I was working with a group of young actors in training with learning disabilities from the Bradford-based Mind the Gap project last week. They are resident at ArtsEd in London where I teach Alexander Technique to the BA/MA acting students. Thanks guys for some fun sessions and for insoiring me with the following! I like the name Mind The Gap – it’s very Alexandrian. The gap between stimulus and response, that’s where change lies….. in Alexander parlance it’s called ‘Inhibition’. Deepak Chopra mentions the Gap between thoughts, a meditative state, the potential for anything where we can contact the Universe and ask for help. Inhibition for me is a Gap where I have stopped the world and got off for a moment -the world being the ‘crowd of my thoughts’ *, my ego-laden reality. When I can stop all that there is an extraordinary peace and I may well choose not to bound back into the habit-laden rigors of my life. So, whatever you are doing just now, ‘Mind the Gap’, stop what you are doing and look around you, take in the outside world, the sounds, the sensation of being alive right here right now. Then return to what you were doing – if you want. And maybe with a freer neck, a direction of ‘up’, feet released into the ground.
And practise these moments of stopping throughout the day. In Alonnisos in January I was walking with my darling dog through the byways of the island, making a helluva noise with my crinkly anorak and then I just stopped. I heard the birds, the sound of the rain dripping, smelt the damp earth, saw the myriad shades of green in the trees and bushes….and agreed anytime I thought of stopping I just would. It’s a great game and I’ve been playing it ever since. Just stopping, and finding out what happens. ( I don’t drive, but I guess it could be possible to just decided to safely pull up for a moment, before continuing a journey….) Happy playing!