Withholding Definition: The Power to Pause and Choose — Lessons from the Alexander Technique | Tommy Thompson Class 05
“What changes might begin if we could stop and pause instead of reacting instantly in stressful moments?”
Have you ever reacted habitually in a stressful moment—only to regret it afterward? If you could pause for a moment before reacting, perhaps you’d find space for a better choice.
The Alexander Technique is a process of recognizing and coordinating unconscious behavioral response patterns, unnecessary movement, and tension patterns in order to restore free and natural movement as originally designed. Through this, we reclaim physical freedom and open up new possibilities in thought, awareness, and identity.
In this post, we explore how to step out of automatic behavioral responses and move toward more conscious presence and choice—through Withholding Definition, a unique concept proposed by Alexander Technique master Tommy Thompson, and Inhibition, a core principle of the Alexander Technique.
On September 25, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Tommy Thomson led a class in the Alexander Technique teacher training course focused on these two concepts—Withholding Definition and Inhibition—to explore the relationship between the body, emotions, and thought, offering practical insight throughout the session.
Key Objectives of the Class:
- Learn how to recognize and regulate habitual patterns of tension and response.
- Expand self-awareness through practices that harmonize emotion and reason.
- Cultivate the inner space to be more consciously present and make intentional choices.
This blog series is based on Tommy Thompson’s Alexander Technique classes. Each post follows the flow and insights of the class to expand both self-awareness and practical consciousness applicable to everyday life.
New here?
If you’re new to the Alexander Technique, you can start with the resources below.
Alexander Technique Class Flow at a Glance
1. Opening Question
❝ If we inhibit our habitual reactions and practice withholding definition, could we discover new possibilities for choice that we’ve never noticed before? ❞
Instead of reacting instantly, pause for a moment and observe yourself. That brief pause can be the beginning of change.
Tommy’s Words
“Withholding definition interrupts the pattern of habit and allows for a new response, through which we gain insight into ourselves.”
Tommy refers to Benjamin Libet’s research to explain how quickly our actions are initiated by unconscious neural activity. He emphasizes that through inhibition, we create space for conscious choice.
He also describes the Alexander Technique not simply as a physical method, but as “a way of teaching love.” It’s an approach that harmonizes emotion and reason, prompting us to reconsider the essence of human existence.
Think of a time when you reacted instantly under stress. If you had paused for just three seconds—perhaps your choice could have been different.
2. Core Learnings from This Class
In this moment from Tommy Thompson’s class, trainees explore withholding definition as a way of interrupting habitual reactions. The focus is on pausing at the moment of impulse, allowing the spine—especially around T12—to reorganize without effort.
Watch how this simple pause allows length and coordination to emerge naturally.
When the Spine Comes Alive – A Transformational Shift at T12 | Alexander Technique
Class 05 · September 25, 2024 · Boston, MA
Core Concepts
- Withholding Definition means resisting the urge to instantly label what you’re experiencing.
When you pause before naming a moment, you step out of the familiar and open a door to presence. This practice creates space where something new—unfiltered and alive—can emerge. - Inhibition is the moment you say “not yet” to your automatic reaction.
That small pause isn’t indecision—it’s intelligence. By not rushing, you give yourself the gift of a different outcome, one shaped by choice rather than habit. - Kinesthetic awareness starts when you notice how your body reflects your habits.
Every tension tells a story. By sensing how you sit, breathe, or hold your jaw, you begin to shift patterns that have run silently in the background for years. - When thought and feeling are integrated, you stop fighting yourself.
You don’t need to choose between emotion and logic—they are stronger together. When aligned, they create a grounded clarity that reactive energy alone can’t offer. - Even if action starts unconsciously, awareness can still interrupt it.
This is the hidden power of the pause: even milliseconds before an act, you can still intervene. That moment is where your freedom lives.
Five Key Messages
- Withholding Definition doesn’t just pause a moment—it opens a new one.
It gives you space to meet life without rushing to explain it. - Inhibition interrupts the script you didn’t know you were following.
In that break, conscious living begins. - Kinesthetic awareness isn’t about posture—it’s about presence.
