Liminal Space
and the Habit of Identity
Or,
Why am I Who I am…..
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Workshop with Tommy Thompson
February 8th, 2026 at
The Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifECJlEeZxs
Location:
Cambridge, Massachusetts
At the Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge
1682 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02478
Time: 10 am-5:30 pm 1-2 pm Lunch.
(Bring lunch or restaurants quite near by)
Prologue:
If you're in between two places or experiences, especially if you're transitioning between them, you're in a liminal place—and not always an easy place to be!
A liminal space is a kind of threshold or doorway to a new experience, and the word's root reflects that idea. The Latin root, limen, means "sill, cross-piece, or threshold." This can be a meaningful transition, like the liminal moments between life and death. It can also be the beginning of perception, that first moment you can sense something; when that something is instead subliminal, it's just too far below that ‘threshold’ for you to sense it’s significance to the evolution of your identity.
FM Alexander’s ‘Inhibitive moment’ is the liminal space where consciously, given increased awareness you meet yourself being yourself and decide whether this is the self you wish to be. Or more to the point is this the self I truly am? This moment is transitional; the threshold of potential where the more familiar response to given circumstances are less pursued by the choices usually made, and where you can withhold defining yourself as you have previously defined yourself in a quiet moment of absentia.
For In that moment you are briefly absent from the accompanying habitual ‘use of self’ and your brain and all the systems of life support are given the opportunity to supply a more integrated use more closely aligned with the way you are designed to function and from which new choices arise from heightened awareness not previously perceived. The story you ascribe to as your life is experienced as more fluid, more available for the personal freedom to change and to make choices more befitting the circumstances, and to your growth and well being. For we each have a personal narrative, which is our attachment to the life story we describe to ourselves and to others.
Neuroscience ascribes this partially to Dopamine functions in the Default Mode Network, (DMN) being a brain system active during rest, handling internal thoughts like self-reflection. So there is a bit of neuroscience in the liminal moment where you are self reflecting and momentarily withholding defining yourself, daydreaming, inactivity in the midst of action or inhibiting as Alexander suggests. Only in my common parlance, one is not actively trying to use the intransitive verb ‘to let my neck be free” as the command to lengthen the neck so one’s head can move forward and up and allow head neck reflexes to positively affect the total pattern of neuromuscular, skeletal and fascia behavior—one’s ‘Use of Self’.
Withholding definition refers to the aspects of “Self”in Alexander’s term ‘Use of self’ Neurologically The Default Mode Network (DMN) is considered the brain's internal storyteller, actively constructing and maintaining your personal narrative by integrating memories, beliefs, past and future expectations into a coherent sense of ‘self’, essentially weaving the story of "you". It's active during daydreaming, self-reflection, and thinking about the past or future, forming the "center of narrative gravity" for your identity and experiences recalling memories, and planning the future; it forms our sense of self and narrative, switching off when we focus on external tasks. And it is completely enmeshed in who we are and how we live, with our familiar accompanying thoughts, feelings and perceptions. At night we sleep with our story and we awaken in the morning with our story. We don’t go to sleep and wake up with our ‘use’ alone. If one does yoga or morning stretches first thing in the morning, in all probability one does so in a way that conforms to one’s personal narrative. And one’s ‘use’ reflects their attachment to their narrative. It is the attachment to personal narrative that we are really changing when we change our ‘use’. Otherwise we are just getting better at being the person we’ve been. And there is certainly value in this. However, If we really want to explore the mystery of ourselves, our true potential, and encounter who we might actually be capable of being, and perhaps wish to be, we need to shift the personal narrative of who we feel we need to be at a given moment and withhold defining ourselves as we customarily do.
We can imagine a ‘Liminal train of change’, blowing it’s whistle as your signal to get on board. The train stops at every station but only for a moment. If you tightly hold onto a fixed way of being, thinking, feeling, or perceiving, then as the train approaches one can refuse to get on board. Your choice. You can watch the train go by, or you can get on the train. The train goes on without you. The ongoing present moves along without your participation. And change happens in a moment and a moment is a movement. And the “present” is your choice to belong to that moment and to go where the road takes you. All change takes place in the ongoing present: in the space between things, between stimulus and response; ‘The liminal moment’. You were given a ticket to ride at the moment of birth. You can remain defined by attachment to your story as you wish to be and stand alone on the platform or step on board the ‘train of change’.
In this workshop we will explore the value of viewing Alexander’s concept of ‘Use of Self’ as a reflection of one’s unconscious commitment and attachment to their personal narrative, and how when doing so we might provide a more meaningful change for both our students and ourselves when consciously engaged in ‘Withholding Definition’ as the threshold of unraveling the mystery and potential of who we might be. The quality of touch and observation will be explored as a ‘means whereby’ we communicate with ourselves and to those individuals we guide in process.
I look forward to a meaningful exploration of use and identity with all who might attend the workshop. Plenty of active work.
Warmly,
Tommy