Early in our development, we learn by what Gurdjieff called
Associative Thinking. We connect, or associate, events, movements, experiences,
which are/were in temporal proximity to each other.
“Each time I raise my arms I tense my shoulders”, or, “Every
time I take a step I tense up”, were at one time products of necessity, but
later in our development they have become the residue of earlier stages, the no
longer functional baggage which we still carry because it once worked well for
us.
When we first learned to walk, we fell forward and put a foot out to catch
ourselves from falling. We tensed many muscles to protect ourselves from a
fall. As we learn to relax and move forward from our center in balance, these
once functional tensions now inhibit the working of all our parts together
which is necessary for this relaxed movement in balance.
These tensions are required as long as the extra movements
that disturb our balance are present. The problem can be viewed in terms of
tension or of extra movement, as they are two sides of the same coin. As we
eliminate the extra movements, the related tensions move from the realm of the
functional to the realm of dysfunctional extra baggage; no longer needed but
still there.
These old habits are, by this time, very strongly fixed in
our movement patterns. We have been doing them regularly and reinforcing them
for many, many years.
The process of changing them is facilitated by slowing
down, paying attention, and, of course, practice. We can do this most easily by
starting with parts of the form that we are more familiar with, so that our
attention isn’t totally taken up with remembering the form. Being in the moment
and paying attention to our balance and state of relaxation then becomes a
practical possibility. While we are still looking at a list of steps in our
head this is much more difficult, if not impossible, and this means that we
first need to do our homework. We need to practice until we have some non
verbal attention available.
When this level is achieved and we are able to work with
breaking these unnecessary automatic connections (Every time I do this, I also
do that), this same associative function may then be applied by our brains,
unconscious minds, etc., to other parts of our psyche for our benefit. As we
learn that “Every time I raise my arms I don’t have to tense my shoulders”, for
instance, our larger mind may find other applications for this principle, such
as “Every time someone yells at me I don’t have to get upset”, or “Every time I
feel threatened I don’t have to react automatically. I might possibly consider
other options”.
The quality of life may be enhanced in many subtle ways as this
evolution and growth proceeds out of our practice.
Blessings and Very Best Wishes,
Daniel