Your body becomes a doorway back to yourself. - When emotion and reason move together, you stop splitting in two.
Inner clarity comes from wholeness, not control. - One moment of pause can do what years of reaction never could.
That’s how real change begins—in silence, not struggle.
Essential Terms
- Withholding Definition
A mindset of pausing habitual judgments or reactions and observing the situation with openness—creating space for more conscious choices. - Inhibition
A physical and psychological skill of momentarily holding back reflexive reactions, allowing room for intentional responses. - Kinesthetic Perception
The sensory ability to notice and recognize one’s posture and movement—supporting more coordinated, balanced, and efficient use of the body. - Readiness Potential
A concept describing how unconscious brain activity begins before a conscious action, yet through awareness and inhibition, we can still redirect or change our choice.
3. Tommy’s Insights
In Tommy’s words during class, there are not only the core principles of the Alexander Technique, but also practical wisdom that can be applied directly to daily life. His words go beyond simple advice about movement and prompt us to deeply consider how we choose to exist.“I do not define myself in the moment but simply do what needs to be done. Through this, I discover something new about myself.”
Rather than confining yourself to a fixed identity, seeing yourself freshly in each moment is the key to growth and self-discovery.
“It is important to withhold definition. In certain situations, you may typically react in a certain way, but instead, you need to maintain a flexible state of mind and observe yourself. Ask yourself, ‘Is responding this way in this situation the person I want to be?’ If not, think, feel, and react differently.”
Pause your automatic reaction and observe yourself. That moment of reflection can open up space for a better choice.
“You are designed to feel, love, and express emotions. This is an undeniable fact. It is crucial not to ignore your emotions. Emotions are an absolutely vital element.”
Emotions are not something to suppress or hide. They are an essential part of who we are and should be received and expressed with balance.
“If someone asks what I teach, I would say I teach love. Love connects a person’s emotions and reason and guides us toward true growth.”
Love integrates emotion and reason and becomes a powerful force for human development.
“True observation and awareness mean accepting the person in the moment as they are and seeing things as they are without selection or judgment.”
Practicing non-judgmental presence allows for deeper connection with others as they are.
“F. M. Alexander came up with the concept that to solve the problem, one must ‘not do something.’ This is the idea of inhibition. Inhibition is not simply ‘not doing something,’ but ‘not reacting to a stimulus.'”
Inhibition is not about doing nothing, but about interrupting habitual reactions to create space for conscious choice.
“In this moment, I can become someone I have never been before. Choosing not to act in habitual ways may be the most appropriate response. By doing so, you learn something about yourself, and that stays with you.”
Stepping out of habit and into choice becomes a moment of self-learning and transformation.
4. Practical Tips for Everyday Life
What’s the Goal?
- To develop the habit of pausing automatic responses and observing yourself in the moment.
- To recognize the state of your body and mind, and cultivate the ability to regulate unnecessary tension and impulsive reactions.
- To practice better choices and more balanced use of the self in everyday situations.
How to Practice
1. Cultivate the Habit of the 5-Second Pause
- In new or unexpected situations, resist the urge to react immediately—practice pausing for just five seconds.
- How: Take a slow breath and observe what kind of reaction is arising within you.
- Example: During a meeting, when faced with an unexpected question, pause for five seconds before responding to calmly understand what’s being asked.
2. Tune Into Physical Tension
- Throughout the day, check for unnecessary tension in areas like the shoulders, neck, or jaw.
- How: Gently move those areas and release any held tension intentionally.
- Example: While stuck in traffic, notice the tension in your shoulders and neck, and slowly allow them to soften.
3. Pause to Consider Your Emotional Responses
- Before reacting emotionally, ask yourself if the response aligns with the person you want to be.
- How: Ask yourself, “Does this reaction reflect my values and who I choose to be right now?”
- Example: During a heated conversation with a friend, when strong emotions arise, pause and ask, “Will saying this help our relationship?”—then respond mindfully.
What You’ll Notice
- You’ll begin to build the capacity to pause instead of reacting on autopilot.
- You’ll notice physical tension more quickly and gain the ability to restore physical and mental ease.
