Some old AT wisdoms

Observation of the movement of breathing is the royal road to kinesthetic awareness - John Nicholls

In Buddhism mindfulness, we learned to come back to the present by using e.g. the awareness of the abdominal movement of breathing as an anchor when we got swept away by thoughts, and then to simply observe the passing procession of thoughts and feelings. In AT, the anchor is your felt sense of yourself. - John Nicholls

The extra element in AT next to mindfulness (being present, allowing the flow of sensations, thoughts and feelings, but not being swamped by them, not being taken into unconsciousness by them) — is direction, as a quiet background intention. - John Nicholls

The practice of the AT creates an expanded field of attention in which the interaction of the self and the environment is perceived as an ongoing process. The perceptual field has a very simple organization, but it always takes in both the self (including the relation of the head to the trunk) and something of the environment. Thus the teacher perceives what he himself is doing as well as what the pupil is doing. Frank Pierce Jones

This extended field of conciousness is built around the sensed relationship of the head to the body. The attention, once it has been focused upon the head, is not shifted to another part, but extended by a process of what may be called unconcentrating until it takes in the body as well. … The centre or core of the field is the head-neck-back relationship. Frank Pierce Jones

The observer is stationed where, instead of looking out upon his environment or in upon himself, he is looking through in such a way that the continuity between organism and environment appears unbroken. This does not mean that every detail on both sides of the line must be taken in. The attention is focused wherever it is wanted. But it is focused in such a way that when something in the environment is central, conciousness of the organism is not lost; and when the centre is within the organism, conciousness of the environment remains. Frank Pierce Jones

Release in the legs and hips is an essential part of [going up naturally in response to gravity], since we must allow the effects of gravity to flow through us in order to evoke the natural response. - John Nicholls

Movement within an expanded field of attention is the means by which change is effected in the AT. Frank Pierce Jones

We fear being inadequate and that leads to ineffectice playing, practicing, and listening. Don’t sacrifice the present for the future. The analysis should come well after the experience, not during it.

AT is not concerned with three-dimensional posture, but with four-dimensional posture, in other words with movement. AR refused to judge a person’s posture as good or bad until he had seem him move or until he had put his hands on them. Frank Pierce Jones

In my experience the [expanded] field [of conciousness] cannot be maintained for any great span of time (though I have found that the span steadily increases over the years). It fades in and out. When it has faded out for any length of time, its absence manifests itself by a sense of nagging discomfort which forces one back to the “means whereby”. Frank Pierce Jones

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