Alexander Technique Articles:

'The Personal Account':

A personal account of a three year Alexander Technique teacher training course.

Part 9 - Lessons Learnt in Alexander Technique and Use of the Self:

Ever since I had to prepare that talk in my third year, I have been mindful of the way in which we quite frequently resort to ‘automatic pilot’. Even though I so wanted to be rid of pain and to be able to play the cello without the constant fear my shoulder wouldn’t hold out, I equally wanted to avoid the reality and truth of my habits. Facing up to them, and being prepared to challenge and tackle them is difficult. It requires all sorts of facing up to oneself. End gaining had started to shape me in every possible sense.

I could never work out why Alexander’s book “Use of the Self” wasn’t just called “Use of the Body”. Once one starts to meet deep-rooted habits, it starts to bring into question one’s entire persona. As Alexander writes in ‘Constructive Conscious Control’, “a correct position or posture indicates a fixed position, and a person held to a fixed position cannot grow”. Alexander is not just talking about the physical body being able to grow, but the whole person being allowed to develop and grow. Hence his insistence that his work is psycho-physical.

I learnt some very strange lessons throughout my training, not at all what I was expecting. Since qualifying, I continue to learn ‘strange’ lessons, but I am more willing to learn from them. I know without a doubt that if I had not learnt those lessons, I would no longer be playing the cello.