The Alexander Technique and Mindfulness

When I started taking Alexander Technique lessons as a professional flutist in 1991, I thought I was learning the AT to help with my flute playing. And as my AT teacher helped me become more aware of how I got in my own way while playing, and as I learned how to refrain from doing those things, my flute playing did improve. But learning the AT brought other changes I couldn’t have predicted. I was amazed to find myself reacting differently to other people in conversation. Where up til then I would have had a strong emotional reaction (and acted on it by speaking my mind), I found myself refraining from responding habitually. I suddenly had space to actually hear the other person and to choose how I wanted to respond. It was a revelation, and it was liberation. To become aware of the restraints our minds put on us, and to become free of those restraints - these are the gifts the Alexander Technique can bestow. They are the gifts we give ourselves by taking up the practice.

Karen DeWig has been studying the AT for 27 years and teaching it for 22 years. She teaches AT lessons and trains teachers at the Alexander Technique Center of Albuquerque, an AmSAT-approved training course. Learn more at AlexanderABQ.com.