I am six weeks away from finishing my first year of Alexander Technique teacher training. It’s a three year program and then I will become a certified teacher and charge $50 an hour for lessons.
Alexander Technique has changed my life. If you’ve known me for a while and met me recently, then you know what I am talking about. The other night, I was at a Shabbat dinner. The family has known me for as long as I’ve been in Los Angeles (since 1994). The hostess told me later, "You’re in a far better place than you’ve ever been."
She also said, "I love men with good posture."
Many women do. Who wants to bind oneself to a guy who’s contorted in his body, stuffing his head down onto his spine and compressing his neck and back? Yeah, I’m talking about the conductor Gustavo Dudamel and those like him who think they have to tighten their necks to work hard.
What’s key in the use of your body is the means-whereby you go about your life, not end-gaining.
Thanks to my 18-months with Alexander Technique, I feel poised. I use myself more efficiently and I have more energy and endurance. I think more clearly. I am not as buffeted by destructive emotions. I’ve learned to let go of postures that were not helping me, postures in my body and in my emotions and in my thinking. They all go together. If you are poised and graceful in your use of yourself, then you are likely to be poised and graceful in your emotions and your thinking.
PS. I read an article a few months ago about how many people have used Alexander Technique to overcome Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It’s working for me.
