Your body is not the problem. Unraveling Belief Systems in Movement and Learning
“Your body is not the problem,” David Gorman might say, “yet we spend our lives trying to fix it.”
Introduction: The Contradiction at the Heart of Habit
“Your body is not the problem,” David Gorman might say, “yet we spend our lives trying to fix it.” This statement cuts to the core of a profound contradiction in how we understand human movement and learning. For decades, the Alexander Technique has operated on the premise that unconscious physical habits—like pulling the head back or stiffening the legs—are the root of poor coordination, pain, and effort. Teachers, armed with mirrors and hands-on guidance, aim to make these “misuses” conscious, believing that correcting the body’s mechanics will restore natural function. But what if the real issue lies not in the body’s “habits” but in the mind’s beliefs?
Healing Belief: My body’s coordination is perfect exactly as it is. (540)
In his revelatory essay, On Belief Systems and Learning, David Gorman, a seasoned Alexander teacher turned innovator, challenges this foundational assumption. Through a series of experiments and dialogues, he uncovers a radical truth: the physical patterns we label “misuse” are not unconscious habits at all. Instead, they are coordinated, whole-body responses to what the person believes they must do to achieve a goal. The real “misuse,” he argues, is not in the body but in the mind’s misguided beliefs about how movement works.
The Alexander Technique’s Core Belief: Unconscious Habits as the Villain
The Alexander Technique, as Gorman outlines, rests on a widely accepted framework:
Objective Reality Exists: Teachers and pupils operate within a shared assumption that there is a “correct” way to move—a natural coordination disrupted by “unconscious habits.”
Misuse Affects Function: Habits like pulling the head back or arching the back are seen as distortions of this ideal, leading to strain, pain, or injury over time.
The Teacher’s Role: By making these habits conscious (via touch, mirrors, or verbal cues), pupils learn to “inhibit” them and redirect their bodies toward better “use.”
This logic seems intuitive. If someone stands with their head retracted, surely correcting that posture will help. But Gorman’s turning point came when a pupil disrupted this narrative entirely. After being told he’d pulled his head back while standing, the pupil replied:
“No, I didn’t! ... I’m sure that it happened, but I didn’t do it.”
This simple statement sparked a paradigm shift. If the pupil wasn’t consciously pulling his head back, what was he doing? And why did his body react that way?
The Pivotal Insight: Beliefs Drive Coordination
Gorman’s experiments began with a simple question: What are people actually thinking, feeling, and intending in the moments their “misuses” occur? By interrupting pupils mid-movement—sitting, standing, or reaching—he uncovered a startling pattern.
When asked where their attention was during actions like standing up, pupils consistently reported:
“I was already out ahead, focused on getting to where I was going.”
In bending to pick up a pen, they weren’t thinking about their bodies at all. They were “reaching for the pen”—mentally and emotionally invested in the goal, not the process. Their bodies, Gorman realized, were reacting to this mental “end-gaining.” The head pulled back, legs stiffened, and back shortened not as isolated habits, but as a unified, protective response to the person’s forward-rushing intention.
The Protective Wisdom of the Body
Gorman’s breakthrough came when he reframed these reactions not as “misuses” but as evolutionary safeguards. For example:
When rushing to stand up, leaning forward prematurely shifts the center of gravity. The body’s automatic response—pulling the head back and tightening the legs—is a balance correction to prevent falling.
Reaching for a pen while mentally “ahead” of the movement triggers a similar protective stiffening.
“These patterns are not mistakes,” Gorman writes. “They’re brilliant, whole-body strategies to keep you from harm—if you insist on moving in ways that defy balance.”
The flaw, then, lies not in the body’s coordination but in the mind’s belief that rushing ahead is necessary.
Healing Belief: My body’s inner coordinating system is going to do everything possible, even force, for me not to fall. (540)
The Experiment: Staying Present vs. Correcting the Body
To test this, Gorman asked pupils to focus not on their bodies but on staying present during movement. Instead of “inhibiting” their heads or backs, they were to simply notice when their attention drifted ahead and gently return to the moment. The results were transformative:
Movements became fluid and effortless.
“Misuses” like head-pulling vanished without direct intervention.
Pupils reported feeling “whole,” “present,” and paradoxically, “like I wasn’t doing anything.”
One pupil described the shift:
“I wasn’t ‘in my body’ at all. I was just… here*.”*
This revealed a radical truth: When the mind stops interfering, the body’s innate coordination emerges. The “primary control” Alexander sought wasn’t something to direct but something to stop disrupting.
Healing Belief: I can allow myself free so my innate coordination has the freedom to do itself. (560)
The Deeper Layer: Belief Systems as Reality
Gorman’s work exposes a critical flaw in how we view learning:
Traditional Approach: Fix the body to change the mind.
Gorman’s Insight: Fix the mind’s beliefs, and the body follows.
Every “habit” is rooted in a belief system—a mental model of how the world works. For instance:
“I have to lean forward to stand up.”
“Reaching requires straining.”
These beliefs feel like reality because they’re reinforced by sensory experience. When you rush ahead, your body does stiffen—confirming the “need” to hurry. But this creates a self-fulfilling cycle:
Belief → Action → Sensory Feedback → Reinforced Belief
Breaking this cycle requires exposing the belief as a misconception. When pupils discover they can stand effortlessly by staying present, their old model of “needing to rush” collapses.
Healing Belief: I can stand effortlessly by simply being present here and now. (560)
Implications for Learning: From Correction to Discovery
Gorman’s approach flips the script on traditional pedagogy:
Stop “Fixing” the Body: The body’s responses are logical; the mind’s beliefs are the leverage point.
Explore the Learner’s Reality: Ask, “What are you actually doing/thinking/feeling?” rather than assuming.
Challenge Beliefs Through Experience: Let pupils discover that their old strategies are unnecessary.
In one poignant example, a violinist struggling with tension realized she believed “I must press hard to create a good sound.” By experimenting with lighter touches, she found not only ease but richer tone—upending her lifelong assumption.
Conclusion: The Liberation of Unknowing
Gorman’s journey culminates in a humbling recognition: We are not the architects of our coordination but the witnesses. The body’s intelligence far exceeds our conscious understanding. As he reflects:
“The ‘use of the self’ is exactly that—what the ‘I’ is up to, not what my body is up to.”
This insight invites a new paradigm for learning—one rooted not in fixing “flawed” bodies but in curiosity about the mind’s stories. When we release the need to control, we find that ease, balance, and wholeness were there all along, waiting in the quiet space beneath our beliefs.
Healing Belief: My body’s intelligence far exceeds my conscious understanding.
In the end, the greatest contradiction is this: To change how we move, we must stop trying to change how we move—and start questioning why we ever thought we needed to.
David Gorman has been studying human structure and function since 1970. He is the author of an illustrated 600-page text on our human musculoskeletal system, called The Body Moveable (now in its 6th edition and in colour), and numerous articles and essays, including the book, Looking at Ourselves (2nd edition in colour).
David has been working with performers (singers, musicians, actors, dancers and circus artists) for over forty years. He is a trainer of teachers of LearningMethods and of the Alexander Technique and has taught all over the world in universities, conservatories, performance companies, and orchestras; for doctors in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics; and in training courses for Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, physiotherapy, osteopathy, massage & yoga.
You can find more about his work here https://www.learningmethods.com
I will be forever grateful to David Gorma as it was my teacher for about 2 years. I consider myself very fortunate to be in the last students group where he shared his wisdom. He saved my life by introducing me to my inner guide and the wisdom of my whole being.
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