Empathy.

Difference.

Presence.

Wholeness.

Bradley’s article is about fish, but it’s also about being human, I think.

Umwelt is a word German biologist Jakob von Uexkëll created to mean “the surrounding world.” As Bradley points out in his article, “Do fish dream?”, a fish’s surrounding world is fundamentally different from ours: subaquatic and fluid. Is there something enlightening for us in trying to understand their world?

How might it change me to try to imagine someone else’s umwelt?

I see this as my work and my responsibility teaching Voice and the Alexander Technique, and as a therapist.

Even if I don’t get there, how might I be changed by the process of listening, receiving, seeing, feeling, trying to understand someone?

How might this receptivity support my student or my client?

Read the full article here.

The Alexander Technique offers an effective process for learning. By pausing and becoming aware of sensation and intention, you are priming your system for receiving new information.

When your system senses a threat, it will click over to survival mode. This mode is characterized by fear and anxiety. Physical manifestations could include contraction, tension, compression, constriction. In survival mode, your system is not in a receptive state to receive new information.

In short: when we are fearful/worried, anxious, we can’t learn.

In his book Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique, Michael Gelb describes the ideal learning environment as one that is “free from comparison or competition.” With a focus on self-acceptance, the Alexander Technique inherently supports this type of learning environment.

The Alexander Technique teacher is highly skilled in presence, kinaesthetic listening, and holding space for self and other. So lessons can provide a container for safety, learning, and growth.