Alexander teacher Sandra Bain Cushman has published a new book:
“Forty daily readings for those who are beginning mind-body practices and for those who are beginning again. The central aim of Mind Body 40 Days is to provide a fresh and lasting understanding of mind-body practice. Because of where and when it is being written, you may find principles of this work surfacing at a market in Morocco, by a roadside in Ghana, or floating on a catamaran in the Indian Ocean.”
We talk Monday afternoon.
Luke: “Can the Technique ever be as popular as yoga?”
Sandra: “I think it can be more popular because it is western and so are we.”
“It’s the most sophisticated form of mindfulness and mindfulness is everywhere right now. We’re good at it and we’ve been around for a century.”
We talk about spirituality.
Sandra: “I once had a student who was progressing really well but she was a pronounced atheist and I had this weird feeling that if she was going to continue to take lessons, she was going to have trouble keeping that iron-clad atheism. So one night, I was lying awake and worrying about it. I think it is coming soon where she will feel more than she is feeling right now and I don’t know what to do. I got up the next day and I had a message on my machine. She cancelled her lesson and she never came back. That was my weird confirmation that this work is spiritual work. At some level, if you don’t want any spiritual experiences, you’d probably have to bag this to keep that from happening.”
Luke: “I have a sense that this work is so intoxicating that it functions for many teachers as a substitute religion.”
Sandra laughs. “That’s probably true.”
Luke: “Is Alexander Technique a form of body work?”
Sandra: “It looks like it, doesn’t it, when somebody’s on the table? It can also look like physical therapy. I don’t think it is. I think it is work on the whole self.”
