"If we did all the things we are capable of doing we would truly astound ourselves." Not my words, but those of inventor Thomas Edison, 1847-1931 who gave us the light bulb. It also comes to mind that he made a great many attempts to achieve success in his endeavouir. Thanks to Asker the story goes...."After struggling to develop a viable electric light-bulb for months and months, Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb."

I keep on trying to play the violin. I haven't made 10,000 attempts .....or maybe I have. I'm still waiting to be astounded. However, I have learnt that it's far more important to work on the process rather than just aiming for the end result. This is particularly important when we're learning a skill such as playing the violin or piano. This takes thousands of hours of practice and if we want to achieve even a modicum of success and play even simple pieces beautifully, it almost precludes the chance to do many other things as it's so time absorbing.

But if Edison is right, and I've no reason to doubt his words, then there are a great many things we could do and achieve a reasonable level of success. But the chance of doing them all in one lifetime is probably too far a stretch for most of us. Hang on....Did I just limit myself? But to suddenly realise that we had achieved all that we are capable of in this life, today would be a sad day. What else is there to do? Thankfully we are all capable of achieving more....far more. Even if we are severely handicapped we can achieve untold success. Take for instance Kevin Robinson who has written three books. He is a paraplegic and writes mysteries of a character in a wheelchair. He also climbs and descends stairs in a wheelchair. I wonder how many attempts he made before he succeeded...

It's reassuring to know that we can all capable of achieving new things; we could even achieve outstanding success in a field that we've never thought about. Wow. I'd like to think of some new things to do..... Something truly exciting, invigorating, stretching and rewarding. Finding out what that is could be a challenge itself. But there is someone we can ask. You got it. We ask ourselves.

A good way of discovering what we should do or how we should handle a situation is to think about the question at night before we drop off to sleep. Then in the morning before we properly wake up, drowsy as we are.....think of the question again and see what answer pops up before our intellectual and rational mind kicks in and kicks the idea out. When we're truly relaxed, that is a good time to discover what your subconscious knows.

My day is pretty packed as it is. Between teaching Alexander Technique full-time at my practice in central London, playing the violin, blog writing, doing photography as well as all the family and social pleasures...... there doesn't seem enough time to do more. Hang on. Who said "Can't!"? Did I say "I can't do more!"? No. I don't think I heard myself say that awful swear word "Can't."

I like the word 'Can'.

CAN

Say it to yourself.

"I CAN!"

Say it again.

Yep. That's the way it works.

:-)

Now there's nothing wrong with having a doze; you'll know well enough from my recent blogs on National Siesta Day, I am an enthusiast of the 'nap'. However there is a time and place, and during the Alexander Technique lesson, it doesn't help for either the client or me to be feeling dozy. Now, I've sorted myself out; I've napped. But my client hasn't. And while he's lying on the table while I work on helping him release tension in his shoulders, neck and back, I detect the little judder of his muscles, followed by a deeper relaxation as he drops off asleep. I wake him up and he asks why can't he have a little kip while I work on him.

Alexander Technique is not like massage or any treatment where a practitioner or therapist 'does it for him (or her)'. If you've had Alexander lessons, you'll know that you're not a passenger in the situation of improving your poise, but an active participant. We need to learn how to change our posture for ourselves; we need to learn how to be more in control of our posture so our habits of stiffening or slouching don't get a look in. We learn to think so our head goes upwards, our back lengthens and widens and we come up to our full height.. This requires us to be conscious and aware, so sleeping clearly doesn't help.

But if you're lying on the Alexander Technique table for ten minutes as part of the lesson, surely we can drop off just for a few minutes? This is a common question. The answer is actually "No." because we need to start associating the new looseness or freedom that we achieve when you're lying down, with being 'present' and awake. It's common for people to associate being 'relaxed' with being in bed or going to sleep, but when we're active and awake, that's when we tense up. In Alexander lessons we bridge the gap, so we start associating being very 'relaxed' or free with being very awake, alert and mentally active. This way the new quality becomes familiar with being busy at work; relaxed and free while being busy. It's the association that is important. Pavlov's Dog. We need to train the association of being busy with having a free neck, relaxed shoulders and free upright poise.

Also, if we are completely loose and floppy, our muscles will not support us when we stand. In Alexander Technique we encourage a release of unnecessary tension while also energising the correct muscular co-ordination to support us with far less effort than we may be accustomed to. Muscles are there to work and this is what we want; it's no use of they are completely flaccid and floppy. They've got a job to do and that involves us being awake and participative in our thinking to encourage this new quality.

But if one of my clients cannot stay awake for some reason and just keeps nodding off every minute or so while lying down I may get him (or her) off the table. But alternatively I may also let him sleep for a single minute and then when he wakes up, he'll be far more alert. Even just a few seconds of sleep can refresh us adequately to restore some vitalisation to our body and mind! By giving him what his body needs (a quick doze, and I mean very quick!) we will make far more of the lesson afterwards. (I am not such a hard task master, you know!).

Yes, it's good to nap and sometimes it's the only thing that will refresh us to participate fully in our life.

National Siesta Day was a busy one for me, but I still managed to get my nap, a little earlier than usual given I got up at 4.30am yesterday. The wave of tiredness that is quite normal for all mammals (including humans!) occurs around 8 hours after we wake up in the morning. You can work that one out for yourself; do you feel a little sleepy after you've been up for 8 hours? It can coincide with lunch, but for many it's around 2-4pm, depending on when we wake in the morning.

