« Feeling always dominates the situation. Unless our rational decisions are in accordance with our feelings, we very, very seldom succeed in carrying our reasoned decisions into effect because our feelings won’t let us. The best way, and perhaps the only way, to reeducate your feelings for the better is through the practice of non-doing. »
« Think about time. Realize how much time is a personal thing, how much time is an individual possession. »
« As one intimately acquainted with the Technique, you will find that your immediate reaction when confronted with a situation that is very demanding is to prevent yourself from making the degree of effort that is really needed. »
« You can do anything you like, you are justified in doing anything you like, provided you are getting your lengthening and widening together. You are not getting one at the expense of the other. »
« You’ve got to be clear in your mind what you are attempting to teach them, what changes you are seeking to bring about, and you’ve got to be perfectly clear about what you are not qualified to teach them, or, indeed, to intrude into. »
« The process is greatly a matter of time and patience, not being thrown and upset by the fact that the detailed knowledge of the working of the musculature of the body is limited. It doesn’t matter (…), so long as you’ve got the overall appreciation of the situation. That will be sufficient, and that will carry you forward. »
« Most people have a very excellent and laudable idea that you ought not to be selfish and you ought to think of others. But you are only as good a teacher as you are able to be by the way you use yourself. »
« It is the recognition that there is no way out, there is no escape. You can’t just do your Alexander at 11:30 in the morning and lead a normal life the rest of the time. »
« If you get into such a state that you are completely oblivious of your head and neck, then you get into terrible trouble and awful difficulties. »
« If you can manage to communicate some of these experiences in the first lesson, you are beginning to get some thinking and some understanding. Then the work you’re doing is not just a manipulation or a treatment. It is the start of a learning process. »