A pupil of one of my colleagues was once told in a lesson not to close her eyes. She said, “If I don’t close my eyes, I can’t concentrate.” My colleague said, “I don’t want you to try to concentrate.” “But,” she said, “if I don’t concentrate I can’t feel what is happening.” “I don’t want you to try and feel what is happening,” he said. “But,” she replied, “if I don’t feel, how can I relax?” “I don’t want you to try and relax,” he said. That was a wonderful conglomeration of wrong ideas.
(Taken from “The Alexander Technique As I See It” – Notebook Jottings p32)