- You’ll become less driven by emotional impulses and more capable of making grounded, balanced choices.
- In everyday moments, you’ll experience a growing sense of self-awareness and the possibility for change.
5. Closing the Class
Key Takeaways
The Alexander Technique is not simply a method for correcting posture or releasing tension—it is a way of returning to choice.
Through practices like Withholding Definition and Inhibition, we learn to interrupt the flow of unconscious habit and open space for conscious, embodied awareness.
This is not about self-improvement for its own sake.
It is about remembering that we are not fixed.
We can pause. We can choose. And in choosing, we can change.
Core Insights
- Transformation begins the moment we witness ourselves reacting—and choose not to follow.
Instead of defending, explaining, or retreating, we pause. We see clearly. And from that space, we respond. - Integrating emotion and reason is not a balancing act—it is how we become whole.
The Alexander Technique reminds us: we are not here to suppress feeling, but to coordinate it with thought and presence. - Withholding Definition frees us from the prison of premature meaning.
It gives us back the moment—before judgment, before identity—and invites us to step into it freshly.
A Final Invitation
Right now, try a pause.
Let the next breath arrive without effort.
Notice: what happens when you stop defining this moment?
A single conscious pause—shaped by the principles of the Alexander Technique—can shift not only your day, but your direction.
“What would it be like to live as if each moment could be chosen, not inherited?”
That is the life the Alexander Technique makes possible.
And it can begin now.
6. One Key Practice
Even just one moment today is enough. When a familiar reaction arises—pause for just three seconds. In that brief pause, you shift from habit to conscious choice.
How to practice:
- When you feel the urge to respond immediately to someone’s words
- When your mind feels rushed or you find yourself becoming defensive
- When you notice physical tension building in your body
In that moment, take a deep breath and ask yourself:
“Is this response aligned with the person I want to be?”
That one question can change your day—and reshape who you become.
Today’s one key practice: Pause for 3 seconds before a familiar reaction.
7. Three Questions to Ask Yourself
- Was there a moment today when you paused consciously instead of reacting automatically? What changed in that moment?
- Right now, are you aware of the emotions and tension arising within you just as they are?
- Do the choices you’re making—your words, actions, and attitude—reflect the kind of person you want to be?
8. For Those Who Wish to Learn More
Recommended Books
- The Use of the Self — F. M. Alexander
In this foundational work, F. M. Alexander describes how he observed and interrupted his own habitual reactions in order to choose new ways of using himself.
The chapter “Evolution of a Technique” is particularly essential for understanding how concepts like inhibition and withholding definition can be applied in real, embodied experience. - The Inner Game of Tennis — W. Timothy Gallwey
Though framed as a sports psychology book, this work offers profound guidance on cultivating non-reactive awareness and presence.
Gallwey shows how releasing habitual control and observing without judgment creates space for choice, aligning closely with the practice of withholding definition in everyday life.
Related Research Paper
- Benjamin Libet (1986), “Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will in Voluntary Action”
Official Website of Tommy Thompson
www.easeofbeing.com
This is the official website personally managed by Tommy Thompson, offering a wide range of resources and programs to deepen your understanding and practice of the Alexander Technique:
- Private session reservations and inquiries
- Workshop and seminar schedules
- Overview of international teacher training programs
- Essays and articles on the Alexander Technique
9. Next Class Preview
In the next class, we will deepen our exploration of practical methods for integrating hands-on technique and the quiet center of support into everyday life.
- You will enhance your proprioception (the sense of body awareness) through refined touch skills and physical interaction,
- and experience freedom in the body and balance within through everyday movements such as walking, sitting, and standing.
This upcoming class goes beyond theory—it’s a training designed to create moments where body and mind are truly connected.
Together, we will explore how to feel more deeply, respond with greater precision, and exist more freely.
10. Join the Alexander Technique Journey
Did this class leave a small resonance within you? Feel free to quietly hold it in your heart or share it in just a sentence or two. The comments are always open. Your one simple word may leave a gentle ripple in this ongoing journey.The journey of Resonance Flow continues across social media as well. Let’s continue this journey together.
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