If you spend a significant amount of time in front of a computer, you know how easy it is to compress, tighten and collapse yourself into discomfort. This can be caused not only by how you sit, but also, what you do as you move while computing.

As I teach the Alexander Technique to beginners, I’m often amazed at how immediately better students will move as soon as they clarify a few misconceptions about the location and function of various bodily structures (more specifically, joints, bones and muscles). Sometimes this involves little more than having students look at the model of the [...]

This month I’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Gray, who is a student in the Alexander Technique class that I teach at the YMCA in La Canada. Elizabeth is a professional writer. She has done research for a great number of documentary films, and has written several plays. She is also a singer and [...]

I hear this question practically without exception from students new to the Alexander Technique (whether already committed to taking lessons, or simply looking into the possibility of taking lessons). It’s a perfectly reasonable question. After all, you want to know how much money, time and effort will be required to gain success from your lessons. [...]

The Alexander Technique is a way to improve your movement and postural habits by changing the way you think about yourself in activity. The three most essential principles involved in this new way of thinking about yourself are awareness, inhibition and direction. You can use your awareness to notice any habits that you have that [...]

In the mind of the expert, the possibilities are few. In the mind of the beginner, the possibilities are endless. Ryo Suzuki, zen master The best saxophone lesson i’ve ever had was not given to me by a saxophone teacher. It was given to me by somebody who knew nothing about playing the saxophone: Frances [...]

The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D (Penguin Books) The subtitle of this book is: “Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science”. I can say without hesitation that this is one of the most inspiring books I’ve read in many years. In essence, it’s a story about the brain’s ability [...]

Though I work a great deal with actors (I teach at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles), I really don’t know anything about teaching acting. Which is fine, because that’s not my job. My job is to teach actors how to improve what they do by using the Alexander Technique. I can, [...]

The things that don’t exist are the most difficult to get rid of. F.M. Alexander This quote from the founder of the Alexander Technique quite clearly describes one of the biggest obstacles to personal growth and change: Our false beliefs about ourselves. And even though these beliefs are inaccurate, they ultimately influence (if not determine) [...]

Most of us have some idea of what it means to “concentrate” on something. Sometimes this has a general meaning, as in concentrating on future goals, or concentrating on improving in some particular skill. In this sense, concentration means to give a higher than usual priority to directing one’s time and efforts to a particular [...]