Alexander Technique Practice
The practice of the Alexander Technique is applicable to everything you do in daily life. Learning the Technique means learning a practical skill that can be applied to everyday activities to improve capability and stamina.
The technique itself has the power to change habits and improve health by helping you:
- develop awareness of how habits affect your function and how you can change them
- learn how to promote freedom in the head, neck and back which follows through to the whole body
- experience how your body and mind can function together to your advantage
Applying the principle and practice of the Technique to activities such as bending and lifting, breathing and talking, standing and sitting, being at rest and being in performance, can change habitual responses. Observing the whole body in action can allow you to experience a new way of moving that is easier, more relaxed and indirectly promotes improvement in general health.
Constructive rest
There are no specific exercises related to the technique. There is however a practice that is promoted in the learning process that can help you to initially develop awareness of habitual patterns of movement and behaviour. This is the practice of constructive rest. Constructive rest (or semi- supine) involves placing yourself in a lying down position. Here you learn to come to quiet and then to learn to use directed awareness to promote freedom in the body. It is a practice that restores alignment and coordination in your body and mind. Observations that you gain from this practice can then be taken and applied to upright activity.
Learning in rest feeds understanding in action