The San Francisco Bay Area’s most successful new Alexander Technique teacher is Amira Alvarez who headlines her website with the statement “Create the Life You Want”.
At first I thought she committing Alexander heresy by marketing the benefits of the Technique instead of the features. I felt like she was end-gaining.
Then I interviewed her and my thinking opened up.
It’s hard to create the life you want when you are doubled over by pain.
Try creating the life you want when you have such severe carpal tunnel syndrome that you can’t pick up a cup let alone a pen.
Try creating the life you want when you are addicted to emotional highs like love or sex.
Try creating the life you want when you are unable to handle anxiety without hurting yourself or others.
Four of the keys to my creating the life I want have been Alexander Technique training, 12-step work, Orthodox Judaism, and psycho-therapy.
The common denominator in three of them is the expansion of choice in my life (Orthodox Judaism obviously narrows my life, restricting my world through its thicket of law). Without psycho-therapy, I thought I had only one or two choices when presented with a certain stimulus (say my girlfriend not phoning me back within 24 hours, well then, I have to either break up with her or call her again and lay it on the line about how hurt I feel).
My 12-step work helped me loosen my inclination to believe that I could not be happy unless I was in a sexual relationship.
The freedom to choose your bliss is a very American value. I love it! I love most things that expand freedom and human dignity. Having to work for your housing and your medical care and your food expands human freedom and dignity. Getting handouts from the government despite being able-bodied contracts freedom and dignity.
Believing there is no solution to your pain and illness restricts freedom and dignity. Getting out there and looking for help expands your world.
