In the world of the Alexander Technique, mentally rehearsing an action before performing it is paramount in ensuring that action is not performed in a habitual (and therefore most likely inefficient) way. Try it now, turn your head to the left as far as you comfortably can, keeping your shoulders facing forwards. Return to forward position, and now instead of moving right away, first mentally rehearse the movement you are to make, imagine yourself turning your head to the left with grace and ease, then do it. Feel lighter and easier that time? Good. This is a particularly good exercise to use before any action (though few people are truly willing to practice enough to inhibit their first habitual tendencies and take those few seconds to rehearse before moving). However, one place I think you can all get behind is that of exercising, working out and doing weight-lifting, for example. Practicing the techniques and movements mentally first will ensure your form is as good as it can be, which will make your movements more efficient and less injury prone. It’s tempting to think that kind of rehearsal is pointless, as you’re only imagining it and not acting, but it pays huge dividends.

This technique isn’t limited to just movements, however. It can be used equally well for events. Athletes mentally rehease their races, not only to improve their technique, but also to get a feel for what winning would be like. If you can feel it, you can better believe it, and so are more likely to make it happen. If you can’t imagine it, it’s not likely to become a part of your reality. This is great for overcoming fears, visualizing yourself doing what you fear and things going smoothly, and the more you can feel it the more you can believe it, and believing it you won’t hold so tightly on to the idea of the fear being a part of you. And, of course, particularly when it comes to expectations and fears, if you’re consciously visualizing a positive outcome, you won’t be unconsciously creating negative images, so it’s a 2 point swing.

So, do remember visualizing and mentally rehearsing as part of your preparations for just about anything you do, it’ll serve you well.

If you want to do something or need to, but you’re afraid to do it, it may be that you’re creating the wrong pictures in your mind. Often we are put off doing things because we don’t know how to do them, we make the pictures in our heads of us there having no idea how to do it, because that’s the level we’re at right now. And with expectations like that, it’s no wonder we’re terrified and would rather not do it at all.

It’s important to remember that you’ll learn, and depending on what you’re doing it may be that you’ll be taught (and equally not be expected to know already). So, from that point of view, the pictures you create now based on your own skill level are false pictures, lacking the guidence and help that would be afforded to you in the actual situation, or devoid of the pressure you’re placing on yourself trying to be perfect before you’ve even begun. If you’re going to imagine a future, remember that it won’t be the present you that’s standing there, it’ll be a future you, certainly changed from the you you are now.
So, be vigilant. If you see these pictures coming up, stop! Change them to include a future you that is enjoying the learning, carefree as you begin your baby steps. Or see yourself having learned it all, confident and awesome, knowing what you need to. Or, if you’re feeling really brave, let go of all expectation completely, good or bad, and simply let the experience speak for itself.

Think of something you want (it shouldn’t be too hard), and then say it with me, “I WANT THIS!” Say it with gusto, say it with a smile on your face and an open and relaxed body, as if it’s a joy to have this desire. Feel the good feeling well up in you. We are born with desires, desire is the path, and we are never given a desire without the power to make it happen, because we have the power to do anything.

Naming it, stating your desire is the first step on the path to achieving it. Do it right, and you’ll feel a boatload of energy surging through you ready to be released, the very energy to manifest the reality you desire. And once you say it and mean it, the cogs of the universal machine will get moving, conspiring to help you achieve your desire. The energy that drives the universe also drives you as well. Your belly is where it all begins, so let it relax and expand now (it’s a subtle expansion, so don’t worry about sudden looking like a bloated seamonster, unless you’re already one of those, in which case still don’t worry about it).

Breathe into your belly, breathe into every fibre of your being, breathe into your life and smile, for today you begin the journey towards all you ever wanted.

So, change is everywhere and in everything. Your body will change, your mind changes constantly, who you are and who you think you are changes and will go on changing as long as you live (and who knows, maybe after).

That being said, how can you rely on any of it? I’ve been guilty of seeking perfection in the body, yet my body is always changing, and one day those things that I cherish and strive so hard to achieve - perfect posture, flexibility, strength and stamina - might no longer be there.

My mind has changed a whole lot as I’ve grown, I’ve thought different thoughts and been interested in different things. I too, identify with my current thoughts and beliefs, and yet, one day they might be gone too.

Wisdom is not about knowing something by reading it, or even seeing the value of it as an intellectual idea. It is truly understanding it by feeling it, deep down inside. It is characterized by a blazing feeling of complete and utter obviousness, and is often coupled with hilarity at the fact you didn’t see it long ago. So, today, this particular insight came to me. My mind is changing, my body is changing and will age, so it’s folly to identify with either as a fixed entity. Likewise, it is folly to rely on gaining happiness through some particular thing, because that thing is also subject to change.

We can rely on one thing, and that is that things will change. All else is uncertainty. So best get used to it and enjoy the freedom that brings!

Like a lot of people who enjoy TV shows and movies, I sometimes wish I was like a character that I see on screen. Perhaps I relate to them on some level, or wish for their kind of life, their kind of friends, or their kind of worldview. Or maybe I’d like to meet someone like that female character, and I wonder what the actress behind them is like - they may share their looks, but what of their personality? Then, suddenly, it struck me.

