‘The right thing does itself’ is a quote attributed to F. M. Alexander. It indicates the indirect and preventative nature of the work of the Technique. By preventing what is wrong – the only thing we can know with any certainty – the right thing ‘does itself’. Prevention includes inhibition, direction and the primary control.
A. R. Alexander
The earliest reference to a statement expressing this view is A. R. Alexander being quoted in a US newspaper quote in 1941. He refers to teaching at the Little School, which moved to the US because of WWII.
We try to develop a condition of awareness, so that the children know what is wrong. Prevent what is wrong, and the right way will come naturally. I cannot tell it to you in a few minutes but it concerns the primary control with which we are all born but lose through false education.[1]
Margaret Goldie
Fiona Robb’s diary of her lessons with Goldie, quotes Goldie for saying “In particular, you’re not doing the wrong thing, so that the right thing does itself.”[2] And:
FR: “So can I trust that if I stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing will do itself?”
MG (smiling): “Only if you have perfect use.”[3]
Walter Carrington
Walter Carrington frequently quoted F. M. Alexander as having said: ‘The right thing does itself’.
Once you think that, you’re likely to do something other than work on preventive lines, without the recognition that the right thing does itself. After all, the pupil’s head will go forward and up and lengthening and widening will occur naturally if the interference is removed. Thus a teacher doesn’t take the head forward and up; he merely removes the interference so that the head goes forward and up.[4]
In addition to the above quote Personally Speaking contains two more references by Walter Carrington to the ‘the right thing does itself’.[5]
Explaining the Alexander Technique contains two references by Walter Carrington to the ‘the right thing does itself’.[6]
Walter Carrington emphasised that the right thing only does itself by the prevention of what is wrong:
All the time the work is being taught it is being tested: anything that can be shown to be wrong can be discarded and altered. There is so much that we do not know, but as FM used to say, ‘The right thing does itself.’ We do not know what is right, but if we cannot falsify it then we must accept it until we can.[7]
Over the years Walter Carrington made several references to this quote in various talks and papers.
- ‘Reminiscences of F. M. Alexander – Talk given at the International Congress of the F. M. Alexander Technique in Oxford, 2004’ by Walter Carrington.[8]
- ‘Two interviews with Walter Carrington – Friday 20th February 2004’ by Hidemi Hatada.[9]
- ‘On the regulation of teacher training courses’ by Walter Carrington.[10]
- ‘The Human Organism’ in ‘Notes & Drafts – 1: On the Alexander Technique’ by Walter Carrington.[11]
- ‘The results of the move to Lansdowne Road’ attributed to Walter Carrington.[12]