Here it is, and back by popular demand, my collins axe. Only one truly ignorant of the work involved would pick one up. There is a trick involved in using it, one that makes our work a lot easier. It is, rather than swinging the monstrous thing, to LET it swing. Every movement has its concomitant in the action of those muscles contrary to the movement that set it in motion. I swing the pick over my head and catch myself muscling it down to the earth. All that is really needed is to set it motion and it will fall by its own weight and by the skillful use of the our selves, just enough and no more. Every swing possesses its skillful return, its counter-swing. That collins axe doesn’t want to be guided, doesn’t want to be controlled. Like you, it just wants to swing.
We all do too much. Watch your muscular involvement in whatever you do. If you do not, part of your work, perhaps a large part, will be spent overcoming your self-enforced resistance. Fatigue will set in early. Let that collins axe, or any of those tools of your self, swing into action. Perhaps on coming home, the most attractive thing in the house will not be your Barcalounger. It’s worth a try. Even more so, it’s worth trying less. Here’s to mindful moving and skillful living, the milieu of the Alexander Technique.
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