Originator: Frederick Matthias Alexander

If you stop doing the wrong thing the right thing does itself

– F.M. Alexander

It was only after I realized attention [what I call awareness] can be expanded as well as narrowed that I began to note progress. In order to move on a conscious level in which I could be aware of both doing and not-doing (of the inhibitory as well as excitatory part of the movement), I had to expand my attention so that it took in something of myself and something of the environment.

– F.M. Alexander

It was just as easy, I found, instead of setting up two fields—one for the self (introspection), one for the environment (extraspection)—to establish a single integrated field in which both the environment and the self could be viewed simultaneously.

– F.M. Alexander

Using my body even for such tasks as shovelling snow or mowing the lawn became pleasurable. I supposed that other people had these experiences routinely, but for me they carried the fresh appeal of newness—like a new spectrum of colours. There was more to it, however, than mere sensory experience; there was a strong intellectual content. By expanding the field of consciousness it is possible to enjoy an experience at both a sensory and an intellectual level.

– F.M. Alexander

By ‘overviewing’ it you can detect and inhibit trains of thought or patterns of tension that would otherwise get in the way of your enjoyment.

– F.M. Alexander

Bringing the intellect into physical experience has practical value as a problem-solving technique. A sprained ankle or a stiff neck ceases to be mysterious. After ruling out external causes that can be remedied by help from outside, you set up the hypothesis that something you are doing is interfering with the healing process. It is a hypothesis that can be easily tested an acted upon.

– F.M. Alexander

Mr Alexander’s technique is scientific in the strictest sense of the word.

– John Dewey

The emotion (or the autonomic manifestation of it), instead of building up to an explosive force, remained a potential for action but did not interfere with rational decision. The same procedure could be used to take the panic out of fear. Redirecting or containing an emotion in this way is not the same as relaxing or ignoring the stimulus, both of which would reduce the capacity for action if action should be needed.

– F.M. Alexander

It is said that a simple way to trap a monkey is to present him with a nut in a bottle. The monkey puts his paw through the bottle's narrow mouth, grasps the nut, then cannot withdraw his paw because he will not (and hence cannot) let go of the nut. Most people are caught in monkey traps of unconscious habit. They cannot escape because they do not perceive what they are doing while they are doing it. Having an unconscious response pattern pointed out to you by someone else is not the same thing as perceiving it for yourself while it is happening. The Alexander Technique opens a window onto the little-known area between stimulus and response and gives you the self-knowledge you need in order to change the pattern of your response—or, if you choose, not to make it at all.

– F.M. Alexander

Trying is only emphasising the things we already know.

– F.M. Alexander

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

– Victor Hugo

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

– Viktor Frankl

You translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension.

– F.M. Alexander

You can’t do something you don’t know, if you keep on doing what you do know.

— F. M. Alexander

(John) Dewey considered that the Alexander Technique provided a demonstration of the unity of body and mind. With progress as a pupil, he reported an improvement in his vision and in his breathing and in ability to hold a philosophical position calmly with ability to change it if new evidence warranted.

— Freedom To Change

Non-judgemental awareness is curative.

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