Fitting a 10-20 minute nap into the day can be tricky, particularly if we have an early or late lunch, yet our 'sleepy time' might not coincide. In my practice as an Alexander Technique teacher I have to fit my break around the appointments people often make around lunchtime for their convenience. But it's not too hard to do so; I just eat first then purposefully put my head down and close my eyes and just let my mind wander. Surprisingly we don't need to even sleep in order to feel refreshed; if there are disturbances and noise around don't worry; just put your head back against the wall or lie down and do your best. Simply by letting your mind wander a little you may drift in stage 1 sleep and not even get to stage 2 sleep, but it will help.

it's most important that we do not sleep so long that we fall into a deeper sleep i.e. stage 3 or 4 sleep because we'll find it very difficult to wake up again and we'll feel terribly groggy. A full sleep cycle lasts around 90 minutes. Stage 1 of just starting to fall asleep (but still conscious) lasts around 5 minutes and stage 2 lasts for up to 30 minutes. After that we're into much deeper sleep. The perfect nap is when we manage to fall asleep but wake up again after around 20 minutes, so we're still in stage 2 sleep when we do so. Set your mobile phone alarm to wake you if possible.

I spent most of yesterday talking about the benefits of having a short nap; 100% improvement in alertness; 30% improvement in productivity and 34% reduction in risk of heart disease as well as helping to avoid accidents with machinery or on the roads. The benefits to health and longevity are very significant, all substantiated and proven in tests by NASA and Harvard University amongst other institutions. See more information on www.siestaawareness.org

I was tired by lunchtime, having done 17 live interviews on national and local TV and radio and communicated with around 40 million people during the day. It had gone well. but now I'm glad it's over and I can return to my work with the Alexander Technique. Some clients will be arriving shortly, so I'll get back to you again later!.

Have a good day....and nap! :-)

Now running for its third year National Siesta Day is one day in the year when we can have a nap at lunchtime without fear of criticism because we'll all be doing it. I set up this awareness campaign because I was hearing from so many people that they'd love to have a nap, but culture in Britain doesn't allow for it. This is despite there being so much research to show we can be healthier, more productive and even live longer by having a just a 15-20 minute nap.

If you have been following my blogs for a year or two you'll have read about the campaign before. If you want to read a bit about the massive TV and radio coverage we got, then you can do so in my archives National Siesta Day

Do you ever take a nap? Do you ever feel slightly drowsy shortly after lunch? If so, you are quite normal, and if you do not, then let me offer you my entire admiration, as a drop in energy levels and sense of fatigue happens to almost everyone, about 8 hours after rising. You might like to do a quick calculation to see if this matches with your own experience.

It was two years ago after I'd had my usual nap at lunch time, that in discussion with a number of people I found that although many would love to have a nap, their work situation prevents them from doing so; it would be frowned upon by their boss, there are no facilities, they would be seen as a wimp or weakling. "It's just not done in Britain!" Well let me assure you that there is plenty of evidence to show that we can all benefit from a short nap and it's such a shame if we are prevented from doing so, particularly if we feel the need. I have had a daily nap for over 18 years. So I decided there and then to set up a National Siesta Day in the UK and it happened on June 28th 2006 resulting in a great many radio and TV interviews as well as press. If you didn't hear about it, don't worry; it is estimated that around 15 million people either heard or read about it at the time, so maybe you were one of those others! I also set up Siesta Awareness, a site for information about National Siesta Day, and relevant research, history and facts about having a nap.

Having a regular 10-20 minute nap as part of a lunch break has been shown to be extremely beneficial to our health, well being and performance. Recent research from the sleep labs at Harvard University and University of Athens show that a regular nap can reduce the risk of heart disease by 34%. Research from NASA the space agency shows that a short nap can increase your alertness by 100% and your productivity by over 30%. These are big numbers and not to be dismissed too quickly.

The research shows that if we were to have a nap, we can reduce the risk of accidents on the road and at work, increase our productivity, increase sales, creativity and idea planning, negotiate better, communicate better and generally be healthier to live a longer life. .....not bad for the simple nap.

The ideal nap is around 10-20 minutes long. It's not the 'Spanish Style' siesta that can go on for several hours, but a quick restorative nap. An important point is that we should not sleep beyond 30 minutes because we would then enter third stage of sleep and we will feel groggy afterwards. Keep it to 20 minutes maximum and use a mobile phone alarm or timer.

It's my understanding that we are the only species of mammal on earth that tries to go through an entire 24 hour period with only one session of sleep? All other mammals nap regularly through the day. So why shouldn't we? Productivity, sales, global economy and communication that's why. It comes down to money....time means money.

But all those bosses who believe that they are saving money by preventing their staff from having a nap, should consider the up-side if they do...more sales, more creativity, better negotiation and more profit, better communication, happier staff.

National Siesta Day is a non-profit making awareness campaign, the sole function of which is to draw people's awareness to the benefits of having a nap and to encourage everyone to do so. National Siesta Day is the day when we can do so, without fear of criticism. We're changing culture in Britain to adopt the nap as a way of life. And why am I doing this, you may ask? Because I feel that it needs to be done. The communication of health and well being issues are what I do with teaching the Alexander Technique for posture health, and this blog is also about that and more....it's about being healthy, happy and successful. We can all probably do more to help ourselves.

