To Be or Not To Be

 Read more from Noeline

That is the question! Can Alexander technique be the answer?

The thing I love about the Alexander technique is that there is more to it than just where to put your shoulders. It has depth, and can be applied to many aspects of one’s life.

The premise of the technique is about learning how to ‘let go’.  We hold tension in our body and that holding habit is addressed by the Alexander lessons. My teacher used to say: ‘We are human beings, not human doings, I am teaching you how to be not what to do’. I loved this, because I had been a dancing teacher and was used to teaching folk how to do this or that, but most of all I had to learn for myself, how to just ’be’.  

The stress and tension of our daily lives, make us contract and hold onto our tension. We are in a holding pattern in our lives, in so many aspects of our being, the way we behave, the way we react to others and to situations.  We live with our habits, and our habits are unconscious.

The Alexander technique gives us an opportunity to examine those habits and to release those that are not working for us.  Either pertaining to the way we move, or the way we behave or think about ourselves. All these aspects can be changed if we take time to think about them and not rush into the next thing.  I often say, while teaching this to my students;’ we cannot hope to change the furniture in the lounge without being there to do so.’

Learning to ‘let go’ has to do with being in the moment, making conscious decisions about our reactions to the stimulus around us. Being mindful and present!! Just as we think we have mastered it, so we loose it, and then we have to start all over again, to let go. Learning to ‘be’ is our greatest challenge.

Step lightly, be spritely. www.alextechnz.com