The Way You Do Anything

Sylvie Simmons quoted Tom Waits

To begin her illuminating biography

Of Leonard Cohen, I’M YOUR MAN:

The way you do anything is

The way you do everything.

Decades ago

My acting professor at UNC said

That a breakthrough in one area,

Such as fencing, or juggling,

Or speaking verse,

Even listening …

Would spark progress

In other areas.

In fact, in all

Of the other areas.

It’s all related.

The knee bone

Is connected to the thigh bone.

(And so forth.)

That lyric is as

Widely known

As it is true.

But the rich essence

Of that wisdom

Is often misplaced,

Or worse,

Forgotten.

The universe might

Not be round,

But karma doesn’t care,

Does it?

What goes around,

Comes around.

She’ll be coming

Round the mountain,

(But that’s another matter).

Since late August 2016,

I’ve been taking lessons

With an Alexander Technique teacher.

At first I thought

The enterprise was mostly

About helping me address

Years and years and years

Of poor posture.

But this brings us back to Tom Waits.

The way you do anything.

What happens in the body

Happens in the mind.

And vice versa.

Feeling pain in your back?

What caused it?

How do I fix it?

Start from the ground
And work up.

The way you do anything

Reminds us that 

It is all connected.

When you have pain

In one area,
Chances are quite strong

That you are compensating,

Perhaps in a manner

That you are not yet aware.

A great teacher

Helps you locate the portal,

But you have to take it from there.

F.M. Alexander said,

“The things that don’t exist

Are the most difficult to get rid of.”

At first glance,

Perhaps this seems a tad cryptic,

Or maybe Cheech-And-Bong fueled.

Let’s focus.

Until one is aware of a habit

That habit is impossible to tame.
And, to be honest, that’s a high bar:
Taming a habit.

My advice is to try and make friends.

Get to know that pest.

Get comfortable with its presence.
And smile every time

You realize it has returned.
And it is going to return.

Alexander also said:

“To know when we are wrong

Is all that we shall ever know in this world.”