"You can think of the Alexander Technique as a way to rewire your system. Choose your responses instead of slipping into unproductive habits." - Jessica Santascoy
1. Recognition of the force of habit
We develop many habits over the course of our lifetime, some of which are helpful and some of which are not. Our habits come to feel right or normal. Recognizing habitual reactions is a first step in enabling change.
Jessica, your Alexander teacher, will most often recognize your habits before you can.
2. Faulty sensory appreciation
The force of habit interferes with the accuracy of our kinesthetic feedback. This often results in a faulty sense of how we are functioning and limits our ability to make productive change.
3. Inhibition
We often react automatically and habitually to the various stimuli of life. The Alexander Technique teaches how to take advantage of the space between stimulus and response to choose a course of action. This is inhibition. It is a skill that we already have and can learn to develop and refine.
4. Direction
We all have the ability to send a message from the brain through the nervous system to our muscles. The Alexander Technique teaches how to use this ability more effectively, resulting in more efficient functioning of the muscular system.
5. Primary control
The relationship among the head, neck and back is what F.M. Alexander called the primary control. The quality of that relationship — compressed or free — determines the quality of our overall movement and functioning.
List of concepts via the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT)
Image via 3D4Medical
