I have two main goals for my life and work right now — be my best self (by practicing the principles of the Alexander Technique) and meet as many people as possible.
I don’t need to sell people. I can just reply when they ask what I do for a living that I am an Alexander Technique teacher. Half the time, people ask me, “What’s that?”
I say, “It’s a way of noticing how you respond to stimuli and letting go of those responses that don’t serve you.”
If they’re interested, they might say, “What does that mean?”
I can say, “Well, if a loud noise went off behind you right now, you’d probably react by sticking your head out, raising your shoulders, tightening and compressing your neck and your torso and generally making yourself as small as possible. Most people get stuck in a version of this fight-or-flight reflex and they walk around locked and loaded. They go through a minor version of fight-or-flight whenever they encounter stimuli such as speaking to a stranger or getting in and out of a chair or simply walking across the room while people are watching them. With Alexander Technique, we can learn to let go of this fight-or-flight reflex when it does not serve us, which is most of the time (unless we’re faced with a hungry tiger).”
Then people might say, “How much do you charge?”
I say, “A hundred dollars for an hour lesson.”
And I hand them my business card.
I’m off to the races of my new career.
What’s good for me and what’s good for my career are now one and the same — to be my best self and to meet as many people as possible.
I can’t remember when all the parts of my life worked together. It might never have happened before.
This is all good.