Tomorrow will be a busy day as I start with early morning national TV on GMTV followed by a great many interviews again. So with such a lot to do, I guess I'd better get on with it! I'll keep you posted on progress.

As soon as we categorise people, we put them into a box and 'label' them. As soon as we do this we think of them in this way and they become 'classified' or considered as being of a particular religious, political, socio-economic, ethnic or sexual group. They are 'friends' or enemies, criminals, preachers, Alexander Technique teachers, generous or mean, stupid or intelligent, reliable or not. By categorising people we immediately give them a 'label' that says 'what they are'. But it also determines by default 'what they are not'. As I was born in Glasgow, I am presumed Scottish. However my parents were English born, with a mix of Irish in there somewhere too, so my Scottishness is only in name. This also does not allow for how I feel, having lived in London (England) for 23 years. Being born Scottish almost implies that I am not English. For some people whether I am Scottish or English (or Protestant or Catholic or anything) will determine how they think of me, whether they know me or not! Having holidayed in France on numerous occasions and taken our own car over by ferry, it has proved most helpful to have an Ecosse sticker rather than a GB sticker on the back of the car. Suddenly all French are my friends, passing cars toot their horns, they wave on the motorway, and guide me into parking spaces without any ulterior motive. This 'friendship' dates back to the 'Auld Alliance' where Scotland and France allied together against the English. This extends over 800 years. There were times when the two nations acquired considerable mutual benefit from the alliance, particularly after the outbreak of the Hundred Years War.

As soon as we categorise people we are generalising, and stereotyping. We may label what they are but we also say what they are not and have attitudes for or against them as a consequence of the label. For instance the 'criminal' is branded as a bad person, but this is not 'who they are' but what they may have done. The assumption is that they 'do bad things' and a criminal record is with them for life. It may have been a one-off offence. How many of us can honestly withhold putting up our hands if I ask did you as a child ever steal any sweets from a shop counter? "But that's different." I hear you say. You do not consider yourself a criminal with such a minor and childish misdemeanour. But the same theft as an adult puts us into the category of criminal. This person may also be the most kind, loving, giving, charitable and unselfish person we are ever likely to meet. And while the criminal can have deep tendencies to love, the Preacher or religious person who most would consider a 'good person' may have weaknesses towards less than 'upright' behaviour.

Walter Carrington the director of the Alexander Technique training course that I attended, once told me of a day at F.M. Alexander's teaching rooms in 16 Ashley Place, Victoria, London in the 50's. F.M. (as he was called) was waiting to give his next lesson in the technique that bears his name. He said to Walter "Be a good chap and see if my best pupil is sitting in the waiting room." Walter returned and said no, not yet. F.M. asked "Are you quite sure? She's not normally late. Is there no-one sitting there?" Walter replied that there was only a little old lady sitting in a corner, but his best pupil had not arrived. F.M. promptly exclaimed, "That's her! Show her in!" Walter told me this story to indicate how dangerous it is to make assumptions about people. For instance, how could anyone so old, possibly be a 'best pupil'?

By categorising people we limit them in the process. The only categories that can possibly be big and broad enough for us to fit into are homo-sapien or human; it is inclusive and not exclusive. It is my belief that we are all greater than any label can define. We are all infinitely variable, with infinite potential and none of the billions of us on earth are the same. We are all individuals with our own strengths, weaknesses, loves, skills and attributes. As Alexander Technique teachers we learn to consider each and every one of our clients or 'pupils' as unique individuals. By categorising people we automatically make assumptions about them, which are ultimately limiting. If I think of someone as a 'beginner' I automatically decide how I think they will be, in terms of posture. If someone has had 20 lessons over a few months I could predetermine what I think their abilities should be in relation to using the Alexander Technique. But such an attitude and preconception could detrimentally affect the lesson; I need to remain open minded at all times, so I allow for moments of brilliance in my pupil or difficulties during thier off days. Every day be it a good one or not-so-good is equally an opportunity to learn and change. It is because of our uniqueness that we need to have one-to-one lessons in the Alexander Technique in order to understand how the principles apply to our own particular personal and postural needs.

No matter what the category we may be put into, or how we may consider others, they are ultimately limiting and extremely dangerous as the very act of categorisation is exclusive by nature. By saying 'what we are', automatic assumptions are made about 'what we are not'. F.M. Alexander's 'best pupil' could not possibly be the little old lady sitting in the corner. The person labeled 'stupid' for a misdemeanour may have an IQ of 180, the handicapped man with no legs in a wheelchair may become a world beating athlete.

We and every one of us are unique individuals and it is my belief that there are real dangers of categorising anyone and we should beware of the associated implications should we ever do so for any particular reason. An open mind works best every time.

Busy day today? It's easy to get caught up in the activities of the day, the meetings, reports to write, children to wash, clothe and feed, home to clean, do the shopping et al. When the head is down and we're focused, busy getting on with all the jobs and responsibilities of the day we become so wrapped up with it all we become almost myopic and cease to see the bigger picture.

