The Alexander Technique helps you improve the way you are.
What does that mean?
Let's say you learn something new. When you first try to do it, it may be difficult. Once you learn it, you can do it without it being as challenging and you'll be able to do it without thinking about it so much. That ability has now become part of the way you are. You have learned a mapping that makes it easy for you to remember how to do it again and it's VERY difficult to learn a new way once it's stuffed in there.
If what you have learned is not really good for you, it is still part of the way you are. And it's VERY difficult to change.
If you can become aware of and change the destructive things that you are unconsciously doing, you can improve the way you are.
Here are a few practical skills a student will learn:
- You will learn to notice and shed unecessary subconscious patterns which are harmful.
- You will learn better muscle coordination and improved mechanical advantage by enabling the "right" muscles to do the job for everyday and skilled activities.
- You will learn to reduce tension in your muscular system which allows more joint mobility, improves blood flow and increases nerve connectivity.
To find out more about subconscious patterns, see How It Works.
If you are looking to the Alexander Technique to improve your performance, check out the Resources section
In order to fully appreciate the benefits of the Alexander Technique, you should take a series of lessons. It takes more than one lesson to change your ideas about how you move. An AMSAT certified Alexander teacher has gone through a three-year 1600-hour training to develop the hands-on skill to help you understand and change your habitual patterns of movement.
A teacher will instruct you in the two most important concepts of the AT, Inhibition and Direction. You can think of Inhibition as the skill of learning what you do not want to do and Direction as what you would like to do.
If you are interested in exploring the concepts of the technique, I strongly recommend the book "How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live" by Missy Vineyard. This practical book discusses how you can explore Alexander's principles.
|
|
|
