Use with Changing Conditions

Using oneself well in all activities does not require anything like perfection in structure or functioning.  Structure, function and use all influence one another, like a fluidly connected trinity.  Use is the aspect where we have dynamic choice.

Use, in Alexander terms, could be defined as a distribution of tone throughout the entire self, especially in response to stimulus.  Dynamic non-interference and directed thinking with the whole self change use, which affects functioning, which to some degree can affect structure.  Structure and function may well challenge use, yet use remains a dynamic choice.

I had learned in the past two weeks, with determination and creativity, to use myself as well as possible with a leg length splint.  Both my structure and functioning were very far from perfect, but I could make the best possible use of myself in the conditions at hand.  My use could not heal the shattered patella, but my use could assist how I was accomplishing activities with a shattered patella.

Today, the splint was exchanged for a brace device which takes my leg into even more vigorous extension.  The sensations are strange and disturbing, balance and mobility are unfamiliar in a whole new way, and my structure is clearly challenged.  The use of myself is the place where I can make a difference.  So, with these changed and challenging conditions of self, I have to renew dynamic non-interference and directed thinking in order to have the best possible balance of tone with the structure and function available to me.

Here are my intentions, directed in a continuous and circular fashion:

*Allow the ground to support me as I spring up

*Allow widening so that arms and legs undo from the torso, thus giving more connection to the ground

*Send my head up and forward with the elastic support of my whole self

There, that's better!