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Old 08-31-2013, 08:06 AM   #6
Cady Goldfield
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,035
United_States
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Re: Techniques are dead: Living movement vs dead technique

After driving a manual transmission for 35 years, I don't have to think about how to use the clutch, stick and accelerator. I just "do" and can also be aware of the road, the sound of the engine, the feel of the vehicle, and what all of the drivers and pedestrians around me are doing. No more conscious thought of "clutch...shift...gas..."

There is conditioning of a method first. From the "chaos" of the untrained body to the "order" of the trained body. This is true in any physical or mental discipline: we start out with uncontrolled movements or thoughts, too much motion, too big a movement, uncoordination, and we gradually re-direct our energy to a new way of moving and thinking.

Artists who learn to paint using a method, musicians who learn to play an instrument using a method, writers who learn to write using a method... we all go through the same learning process until our minds and bodies -know- what and how to do, and the actions become spontaneous because we no longer have to think of how to "do things" step-by-step.

There is an old expression: "The bound foot is the free foot."
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