The Elevator Game: Version 3
The Elevator Game: Version 3
The FINAL Elevator Game!
Welcome to a new week! Fall has sprung and I get to wear long sleeve shirts now. Thanks to those of you who filled out last week’s poll. While I wouldn’t say that I have statistically significant information, it does give me a sense of stuff and things. Anyone is free to use the subscriber chat features and ask me questions there, so I’ll leave it at that for now. :)
This week’s article is another excerpt from the notes I’ve written for my students. It will only make sense if you’ve read some of the older articles, so I’ve linked to them throughout today’s post. Please take the time to check it all out and enjoy!
In the first elevator game, you were tasked with moving from stiff to dead weight.
In the second, you were tasked with discovering the absolute minimum effort required to generate a movement in a limb - say the leg or jaw. This effort could be so small that no one would even see you moving and this effort could have either an increasing or decreasing direction…
If you’ve played with these two games, you will be very comfortable with the concept of the elevator and you should have a great deal of control over it. You’ll also know that there is much beyond your direct control. Having come this far, you’re ready for the FINAL Elevator Game!
The third version of this game is more of a description than a literal game that you can play. Have a read and bear in mind that this is very intimately tied to last week’s post. The more you can use this game as a check-in tool, the better!
The Final Frontier
There exists a version of sending the elevator down that is very much related to the glacial melting that you observed in the head bowing experience. In fact, it is very nearly the same as that glacial melt. However, for this version you are to ask for the glacial melting sensation GLOBALLY.
It is the result of a STOPPING.
The closest analogy I can make is that you are to take off the Chinese Finger Trap. This trap is the result of WANT/ DESIRE/ GAINING ENDS.
This STOPPING will create a great many internal changes and give you the total foundation for your Inner Sherlock/ Arlo.
To have any other sensation is Pushing or Pulling on yourself as if by definition.
Why Is This An Elevator Game?!?
You Literally Just Said It’s a Chinese Finger Trap!!!
When I’m going through my day, I have a sense of my elevator of energy. It is either zipping up to achieve something or it is falling down in an uncontrolled manner - collapsing from exhaustion or resignation. There is absolutely no exercise that you can “do” to give yourself this experience. It simply is going on in your life.
The trick is to begin to see it!
If you can see it you can maybe begin to stop your automatic reactions to life; to inhibit a habitual Pavlovian response.
If you can do THAT then you are absolutely doing the Alexander Technique at a very high level.
I consider this recognition more important than any traditional exercise you could do to improve your wellbeing. Without this come-to-Jesus moment you’ll find that at some point your progress in your endeavours will plateau or degrade. That might sound horrible and spooky, but really it’s all about cultivating moments of genuine quiet for yourself.
And that should feel pretty great!
Thanks for reading “The Elevator Game: Version 3”!
If you’re in the New York area and are interested in taking a private lesson, please check out johndalto.com or find a time on my booking page. My studio is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.