Pausing for a moment to look up from the reports, to look away from the computer screen we can give ourselves time....just a moment of time, to free our neck, relax our shoulders; to think loose and tall so we can 'relax' and function better. Now we can get on with what we're doing, while not harming ourselves in the process. But pause a second longer....and look out.

Looking up and into the distance is a simple but great experience; how many of us actually do this? Living and working in the city or home, we get used to focusing on things around us that are probably no further away than a few metres. If we go out to the shops or to a meeting we may extend our sight to a hundred metres, across the road, the traffic and passers-by. How often do we get a chance to look towards the horizon, the tops of the buildings, the edge of far away hills, out to sea where ships appear like specs on a curved watery globe, to distant mountains, to eagles soaring above high crags, the wild buffalo, lions and zebras in the wild, the spray fro the waterfall. When was the last time you looked at the stars? "Fine chance to do that!" I hear some say...

But just pause a moment and look out of your window at something that you've never noticed before. Look at the chimney pots, the balconies on the windows some distance down the street. I used to love travelling on the top of a double decker bus because one just gets a different view on life; we see things differently. Things are able to be seen differently all the time; it just depends on our perspective; how we feel and how we look out. We can either see things around us as we normally do or we can see them from a different view. Then we notice how old and shabby appears somethings that we use on a daily basis.

When we're tunnel visioned and focusing on what is in hand at the moment, we can easily not see ourselves in the bigger picture. The bigger picture is the world. No matter what we are doing right now, somewhere beyond our view and maybe over the horizon there are buzzards circling over rabbits, albatrosses soaring over ice-caps, cheetahs running at 60mph, people climbing mountains and others diving to the sea bed.

When we're worried about the bills, the pressure of work or the lack of employment; when we're wrapped up in our own thinking we are not aware that there is someone right now looking up our phone number to offer us a wonderful deal or invitation. Someone is wondering if you'd like to go out on a date and what it would be like to make love to you.

All the time there are things happening of which we are not aware. All the time there are people organising themselves or considering doing something that will have repercussions and bring something new into your life. If we cannot imagine what, it is because of our limited imagination. You just don't know what's around the corner.

Look up from what you're doing, look out of the window; look into the distance and let yourself realise that over that building opposite, over the hill and a bit beyond, there is 'stuff' happening that's just about to come your way. Good stuff. Heck, what would life be like without surprises....?

Keep smiling.

There are some pitfalls to be avoided when learning something like the Alexander Technique to improve our posture, but if we can avoid them we will make the best of progress. One main potential problem relates to trying to 'do it right'. But we have no recent experience of having 'good poise' and any attempt to 'do it right' will only be based on our current feelings, but they will not be accurate because they are affected by our tensional habits. As F.M. Alexander said, "You cannot know a thing by an instrument that is wrong*." Indeed, the new ways of standing, walking and sitting may feel entirely wrong at first, but only because we are so used to doing things 'our way'. But 'our way' may be causing all sorts of problems. When we start to change, the 'right way' feels wrong at first.

When Alexander 'pupils' (pupil = anyone who has one-to-one sessions for their personal benefit) have the idea of unlearning instead of learning, they are in the frame of mind that will most help their progress*. What we have to unlearn are our habits, but because these are so ingrained, we probably do not even know we have them until an Alexander teacher points them out to us. If people go on believing that they 'know', it is impossible to eradicate anything*. If we put ourselves into what feels like the 'right position' when we have a defective co-ordination (most of us), we are only getting into a position which fits with our defective co-ordination*. You cannot do something you don't know, if you keep on doing what you do know*.

When we have Alexander Technique lessons we are ultimately wanting a change to our current situation. It will be different from any experience we have had in recent years, but probably very similar to the way we were as young children; free, well balanced and expansive. Indeed, with the technique we are only learning to do consciously, what is actually happening naturally in nature*. But because we have habits, we need to 'consciously' unlearn them.

The new sensations of 'holding' ourselves differently and moving differently will probably feel quite odd at first but will soon become familiar. With each new lesson, we should want to get a new experience. We should experiment to find out "What happens if I do it (stand, walk, sit, bend) differently?". Don't prejudge or anticipate; keep an open mind; be prepared to do things like walking and standing in ways that feel quite wrong. Then we truly are in the right frame of mind to experience something new and benefit. It won't hurt and it's not a cause to worry, but new sensations and new experiences can be a little alarming at first but we soon realise it's OK. Have the attitude to 'see what happens if you do it differently. That's when the biggest rewards will come to you.

Yes, it truly is a voyage into the unknown. But it's a wonderful one...

Thanks for the idea to write this, Karen.

*The above was written with liberal use of many of F.M. Alexander's own aphorisms.

Although we have a national and indeed a global tendency to stiffen our necks and hold our head in a position that is not in the best of balance, the tendency can be exacerbated if we wear spectacles or even sun glasses.

As healthy children we have the best poise imaginable; free of habit, loose, tall and expansive. We do not have any postural habits at that age but as we grow up and even from the age of four we develop tendencies to stiffen, hunch, stoop and slouch. We pick these habits up from our parents, friends and other people of influence such as rock stars and film stars. As we grow, we learn how to tie our shoe laces and write at a desk by example and we copy people who also stiffen their necks. We may also play computer games slouched for hours and these tendencies, innocent as they may appear at such a young age gradually take their toll on us and by the time we're middle-aged we have a bad back, sciatica and stiff neck and shoulders. We probably don't breathe well either and suffer unnecessarily from stress.