Actors and actresses are not the characters they play. That may seem completely obvious, but I really didn’t realize, or had chosen not to realize, in favour of fantasy. In truth, the actress cannot be the same as her character, because she does not live in the same world and does not have the same history. She may act that part, but it isn’t her life. Her life consists of acting that part, with all the behind the scenes acting and directing and producing stuff that goes on that we aren’t meant to see or think about as viewers when trying to buy into the reality of the show that we’re watching.

Yes, completely obvious, but it has given me a great sense of satisfaction and peace in suddenly understanding it. Up until then, my vague fantasies would often be crushed, when I’d see an interview of an actor or actress and see that they aren’t the people (well, fantasies) that I had made them up to be. This really was very refreshing, because now there’s no longer the need to think “I wish I could be him” or ” I wish I could meet her”. Having separated reality from the illusion, there’s no longer the sense of favouring the illusion over reality, no longer that unhealthy and although promising, ulitmately unfulfilling fantasy.

As always, having one less illusion means the chances of accepting and working with reality is that much easier, which is good, because that is of course where all the best things happen.

In the scheme of things, you may think ideals are brilliant things to have. Some lofty aspiration could be just the thing to keep pushing you on towards better things, to live a fuller, healthier and more successful life. Imagine the Hero, living with aspirations of ultimate nobility and goodness, fighting the darkest of the dark villians. This is something we can all get behind.

Still, every ideal we have creates a comparison between who or what we want to be, and who or what we are in this moment. It is this comparison that causes us the most amount of suffering in life. The larger the gap between what we want to be and what we are or think we are, the larger the pain. So while it might seem a good idea to idealize some ultimate version of yourself and of your life, with ultimate health, beauty, riches, generosity, love, confidence, intelligence, sports skill, sexual finesse, humour and bravery, is it worth it if it’s only going to bring you pain in the mean time?

There is nothing wrong with having aspirations, nor desires, but we must use them effectively to be of benefit and to minimize the suffering they might otherwise create. It may seem against logic and reasoning to say “I’m ok as I am, and I can be better still,” but that’s just what you have to say if you want your desires and ideals to work for you instead of against you. It is that statement of being ok as you are in this moment that bridges the gap between experience and future ideal, and allows you to fully accept this current moment without holding back or resisting it in any way. Because, in the end (if such a thing can exist?), any ideal is a figment of the future, and thus imagination, unless you’re living it right now (and if you are, then it isn’t an ideal, it’s just how you’re living).

If you’re anything like me, or the majority of people, there’ll be parts of you now screaming in horror at the idea of saying you’re ok as you are, that you don’t need to get any better or improve in any way. There’ll be parts of you that will accuse you of laying down and dying by accepting yourself the way you are, as if acceptance means never improving ever again. But in any situation, the logic is undeniable. If you demand things to be other than they are, there will be pain, because things can never be other than they are. If you accept things as they are, then there’s no problem.

If you’re poor and you want to be rich, it’s only a problem if you let that aspiration cause you pain (if you place a condition on the quality of your life and happiness being tied to whether you are rich or not, saying poor is bad and rich is good in other words). If you are more willing to be lots of things, because you know deep down that you’re ok whatever happens and whatever your external circumstances are, then things will trouble you a lot less. For most people, the idea of being in debt is a terrifying and stressful one, but when you can follow the road down to it’s conclusion with worst case scenarios and still being ok with that, then the problem disappears. You’re in debt, so what? You lose your possessions, so what? You end up on the streets, so what? These are extreme cases, and in my fear I haven’t gone all the way to the ultimate ideal, that of living instead of dying, but often you’ll find a whole load of little fears along the way that you have that when actually examined really are “so what?”.

This may all seem rather dire and defeatest, but I wouldn’t be saying it if I didn’t think it was beneficial. The simple truth is, the less things are a problem, the less stress and anxiety you’ll feel. And the less anxiety you feel, the more you can play with life, relax and enjoy it, and by the irony of all ironies, be better equiped to achieve those ideals and aspirations that you left by the wayside back there. If you’re continually worrying about things going wrong, where will you find the energy to help things go right?

If there is one feeling to remember then when it comes to any sense of ideal or desire, it is this: play. If you can play with your ideal and desire, then it isn’t serious. And if it isn’t serious, then you can relax. And if you stay the same for the rest of your life (which is impossible, of course), it’ll all be ok, because you know what? You’re ok, no matter what.

“You’re alright, you’re alright, you’re alright.” - From ‘Simon’, by Lifehouse.

A craftsman is only as good as his tools, it is often said. When cutting vegetables with a blunt knife for ages, then suddenly having a sharp one I was shocked and amazed by the difference. Then, as time went on and the sharp one blunted, I re-sharpened it and again was shocked by the difference it made. It is a good idea, then, to keep your tools, and your mind, sharp.

Similarly, good preparation can make any task far easier. A prime example of this is shaving. I use an electric shaver, rechargeable batteries, and rarely shave very close, so just do it whenever, not worrying to prepare my skin and stubble the way you would with a wet shave. However, the other day I happened to shave after a shower, and what a difference it made! The blades cut through the hair so easily, as they were softened by the soaking in the shower. It’s completely obvious, yet it had to happen for it to occur to me. So, prepare as best you can for your tasks, and you might just find they go much more smoothly and efficiently.