Principles of Ease
I talk a lot about these principles of ease. But what are they??
Here is how I describe them:
Ease is our default state
Unless we are borne with a serious condition most of us are born at ease. Effort only comes into our lives when we start forming ideas and beliefs about how the world should work and we try and make it happen. When we accept WHAT IS we are at ease. (This does not mean we have to like what is)
When we are tense we go down – when we are at ease we go up
When we are tense we are tense in relation to the ground. This means that we tense up against the ground. In other words we contract and pull down into the ground.When we stop tensing against the ground we automatically go up. There is an upward force inside our system that supports us in our uprightness in relation to the planet.
Everything is embodied
All our experiences “live” somewhere in our body. Our body is the means through which we experience the world. We make sense of the world through our senses.
We are never stuck
Life is constantly changing. Or in other words the only constant in life is change. As long as we are alive we are always adapting, learning and changing. You are never the same person twice.
If you don’t use it you lose it
We have two different types of muscles in our body.One type is the red slow twitch muscle fibre which is active for postural purpose. We can’t access those muscles consciously. They work by default when the conditions are right and don’t tire fast. The second type of muscles are white fast twitch muscles. We can access them consciously. They are responsible for making movements such as moving a limb. Those muscles are not designed for postural purpose and tire quickly. If we use the wrong type of muscles for postural purpose we lose the red twitch ones that are designed to do the job. In other words if we don’t use the internal support mechanism and start “doing” support with effort we lose what is naturally supporting us.
When we are out of balance we tense
Tension happens in our system for two reasons.
1. We are physically out of balance. Then our body tenses up to keep us from falling
2. We are psychologically out of balance. Then our body tenses up in response to stressful believes and ideas we have about ourselves and life.
It is easy to be yourself – everything else is hard
This is my favourite principle. It is easy to be yourself! Why? Because that is who you are. When we try and be someone else or get ideas of how we should be, when we start comparing ourselves with others and try and change we feel effort. This does not mean that we can’t change (see: We are never stuck) but we have to start from where we are and not from an imagined self.
Your intention is enough to make it happen
Our system is directed by our intention. Clarity of intention is the driving force behind what moves us.
Mistakes are necessary for learning to happen
Often we seem to focus our attention on avoiding to make mistakes. However mistakes are a necessary feedback for us to improve our skills.
Psychophysical unity
This is a term FM Alexander used to explain that our body is not separate from our mind or the other way round. We are one whole being. All the principles are true on a physical level and on a psychological level.
When we stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing happens by itself.
What is the right thing? The right thing is simply what is happening. There is an intelligence organising our system. When we get out of the way and let this intelligence do its thing we are at ease. Support, health and ease is happening from within when we get out of the way
Life is happening despite you! It has its own agenda timing and rhythm. 
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