Stiffening our neck is not just a habit but part of startle pattern which is our defence mechanism setting us up for 'fight or flight'. If someone slams a door behind our back we may well stiffen, but as we copy our parents and others who also stiffen their necks, we also stimulate our fear reflexes so we can live our lives in a constant state of anxiety; which comes first, the chicken or the egg? If we break the pattern by learning how to release our neck and shoulders, i.e. by means of the Alexander Technique, we also break the physical pattern associated with the 'fight or flight' reflex. We can become calmer.

Wearing spectacles or sun glasses can be problematic as well as having benefits. When we buy new spectacles the optician will take care to adjust the bridge and legs so that we look through the centre part of the lens. However after a few months they can start to slacken or become misshapen by constant use and if we accidentally sit on them, then they are put even more out of alignment.

When spectacles are slack so the slip down our nose we always end up pulling our head backwards so we're arching the back of our neck and facing upwards a bit, just so we can see through the centre part of the lens. We may not notice that we're even doing this if the tendency is part of our postural habits. We may even have had a stiff neck when we bought the specs in the first place and they were adjusted according to our habitual and tense stance! The problem can be made even worse if the lenses are narrow in shape so there is not much to look through.

If our head is slightly tilted backwards it is because we are stiffening our necks. Indeed if we relaxed our neck muscles our head would not come backwards but 'fall' forwards a little as the bulk of the weight of our head is in front of the balancing point on our spine at a height of between our ears. If we 'nod off' when sitting, our head falls forwards.

To free our necks from tension we often need to allow our head to roll forwards just a little on the top of our spine. But if our spectacles or sunglasses are half way down our nose, we will not be able to free our neck because of the need to see through the lens.

It's a good idea to always have your spectacles or sunglasses tightened up by an optician if they are slack so they can sit properly right up on the bridge of your nose. But when you do have them adjusted, make sure you're not standing in a slouch or stoop and pulling your head back when they fit them! Bring yourself up tall, then let your head roll forwards a few millimetres so they are adjusted when you are at your best posture. That way, your spectacles will help you maintain good poise as they are then adjusted according to upright posture.

Communicating can be so easy sometimes, yet at others so difficult. Expressing ourselves as we seek to be heard and avoiding the pitfalls of being heard as others would wish to hear us can be a subtle difference that in some countries can result in either life or death. Joy of misunderstanding can be swept away if the truth be discovered in another's slightly ambiguous phraseology. Maybe we should not just rely on words. If our subconscious gets its way we actually use far more to interpret and decipher another's wishes or meaning from body-language, eye pupil dilation and mannerisms.

As a photographer I know that what I exclude from the photo is almost more important than what I include. There have been many an occasion when I have photographed an old oak or beech tree, apparently in some quiet hollow or dingily-dell of a woodland, but the viewer is not aware that I was dodging traffic behind me to stand on the edge of a road to capture this superbly lit early morning scene.

The language of fashion and clothing in general can be so misleading about the personality of the person in the 'uniform'; others however may display some clues to their nature through their reserve or outward flamboyance, tidiness or dishevelment. Sherlock Holmes would tell a whole life story by the splatter of mud on the instep of gentleman's shoes. We may express ourselves through our clothing but it is more likely to reflect how we may wish to be perceived rather than a truism of our nature.

In art, design, music and dance we give and receive communication of feeling, mood, style, emotion; we can communicate pictures in sound and communicate sound in pictures. We can decorate our homes to suit our personality or suit how we would wish our personality to be perceived, true or not so true, to reality. And through advertising and marketing in general we are overwhelmed to the point of deafness and blindness by the onslaught of images and persuasive messages, telling us what we need, what we just must have and what is almost obligatory if we are to ever stand up with our head 'held high'. "You just gotta have that!" Gosh, it's true.... "I just gotta have that!" But is it really true? .

I can see why owning a dog can be so rewarding. Apart from the obvious companionship it can give us, a dog is truth in itself. A dog never lies. It doesn't know how. If a dog is happy it wags its tail and if not, the tail hangs between its hind legs. The look in its eyes tells all. A dog as a pet offers unconditional love that surpasses the majority of relationships in humans, at least to my awareness. A dog needs nothing other than the love of its owner and will do almost anything to help us. In some cases it will even lie down and die with its fallen master. In a healthy situation, free of mistreatment we can look into a dogs eyes and it's more than likely we will see an expression of love.

When we look into a child's eyes we see an expression of love. How rewarding it is to discover on those rare occasions, the same feeling in an adult, unguarded, unveiled and honest. It's in the eyes. Look into another's eyes and you can discover a whole world.

"The eyes‥are the wyndowes of the mynde, for both ioye & anger‥are seene‥through them." 1545 T. Phaer

If ever there is a communication that is true to the nature of the communicator I believe it's to be found in their eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul and if we are aware, receptive and responsive enough; if we look beyond the make-up and expression the other wishes us to see, we can peek a world beyond the surface. We can get a peek at truly who is this person and how do they tick. Some may not wish that to be possible, but that view is more than likely to be based on fear. Take away the fear and we can open up.

