Inhibition, Non-Doing and Noticing

Inhibition, which is normally thought of as a negative term, was used by Alexander to describe a positive process. In the preface to the second edition of The Use of the Self Alexander wrote: "My record shows that the further I progressed in my search for a way to free myself from the slavery to habitual reaction in "doing," {which I had created for myself by trusting to the guidance of my unreliable sense of feeling}, the more clearly I was forced to see that my only chance of freeing myself was, as a primary step, to refuse to give consent to my ordinary "doing" in carrying out any procedure."

Refusing to give consent to his ordinary "doing" or inhibition was the initial step that Alexander took to free himself from his habitual manner of use. He also called that step "non-doing". "Non-doing" although the opposite of "doing", was not passive in any way. It was his actively refusing to jump straight into his old way of doing things. It was his refusal to be guided by his feelings which, through experimentation, had proven to be unreliable.

When I use the word Noticing, I am describing that same inhibitory first step. By Noticing before carrying out a procedure, you are refusing to jump into your habit. Noticing also stimulates the postural reflexes that allow muscular tonus to be distributed more equitably thoughout your body leading to increased ease of movement and a sense of lightness.

In additon, Noticing allows you to shift away from using your sense of feeling as your guide. Instead of evaluating how you're doing by how it feels, you can monitor yourself by attending to whether or not you are currently Noticing. This allows ease to be the preparation for your next movement rather than your habitual excess tension.