Axemanship (the skill in using an axe, e.g. for chopping wood).
The chapter “Poise and splitting firewood” in Splitting Fireword by David Tresemer contains an introduction to the Alexander Technique and suggestions for how to give directions while splitting firewood. It also has suggestions for how to carry the firewood.[1]
The book ends with the following consideration of one’s self in relationship to the wood:
The moment I take to be still before the billet, or before the tree, or before the hearth-fire renews these relationships, and has the very practical benefit of claming me before exercise so that my use of my body will be less tense and more effective. . . . From the body’s point of view, to effectively remove this tension requires not a domineering inner command but rather a greater stillness, better poise. Emphasis on hurriedly ‘getting the wood in’ can promote a blankness of mind and a misuse of the body. The Wood’s revenge. With right use of the body, with supple and erect spine, the stored heat of the axe combines with the heat of my breath to relase the sun’s energy in The Wood, an awesome consummation in which it has been my privilege to partake.[2]
An extract from the book was published as ‘Poise and splitting fireword’ in Somatics 1981.[3]
See also Scything.
