Balancing over 2 feet…
Now I can connect down through one foot to send me UP over the other foot, aiming toward the top of my spine…
Head, ribs and pelvis balancing over top of leg, top of shin, top of foot…
Ahoy, all you reciprocal joints!

Connecting down through the standing leg, especially through the inner thigh side. 
Down to go up!

Bing bing bing, increasing neuronal connections…

Credits:

Photo by Vernon Chalmers;
Anat Baniel, founder of NeuroMovement
Jill Bolte Taylor;
Spiraling tuxedo kitty from photo accent.

Adapted from my ‘Spark of Alexander’ series