Little old essay

AT teaches the unity of body, mind and spirit. When we narrow our attention to something, this unity disappears. Examples include getting caught up in thought, or consciously planning how to do something in the very moment of doing it, such as climbing a flight of stairs or performing a dance step.

Attention itself is not a bad thing, but narrowing it can lead to unnecessarily strong bodily tensions and generally constricted functioning, precisely because the unity of mind and body is broken up. Giving attention to something within a wider field of awareness, however, need not break this unity. It allows for a more childlike and free way of doing things.

Maintaining this wider field of awareness during any activity, a kind of mindfulness in 3D, is what we practice in AT. It is the key to nondoing: we do things, but never forget that we exist in a wider space filled with shades, colours, sounds and people. Concentrating on things is doing; deconcentrating is nondoing.

Everything becomes creative and improvisational when we attend to the wider space rather than the act itself. We have to let go of what will come out, almost like walking blindfolded. This leap of faith is part of practicing AT.

There are different degrees of wider awareness, which can be imagined, and even triggered, by an increasingly expansive sense of space. This spatial expansion is a useful crutch, though eventually, like any crutch, it too must be let go of.

This heightened awareness can feel almost psychedelic. You begin to sense the energy of people and spaces. For example, in the beginning of AT practice, someone’s posture might become particularly noticeable. With more practice, this perception can develop into a sense of their overall energy, not unlike the experience of being on mushrooms.

After practicing for a few hours, this wider awareness becomes less like an on/off switch and more like a mood one can slip into. Ironically, it can even become temporarily difficult to leave this state and narrow one’s attention again.

This mood hints at the simplicity of returning to wider awareness. It is not something we need to construct, but something we can simply return to. For me, the ultimate trigger is probably sound.

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