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On learning habits, skills, lifestyles, new ways of thinking —
anti-(self)coercion = "never force yourself"
But what does "force" mean here?
@m_ashcroft, taking from Alexander Technique, makes this distinction:
what is natural vs *habitual*
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anti-(self)coercion = "never force yourself"
But what does "force" mean here?
@m_ashcroft, taking from Alexander Technique, makes this distinction:
what is natural vs *habitual*
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Taken from this interview, in which @AllanGSteele adds (on teaching cello):
“I tell my students: If it feels awkward, that’s right. It shouldn’t feel right. Because if it felt right, you’d just be doing it naturally from the beginning.”
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“I tell my students: If it feels awkward, that’s right. It shouldn’t feel right. Because if it felt right, you’d just be doing it naturally from the beginning.”
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What feels comfortable is what is habitual — your existing familiar patterns.
Doing the right thing may not be comfortable!
There's a good kind of discomfort while breaking old patterns.
It *feels wrong* initially.
But that doesn't mean it 𝘪𝘴 wrong — nor is it coercive.
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Doing the right thing may not be comfortable!
There's a good kind of discomfort while breaking old patterns.
It *feels wrong* initially.
But that doesn't mean it 𝘪𝘴 wrong — nor is it coercive.
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There’s always a way to make it comfortable. I’m not talking about feeling uncomfortable forever.
(Though this kind of discomfort doesn’t inherently feel bad, and can be enjoyable.)
But when something is new, it’s counter-intuitive. Your existing approaches may not work.
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(Though this kind of discomfort doesn’t inherently feel bad, and can be enjoyable.)
But when something is new, it’s counter-intuitive. Your existing approaches may not work.
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A new habit feeling 'wrong' isn't the same as yourself feeling _bad_.
It might be physically uncomfortable just because you’ve never moved in that way before.
It might be frustrating because you keep trying to lean on your existing patterns, and they don’t apply.
But:
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It might be physically uncomfortable just because you’ve never moved in that way before.
It might be frustrating because you keep trying to lean on your existing patterns, and they don’t apply.
But:
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Uncomfortable or frustrating can be fun.
Fun-frustrating: “I’m trying to figure out this magic trick and it keeps outsmarting my attempts”
Fun-uncomfortable: “I’m learning cello and I have to reconceive how to move my arm”
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Fun-frustrating: “I’m trying to figure out this magic trick and it keeps outsmarting my attempts”
Fun-uncomfortable: “I’m learning cello and I have to reconceive how to move my arm”
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Reconceiving how to sit might *feel* unnatural, but that’s because we pick up patterns based on intuitive-but-wrong guesses about how to interact with the world.
E.g. to lean head forward (putting strain on neck muscles!) to look at something, instead of bending at joints.
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E.g. to lean head forward (putting strain on neck muscles!) to look at something, instead of bending at joints.
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After initially-uncomfortable new habits are internalised, they can be much more comfortable than what you’d do intuitively.
Watch how floppy and buttery a violinist’s bow arm is — we never usually hold objects that lightly!:
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Watch how floppy and buttery a violinist’s bow arm is — we never usually hold objects that lightly!:
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If you have a hangup about something, that might cause counter-intuitiveness to feel bad.
If you aren’t interested in learning the thing, or you don’t want to update your existing ideas for some reason, that constrains you.
It’s the constraint that feels bad.
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If you aren’t interested in learning the thing, or you don’t want to update your existing ideas for some reason, that constrains you.
It’s the constraint that feels bad.
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