'By "Use of the Self" is meant the conscious employment of the primary control of the working of the whole organism which determines the nature of the use of all specific parts brought into action in any form of self-expression.'
F. Matthias Alexander

A teacher at the F. Matthias Alexander Trust School, Penhill, Bexley, Kent, was helping a pupil to gain experience in applying a new technique. A visitor who had been watching for some time exclaimed: 'Look at that child ­ she was so tense and uninteresting, and now she looks almost beautiful.'

A technique by means of which such a change can be brought about is obviously invaluable as an aid to fuller self-expression, particularly as experience has shewn that it is merely a matter of time for such changes to become permanent. As these changes are the result of indirect, rather than of the usual direct educational method, it is equally obvious that the technique is radically different from anything with which we are familiar. Further, inherent in it is its own concept of the significance of 'self-expression'. As Professor John Dewey wrote in an introduction to. one of its discoverer's books: 'True spontaneity is henceforth not a birthright but the last term, the consummated conquest of an art ­ the art of conscious control, to the mastery of which Mr. Alexander's book so convincingly invites us.'

Over forty years ago Mr. Alexander's work as a reciter was interfered with by throat trouble. After many months of investigation he came to see that this was due to a faulty use, not only of the throat and vocal organs, but also of the psycho-physical organism as a whole. By exhaustive experiments in the use and control of his mental-physical mechanisms, he finally discovered both the nature of his own condition and the technique for its rectification. What he had actually done was to find the method of employing consciously the central control that plays such a vital part in conditioning the reflexes of the human system.

'Official' science finally brought its corroboration by its independent discovery of the powers and functions of this control, but long before this happened Mr. Alexander had established his work on a practical basis as a teacher of the new technique.

As things have turned out a great deal of Mr. Alexander's work has been with adult pupils who come to him because they are already in difficulties. In such cases the curative and normalizing effects are remarkable; clearly, whether the trouble be wrongheadedness, inhibiting fears, disease, or the inability to adjust satisfactorily to life's demands, an improved use of the self and the better functioning associated with this improvement, will be of the greatest value. It is felt, however, that the future of the work should lie chiefly with children, and fortunately, the technique is found to be readily applicable to them.

The results of the dominant tendency in present-day education ­ I refer to the reaction against the disciplinarian upbringing so many of us suffered under ­ often lead one to think that a clearer understanding of what is meant by the words 'self' and 'expression' would be advisable. One is brought up against the fact that, taken subjectively, the self is merely a self-feeling, the constituents of which are the sense data and the resultant emotions, judgments, and conations. The importance of Mr. Alexander's work in this connection is its demonstration of the alarming degree to which the sensory mechanism can, and usually does, become debauched. It follows, of course, that the self-feeling as a whole is distorted, that what is, ultimately our only measuring rod ­ our only standard for judging the suitability of our expression of ourselves ­ has been warped, so that any self-expression on our part is not the expression of our potential best. In this we are led to what is fundamental to any consideration of the matter of self-expression ­ a consideration of the manner of the working of the instrument or organism (the self) responsible for all self-expression. An example may throw more light upon this question.

A small boy sent to Mr. Alexander was said to be 'unable to concentrate', and, as a result of his condition, to be 'unteachable'. Now that a change has been brought about in the use of his organism as a whole these difficulties are tending to disappear. At his present stage of development it is frequently observed that he will puzzle out an advertisement or some unfamiliar words in a newspaper heading, about which he asks for further information, thus expressing himself through an expanding interest. The unreliable sensory mechanisms that served as guide when the self-expression was limited have been made more or less reliable by the employment of the new technique.

Three times a week each child in the school has an individual 'special lesson' in which he is given the experience of approaching activity (or doing) by employing the new technique. A child's mistakes or difficulties can generally be traced to unduly diligent attention to the end to be attained, and, neglect of the means whereby it is to be attained. He needs to learn to withhold consent to the expression of all urges to action manifesting themselves through, and resultant on, his old use of himself, and then to apply the new means whereby the end is to be achieved.

This attention to the new technique for an improved use of the self produces an improvement in the quality of output. All the child's defects and difficulties are dealt with from this point of view and the principle is used as a foundation for all work done in the school, so that it becomes part of the child's attitude towards all aspects of life.

At each step in any activity there should be a slight improvement in the child's general use of him self and therefore in the functioning of his mental-physical processes. At each step the child is perfecting the instrument through which he expresses himself and the self being expressed under these conditions is the best possible at any particular stage of development. Two further examples may be added.

The pupils were going to repaint the garden chairs, and tables. The class included children who were very young, and two who had been sent to the school as more or less 'unteachable', but the teacher did not anticipate paint-fights or inferior workmanship, because in her experience the employment of the new technique does actually bring about a change in the self, and therefore in its mode of expression.

There was, of course, a preliminary discussion on how to paint, the importance of which lay in the fact that, during every stage of it, the means-whereby were the primary consideration. The children were given the role of critic or judge, while the teacher demonstrated various methods of handling paint-pot and brush, and particularly the use of herself she employed in doing so. At each essay she asked the children whether it seemed to them that she had employed a good means-whereby and invited them to give reasons for their condemnation or praise of the methods employed. In a lively manner, shewing keen observation, the children gave their opinions regarding the methods required. Their conclusions were generally sound.

One by one they themselves were then asked to demonstrate while the other children looked on and gave advice or criticism. As well as improving their powers of observation and criticism and helping them in the formation of sound ideas on procedure, the employment of the new technique gave the children a control of themselves and their material that enabled them to translate into effective practice the knowledge they had acquired in the demonstration. When they came to do the actual painting, they not only made a success of the work, but were also successful in improving their general use of themselves whilst working.

A final example. While walking in the Park the children stopped to watch a procession of Horse Guards and were given help in their method of 'using themselves' for the purpose of observation. On returning to the schoolroom they asked to be allowed to make drawings of what they had seen. The teacher went from child to child, giving help and advice only on the means-whereby their end was to be indirectly achieved.

One of the children had been sent to us to be treated for a stammer, which was simply a manifestation of the general self-misuse that he shewed in all his activities. He was found to be 'trying to draw' by means of his old unsatisfactory habits of use. He stammered out that he had 'got stuck', that he 'couldn't remember what it looked like', and was worried and unhappy because of his failure. The teacher did not attempt to deal directly with the boy's difficulty. She asked him to stop 'trying to draw', and to employ the new means-whereby to a better use of himself. As a result of following this suggestion all his anxiety vanished, he stopped stammering, found to his surprise that he could remember the Horse Guards' appearance; he finished the drawing without further trouble and without having been given direct help over any specific difficulty. He had changed from a slumped-down, over-tensed and over-anxious child, unable to produce a satisfactory piece of work, to one whose confidence in his ability to express himself adequately was apparent in his whole bearing.

That which differentiates the work done in this school from the work done in all others is that the child is helped to keep going the means-whereby of an improving use of itself during all the 'learning' and 'learning to do' activities of the school work and life. It must, however, be understood that the new sensory experiences involved in this cannot be described in words, for, as we all know, knowledge concerned with sensory experience cannot be described by the written or spoken word.

Genuine self-expression is no more to be reached by encouraging the discharge of gusty emotion than it is by forcing the child to repress itself. The way is that of conscious control by intelligence in the use of the means-whereby chosen for attaining any end; in Professor Dewey's words, this is 'our only title to freedom'.