I love it when in discussion I get a real sense of openness and exactly how does this person feel about situations. In some cases a person's true feelings can be so cloaked in contrived persona and attitude it is difficult to see the real person and their feelings. If only we could see that such contrivance and disguise is really not necessary in the majority if circumstances. But to hide our emotions and feelings can become a habit just as any other in posture, mannerism or speech.

When we relax in another's company it is most likely that we may drop our cautions and defences so our companion gets closer to the real 'us'. To my mind, it is therefore important that we always allow what 'is' to just 'be'; to not put pressure on others, to not have expectations or competitions with our friends. When an atmosphere exists where no such pressure exists, we get an opportunity to really relax. Then the guards come down and we get closer to the real person. It is always my wish to be relaxed within myself, difficult as it can be sometimes; otherwise how can we enjoy the ultimate level of open communication that is true to us and our friend? How else can we experience the truth in expression that we may otherwise only just glimpse of when we look into their eyes?

Honesty and truth; it's in the eyes. Always making ourselves and others relax allows it to also be not only in our words but also in our whole demeanour and attitude and permeate every part of our communication and interaction.

Now that we are entering the season of summer, of long sunny days, cool drinks, country walks, riverside picnics, boating, camping and general outdoor pleasuring, we also enter the season of the mosquito. In Scotland they are called Midges and they hover in clouds above your head with some who have the nerve, audacity and courage to make forays away from the pack to attach themselves to your neck, arm, chin, forehead, or your legs and whatever exposed part of your anatomy they can wheedle themselves into.

I understand from a good Russian friend that in Siberia there used to be a punishment for certain crimes that involved being hung up on a tree overnight during the mosquito season....and by morning you are most unlikely to be alive. They even eat their way through clothing. Mental note....not to visit Siberia, but if I do, not to do anything that might incur a sentence.

This 'phenomenon' also applies to pain and bruises. If we are unfortunate enough to have an accident or tumble where we receive bruising.....or worse.....and we have many injuries (It does not bear thinking about!); despite having quite a number of painful areas on our body, we actually only feel one of them at a time. We may feel one pain, then another, then another in sequence, but not all of them at the same time.

If any of you are neuro-scientists, then please do leave a comment and clarify this for me, but it's my impression that this links to the 'Executive Control' in our brain as I wrote about in my Multitasking post. To summarise without repeating, although we may think we are doing several things at one time, we are actually only able to 'think' of only one at a time. We are able to do parts of one activity 'unthinkingly' on automatic while our brain thinks of other things. We 'switch' from one thought to another. We think about several things sequentially, but not simultaneously. The switching from one 'thought' to another takes a fraction of a second, but the process of this switching results in two or more tasks more time, so it's possible that they may take longer than they would if they were done consecutively. However, it is often the case that one or more tasks we may undertake, do not require a great deal of thought, such as polishing shoes, washing the dishes, tidying up a mess in the office or home, so we can think of other things while doing so. If we were linked up to a computer though, we'd discover that our brain is only thinking of one activity or thought pattern at a time.

I believe it's the same with the mosquito bite situation. The pain or irritation is not felt in the problem area but in our brain. We may link the pain we feel from a bruise, cut or bite to an area of our body, but the pain is actually felt in our brain. And it is because of this that we are only able to 'think' of or feel one at any time. If we have a number of bites say, on our arm, then this may blur into one whole area of sensation, probably partly to do with the same nerves being irritated. However, if we also have bites on our legs, I don't believe that we'll be able to feel them at the same time as those on our arms!

We may have a great number of itchy little bites from those hungry and pesty little mossies, but if it's any consolation, we're only going to feel one of them at a time.

But I'm a great believer that prevention is better than cure......

Mental note.....to replace the mosquito repellent before we go on holiday. Oh, and buy some ointment, just in case.

I learnt during my last violin lesson that would help the smoothness of my playing and particularly the transition from one note to another if the next finger is already on the string in readiness to play a note in a downwards transition, before I take the finger off that plays the note before. This is different from what I have been doing up to now, where I switch fingers at the same time.

Trying to change this 'technique' that applies to almost every note I play in downward transitions is very difficult. Although I have only been playing for just over three years, certain techniques are already becoming established. But having given a couple of hours to this, the new way is becoming more familiar.

There are times in any activity, be it in golf, tennis, music, or any performance you care to mention that attention to detail is essential. But it is also important that we do not lose sight of the big picture. It's all very well for me to consider how I'm using my fingers in such subtle and detailed ways, but if I start to lose my overall poise, to stoop downwards as I study my finger movements, to tense up with the 'intense' focus I am giving to detail, then I'm lost. Attention to minutiae, no matter how important it is, must not be made at the expense of the working of the whole body. We must maintain overall good use, despite our focused efforts on small things, because the small things need to relate to the whole; they are not independent.

It's like juggling plates on sticks. Not that I can do this, but it's clear that as we start a new plate spinning on the stick, we must keep the previous one going. And as we add yet another plate to another stick, we must keep the other ones going too, While we focus on getting one plate to spin, we must have an awareness of our total activity otherwise we'll drop the lot. Now I'm not going to drop my violin, but I need my overall poise to remain in as good condition, freedom and uprightness if I am to play to my best ability. Poor posture undermines our efforts so we will never be as good as we could be, if we were to maintain good poise. This is because it affects our whole co-ordination, agility, accuracy and speed.

