On the 18th October 2014 I attended the Student Network workshop "Use of the Eyes within the Use of the Self" with Brigitte Cavadias and I am very happy to share my impressions and memories of it in this blog post.
Here is the official blurb for the workshop, Brigitte’s bio is at the end of this blog post:
WORKSHOP INFO
In this workshop we will address the following issues:
Can we / should we apply to vision improvement the Alexander principles of inhibition and direction? If so, how should we go about it?
Can our awareness of how we look at / see the world help us in applying the Alexander principles to any situation of our daily life?
By means of activities and games, we may, during these four hours, experiment together and find some answers.
Brigitte started out by asking us about any questions we might have, and there were many. I only remember one question now clearly, probably because it reflects my own situation: One participant said that the sight in one of his eyes is much weaker than in the other, and he has the impression that the stronger eye takes over most of the seeing. How could the Bates Method help? The answer was that the Bates Method can change your vision habits and so help to reeducate the ‘lazy’ eye to join in and do its part of the job - over time. This made immediate sense to me, especially coming from an Alexander Technique point of view, and with my own experience that my vision seems to be better on some days and worse on others.
That it is necessary to allow time for changes to happen was impressively illustrated by Brigitte’s own story. She had been wearing varifocal glasses constantly (“…just not for sleeping and not during a shower…”) for many years before starting with the Bates Method in her fifties. After two years of working on herself she was able to live daily life without glasses and after two further years read without glasses.
We continued the morning finding common grounds of the Bates Method and the Alexander Technique in relating quotes from Bates’s book to some Alexander Technique principles, for example regarding concepts such as psychophysical unity, non-doing etc.
The first experiment I remember was related to the universal habit of staring. Brigitte asked us to find a detail on our index finger, really stare at it and observe what happens. We stared the best we could, eyes drying and watering at the same time, holding our breaths, heads locked, and not seeing anything very clearly in the end. It was not surprising that we all agreed that a habit of staring is neither efficient nor comfortable and needs to be prevented.
A thorough tour through the anatomy of the eye followed. We located our own pupils and irises in pocket mirrors that got passed around and looked at a take-apart model of the eye. The most fascinating fact to me was that the only point of real clear vision is an extremely tiny spot on the back of the retina (at the back wall of the eyeball) opposite the pupil (which is basically a hole in the front of the eye). It is called the fovea centralis, and it is only at this very tiny spot that we have clear vision! So how comes that what I see seems largely to be in focus? The answer is that the eyes are scanning all the time and the brain puts it all together. Therefore eyes need to be free to move. But also the head needs to be free to move! At this point the concept of ‘Central Fixation’* was introduced: “Central Fixation is seeing best where you are looking.” We then experimented to look “with our noses”, meaning the nose points at what we are looking. One sentence I wrote down during the workshop with a big exclamation mark is “The first quality of good eyesight is the freedom of the neck!”
*Brigitte briefly explained that certain groups prefer the term ‘Centralisation’ over ‘Central Fixation’ considering the word ‘fixation’ as a ‘dirty word’. Brigitte then said in her lovely French accent: “But I am French, and I am NOT afraid of dirty words!”
We also learned that the side of the retina is better for seeing at night and that relaxation is important for good eyesight. A good way to give your eyes a rest is ‘palming’ – cupping your closed eyes with your own hands.
We explored all those elements and concepts with various games:
1. Holding up two differently coloured pencils and looking at one directly (with the nose!) to see it in focus, being aware of the other peripherally to get a clear sense of the difference between central fixation and peripheral vision.
2. Looking at an interesting picture (Brigitte brought loads and everyone could chose two of his/her liking) and painting one colour or detail with the imaginary magic brush at your nose, then closing your eyes and painting the same colour or detail with the magic nose-brush from memory. We all experienced some change afterwards: The colours seemed brighter, more depth to the whole picture, more detail, sharper, crisper.
3. We put on paper masks that only allowed us to use our peripheral vision and experienced how things appear to move backwards as we move forwards and how easy it still can be to navigate your way safely only using peripheral vision.
Photo by Liz Dodgson
Photo by Liz Dodgson
A set of games which was particularly interesting for us Alexander Technique trainees and teachers was as follows:
We experimented with three modes of vision: Fixed, peripheral and integrated. To get a feeling for these modes we had colourful toys all across the room and walked around using these modes, one after the other, in two groups (one group walking, one observing) and compared then the impressions of the observers and the walkers.
In the fixed vision mode we would fix the gaze on the toy of our desire and go for it. The experiences included feeling focused, determined, more tense, and it was observed as being fast, almost aggressive.
In the peripheral mode we would try to stay in peripheral vision all the time (not easy!) and felt a bit woozy, dreamy, not really interested in the toys and were observed as being slower, almost nobody touching a toy, but gentler, more open.
In the integrated mode we attempted to combine the two, so clearly fixing on something interesting, but keeping a sense of peripheral vision. We felt more present, connected to our surroundings, and we observed as being more coordinated, integrated, balanced.
These three modes were explored thoroughly with different games, alone and in pairs, until we had a good sense of them and were also able to judge which mode another person was in. We then paired up again, one being the receiver, standing with his/her backs to the partner who would put him/herself into one of the modes of vision, approach his/her partner from behind and touch their back. It was truly amazing what difference it made to the quality of touch! Being touched by a person in fixed mode could feel harsh, unsensitive, intrusive. Being touched by a person in peripheral mode could feel insecure, almost drawing you off balance, providing no safety or meaning. Being touched by a person in the integrated mode gave security, made you curious, and was a whole different experience. It seemed that the mode of vision of the person touching rubbed off onto the receiver.
I thought this set of games was particularly relevant and interesting to us AT trainees and teachers, for whom touch is such an important tool.
We finished the workshop lying in semi-supine while palming our closed eyes and being led through an imaginary journey through our eyes from the cornea right back to the visual cortex in the back part of the brain where the head touches the books.
I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and took away a lot of useful facts and things to think about and work with. It was a lovely, welcoming group, and the workshop was well organized. Brigitte led us through the day with great expertise (and good humour!), which obviously is the result of lots of personal experience and work on herself and with others in both the Bates Method and Alexander Technique. Elisabeth Dodgson, also an Alexander Technique and Bates Method teacher, assisted during the workshop and shared generously from her own experience and knowledge. She studied the Bates Method with Brigitte in France (and in French!) and describes Brigitte as her mentor. It was a treat having her there as well.
Photo by Liz Dodgson
ABOUT BRIGITTE
Brigitte trained with Misha Magidov at his North London Teachers Training Course and with Miss Evelyn B. Sage in her North London School for teachers of the W.H. Bates Method. She qualified in both methods early 1992. Since then she has been teaching in Provence, in Paris, as well as in London, one to one lessons and groups.
From the beginning she has been keen on including the use of the eyes in the use of the self and devoting a special attention to the means of improving consciously and naturally eyesight and vision.
Within the frame of Altevi (Alexander Technique and Vision, www.altevi.com), she has run numerous workshops in many European countries and in New Zealand.
All theses years, she has never stopped teaching vision in AT Schools and, in the last three years, she has also co-run three Bates Professional Training Courses in France.
She is living and teaching privately in North London.
