3 Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Alexander Technique

In August, Alexander Technique instructor Jeremy Cohn is going to be offering two levels of Alexander classes at Green Shirt Studio. For those of you who have never tried Alexander Technique before, it is a method that teaches actors how to let go of their habitual patterns of movement so they can become gain deeper access to their emotional life and make stronger choices on stage.

If you want to get serious about change, get light with yourself. Trying hard to change tends to create tension and reinforce pre-existing patterns–the remarkable thing about play is that it allows us the possibility to step outside of ourselves with curiosity and non-judgement and try on something new without the pressure of analyzing it. I have learned not to go anywhere deep with a student until a sense of play is established–play is, in essence, both courage and safety. If you can say “that was fun” rather than “that was right,” you are working in a useful way.

I often say one of the paradoxes of this work is that it attracts clients who are searching for more control of some aspect of their lives–and instead challenges them to give control up. The fact is, you can’t force release, and trying to let go of tension or habits while remaining firmly in the drivers seat is an irreconcilable contradiction. This work requires a remarkable amount of trust in yourself and in the universe to conspire with you to keep you safe and thrive when stepping outside of your box. In the end, you can only create the best circumstances for release to occur and try to get out of its way.

One of the key foundations of the Alexander Technique is what F.M. Alexander termed ‘Psycho-physical Unity’–the idea that there is nothing mental, physical, or spiritual that is not reflected in both of the other aspects equally. When I first started teaching, I would often see two types of students: those who were seeking the changing of something technical, and those were seeking deep personal growth. I enjoyed both types, and as I have gone on I have found that they have merged. Often somebody who comes for a technical issue (back pain, musicianship) ends up growing tremendously personally alongside the shifting of that issue, and those who come seeking connection and growth end up creating technical structures that allow that depth to thrive. In the end, it’s all the same thing!