My post about 'Getting into Detail' leads me to ponder a few other things that may be more subtle still. Examining the minutiae in a situation is fine and helpful; not examining the minutiae is also helpful. It's important to look at detail; it's also important not to look at detail and keep your awareness on the whole big picture. When you're out, get in. When you're in, get out.

Let's look at an oil painting, maybe from the impressionist period where the subject is suggested by broad brush strokes, rather than being very detailed and realistic. If we firstly view it from a distance we see the overall broad statement made by the artist; the colours, composition, the subject and its interpretation. If we get closer we can see more detail; the brush strokes that appear random yet from afar look organised, the small details within the picture that go unnoticed. But the painting was never intended to be viewed so closely and nor is a piece of music. But now if we step back again and view the painting, we no longer see it as we originally did on our first encounter; having studied it at close quarters our appreciation of the picture is more informed, we know more about it, we have more intimate knowledge and appreciation of what makes up this painting. After all, a painting is the sum total of all the elements within working together. A piece of music is the sum of the notes put together. But if all these brush strokes and in music if all these notes are assembled in a certain way, with subtlety, with nuance, with deep instinct and sensitivity, the sum of all these individual parts makes something that is far greater than the sum of the individual parts. The synergy between all the intrinsic details works to make something that has a new meaning. It can become great. My father who has been a professional flute player all his life has often commented on various compositions and their composer. With regards to Mozart, his compositions are so perfect that to remove any single note from a piece will result in a reduction of its overall quality; every note means something and contributes to the whole. This cannot be said for many other composers, and certainly not for all they have composed.

As a painting is made of its thousands of brushstrokes and a concerto is made of many thousands of notes, they are meaningless without the arrangement that brings them together with phrasing, harmony, rhythm and tempo. When looking at the details of how to play an instrument, or swing a golf club or tennis racket, it's important to look at the detail, but not at the expense of the whole body movement. We need to step back regularly and check our overall poise and use is OK. It's good to stop frequently and reassess the overall situation. Not to get drawn into detail at the expense of the whole.

With these few musings and ideas in mind, I shall return to my violin practice later today and see if I can improve my abilities in the small area of my finger actions, without losing my overall poise. If I want to play pieces of music by Mozart, then I want every note to be there nice and clear, particularly since every single note counts so much.

The hardest part of this exercise on a rather dubious media and marketing website was not actually completing the test itself which certainly required all my brain-power, but getting past all the special offers and sponsorships that were clearly funding the free test. This indeed tested me to the limit as I almost gave up after several minutes of negotiating around the pages of personal details they asked of me (presumably for email advertising). Every time I clicked to 'Pass' on to the next page I was confronted by more offers and more required details, so I continued going in dizzying circles for quite some time. It is as a consequence of this strenuous and exhausting experience that I do not recommend the site to you, as I'm sure you have plenty to be occupying yourself, despite any possible desire you may have to discover your own IQ if you do not already know it. You just don't need to spend half your day negotiating offers to get the result of your efforts.

However, having discovered that I apparently have an IQ of 145, I Googled for some guidance on what the levels may mean and I discover on an explanatory site about 'What IQ scores mean' that my score is near Genius (e.g., professors). I gulp. This cannot be true. I was a dunce at school, never got many post-school qualifications and only started to make anything of myself till later in life. I have never thought of myself of having much nonce in my brain.

So this train of activity led me to Mensa, a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership of which is a high IQ. It is a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. You've just got to have an IQ that is in the top 2% of the population. No sweat.

I've done the Mensa test with all but two small eansy-weansy questions still eluding my brain and I struggle to finish it within the allotted 30 minutes. But they invite you to take longer if you wish and submit your results when you have completed them. So I took their suggestion to heart, had a break and wrote this blog. Well, why not....... I'll complete the test when I have another break between Alexander Technique clients later in the day.

If you're interested you can read more about Mensa and if you have the time and inclination you can do their Free IQ Test. If you want to join Mensa you have to do a test that cannot be completed on the Internet but which requires you to do it in person, under strict controls and observation. So, maybe on another day.......

The free test is fun... You might like to try it. Mensa Free IQ Test.

If you're ever sitting in a cafe, restaurant or office, take a glance at the people around you and notice what their legs and feet are doing... Some will have their feet flat on the floor, but many and indeed most will have their legs entwined around each other, or around the legs of the chair, or stuck out in front of them, or on the desk or hooked back under the chair with only their toes on the floor. Some may be wagging, twitching, drawing circles, tapping, kicking an imaginary ball or trembling with uncontrolled twitches.

You may be wondering what relevance your feet and legs have to our ability to sit 'comfortably'. Well we don't need a degree in anatomy to understand that our legs are joined to our body in our hips and are not a separate part of us and consequently will have an influence on the working of our whole body. There are always compensations from one part of our body to another. Tensions in one part will affect another.

It won't be surprising to hear that our legs are a very heavy part of us; how heavy will be determined by our overall size, shape etc, but suffice to say that they are heavy and you wouldn't like to have to carry one around for long without putting it down. If we are sitting and our feet are not flat on the floor in front of us so our knees are at right angles, a whole lot of extra strain is put onto our hips so we become very stiff. Only when our feet are as I have described do we have a chance of reducing the strain in our hips and also our lower back which is more than likely to adopt a C shape curve; the opposite of the inner curve that it would naturally adopt if we were healthily well poised.

