Noticing and End-Gaining

Alexander coined the term “end-gaining” to describe our tendency to focus on the results of an action while ignoring,what he called, the “means-whereby” i.e., the process. The danger of “end-gaining” is that our preoccupation with outcomes can lead to our interfering with the very mechanisms responsible for the quality of those outcomes.

The Alexander Technique is a way of expanding your frame of reference so that both the result and the process can be seen simultaneously and therefore, in relation to each other. With both process and result in the same frame, a much more dynamic and useful experimentation can take place. We are able to try out different approaches and observe how the activity changes as well as seeing how doing the activity changes us.

Noticing is a useful tool in this regard. By beginning with Noticing, we are taking a look at ourselves first, before we engage in the activity. Then, as we start the activity, instead of evaluating our performance primarily by the results , we can gauge how we're doing by observing whether or not the activity has interfered with our ability to Notice.

If our Noticing has not been disrupted we have done well. If we have stopped Noticing in order to do the activity we could do better. By using this standard, we can experiment with different approaches to the activity until we find a way to get the results we want from the activity without sacrificing the integrity of our use of ourselves.