On my subway ride to teach some Alexander Technique lessons at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Mahattan, I noticed a man who could not have been more stooped over. As an Alexander Technique teacher I was particularly aware of how he was seated, reading the paper, his head not very far from his knees. His face was quite tense, and had a scowl I suspected was habitual. He seemed to ‘have the weight of the world on his shoulders…

…the Alexander Technique ‘inhabits’ your body through the cultivation of awareness. We realize, through Alexander Technique lessons, that we have control over this tension. I didn’t know that I had control over my overly-tensed painful neck until I started working with an Alexander Technique teacher. I just thought: my neck is tense and it hurts. I didn’t know…

The Alexander Technique and meditation can be beautifully interwoven. Since the Alexander Technique is a ‘pre-technique’, using it before meditating can enhance your meditation practice. The Alexander Technique can help shorten the time it takes to get to the state or tone you want when you meditate, and help you stay in that place longer when you’re through. It can help make the line between meditating and not meditating more blurry. Your meditation practice is augmented…

In teaching the Alexander Technique here in NYC, I often use the words ‘let’ and ‘allow’, as in ‘allow’ your neck to be free or ‘let’ your head lead your spine into length. During Alexander Technique lessons I might say ‘allow’ your entire ribcage to contract and expand as you breathe and ‘allow’ your sit bones to release down into the chair. ‘Let’ your torso gently spiral as you walk, ‘allow’ your jaw to release, and countless other examples of allowing… letting…
If we need to allow things to happen, it stands to reason that we unconsciously disallow them from happening…

Often at the start of an Alexander Technique lesson here in New York City, I’ll ask ‘how did it go this week?’ A few responses: ‘I did the Alexander Technique, but not all the time,’ or, ‘I thought about the Alexander Technique, but not all the time.’ To me, these are honest answers, but does anyone think of the Alexander Technique all the time? Would we want to be thinking about it constantly, and thinking of nothing else? Is that any way to enjoy a movie, a book or a companion?
The Alexander Technique definitely becomes part of life, and new, more beneficial habits are formed. Even without directly thinking about the Alexander Technique, we’ve changed. We begin to have less tension with everything we do. We sit at the computer, stand, walk, bend, play the bassoon and bowl in a different way without the Alexander Technique being in the forefront of our thinking…

The Alexander Technique calms you down as it wakes you up. The Alexander Technique lets you know what you already knew but forgot so that you can remember it when you forget it again. It gives some un-namable things names, reinforced by a guiding touch. The Alexander Technique gives you words, strategies and directions to get the feelings you want. It opens you up. All you have to do is think of it. The Alexander Technique has plenty of side effects, only they’re all good ones…

The stresses and strains of modern living, combined with the ubiquity of the computer, cell phone, blackberry etc., seem to draw us in, collapsing us forward and down and giving us one version of bad posture . (Another version of bad posture would be sitting up rigidly straight. That doesn’t work because it won’t be maintained, and it’s not helpful to add extra tension. Sitting or standing up straight usually means military posture.)
So as not to smash our faces into the screen, desk, or floor…

“How can I incorporate the Alexander Technique into my life?” I hear this question, and versions of it, frequently at Alexander Technique lessons. It’s really a great question and gets to the heart of the matter of the benefits of the Alexander Technique.
The Alexander Technique is done as you think about it. If you’re thinking about the principles of the Alexander Technique, you’re doing the technique, or you’re practicing the technique, or you’re performing the technique, or you’re applying the technique, or you’re incorporating the Alexander Technique into your life.
As an Alexander Technique teacher I emphasize awareness of initiating movement; how you start actions like moving your hands, initiating walking, so…

Many times people say to me ‘I did ok this week, Alexander Techniquewise, but I caught myself a few times.’ There can be a negative connotation to ‘catching oneself ‘, but there doesn’t have to be. In fact catching yourself slumping or sitting up rigidly straight is really a positive thing. It’s at those moments where you can employ the principles of the Alexander Technique and make positive changes. As you catch yourself, you’re becoming aware; you’re waking up. Additionally…

Yesterday a student told me that he thought it ‘took energy’ to sit or stand using the principles of the Alexander Technique. If he just sat the way he always sat, he said, it took very little effort and felt comfortable. I can’t disagree that it is comfortable to sit, stand, move and walk in our habitual way. A lot of our habits, though comfortable, aren’t beneficial for us. Slumping is one of those habits, and slumping also takes energy because…