It's a good idea when sitting to see if you can release your hips so that your legs are free and 'relaxed'. Put your feet flat on the floor directly under your knees. Then with your hand, see if you can gently move your knee from side to side; see if your hip is loose. If it feels stuck or stiff, see if you can make it loose by thinking it free. To help you with this, get yourself onto your sitting bones (they hurt if you're on a wooden bench for more than 5 minutes!). bring yourself upright so your body is directly over your hips, free your neck by letting your head roll forwards a millimeter or so on the top joint between your ears and think tall. Bring yourself up to your full height without straining. (Use the Alexander Technique if you are familiar with it.)

Having brought yourself up tall so you're sitting on your sitting bones (most easily done on a hard dining room chair, not a sofa) try again with your hand to move your knee from side to side. Is this easier now? OK, now when sitting upright with your feet flat on the floor, move your body forwards from your hips so you're leaning towards the top of the far away wall; keep your full height while doing so. You should be bending from your hips, rather like a 'drinking bird'. Now bring yourself upright again. When sitting, it's a good idea to move backwards and forwards like this, periodically to help keep your hips free. It will help your back and your overall posture. It is also more than likely going to help you feel more comfortable when sitting and maintain healthy poise.

Strangely, it is often the case that people who become an absolute expert in an activity do not necessarily enjoy themselves at it. And the converse is often true; people who are not experts in a field can often gain a great deal of enjoyment from applying themselves to it to the best of their ability. Now why is this?

It is likely that you can think of a number of people who have had a keen interest in a field, maybe when they were young and eventually they trained to become a professional. I can think of a couple of professional photographers who both started as keen enthusiasts as teenagers, joined clubs and threw themselves into their hobby. When they eventually became professional they ceased to find the same level of enjoyment as they did when it was simply for their own amusement. One said to me that now he's professional, he never takes a camera on holiday. Yet now, with many more years experience, awards and successful commissions to his name, he ceases to be as enthusiastic.

I have often been asked if I sell my own hand-made black and white photographs that I produce in my darkroom, and my answer is "Not if I can help it." By turning it into a form of business, one ceases to enjoy the process to the same degree. I love doing photography, particularly I enjoy working towards a standard that eludes me.

The enjoyment is often lost when we do it through obligation to others and also if we are lucky enough to get to the top of our field. This is because if we get to the top of our field, there is nothing more to be achieved.

The last thing you really want if you wish to be happy is 100% successful.

If you are so successful and master of your craft, there is no further demands that stretch you and nothing more to work towards. Simply to become a human machine that produces remarkable results, be it in music, art, sport or any other field, soon loses its shine and we become less satisfied. The young Maestro violinist Maxim Vengerov has recently quit performing concerts to work with child prodigies and to conduct. Having become an absolute master technician and superb musical artist, he has said that the constant treadmill of performing concerts around the world and performing like a hamster no longer appeals. He now seeks his enjoyment in other fields where he is stretched and is looking for greater perfection than he currently achieves.

As humans we love to be stretched. We like a challenge, but the challenge should not be so great that we do not achieve any level of success at all. We love to make progress and achieve little step after little step. This way we feel a sense of achievement in a field that is demanding, yet still offers more for which to work. It is probably during such activities when we are lost in our own absorption, working to achieve higher standards than we currently manage and also experiencing little improvements and reward, that we are at our happiest. When we are truly happy, we are probably not aware of it until after the occasion and we can think back and realise that we've been very happily absorbed for many hours in an activity that is demanding beyond our level of expertise yet still we manage to make progress and some rewarding results.

These thoughts bring to mind a quote by Sir Henry Moore, the sculptor...

"The secret of life is to have a task. Something that you devote your entire life to, something to bring everything to, every minute of the day, for your whole life. And the important thing is, it must be something you can't possibly do."
-Henry Moore (1831 - 1895), English painter

So I passed the phone in my teaching room to my client who was sitting and asked her to just hold it on her knee for a moment. Then while keeping her neck free and her head 'going upwards' as she does to maintain her full height, I asked her to 'answer the phone', but do so without shortening her stature and she should stay tall. She did so nicely but immediately burst into laughter and said how strange it felt. Clearly she was used to stooping and lowering her head downwards to the phone instead of bringing the phone right up to her ear without stooping.

We did the same exercise while standing and this felt even more unusual. She described the sensation as being where the phone seems to travel a great distance up to her ear, compared with how she probably answers the phone by stooping downwards.

There are often times when we are working at a desk or table, or we refer to a document when speaking on the phone so we peer downwards and this causes us to go into a stoop. When done often enough it becomes a habit and the simple process of speaking on the phone starts to affect our whole posture and health. We get stiff necks, hunched shoulders, stooped posture, squashed tummy, it affects our breathing, circulation and digestion.

You might like to try this little exercise for yourself. Bring yourself up to your full height if you can, without straining and then 'answer the phone' by bringing it right up to your ear without stooping. It may feel quite strange at first, but I could almost guarantee you'll think more clearly, be more expressive, open minded and happier if you do. You'll also help your posture.