You might have heard it said that the Alexander Technique is ‘all about thinking’ but for many people this can come as something of a surprise when they first begin Alexander lessons. What’s more, they often find it hard to imagine that, outside of lessons, they could possibly be able to think about it very much at all – life is just too busy!

But what do we mean here by ‘thinking’? The English language uses this one word as an umbrella term that encompasses a whole range of different types of conscious process. Here are some of the many ways in which we can think: we can analyse, calculate, evaluate, criticise, conclude, decide, anticipate and recollect. We also imagine, visualise, believe, create, and day-dream. Then again, we can observe, contemplate, appreciate, intend, choose and wish. I would say that the nature of Alexander thinking shares most in common with this last set of terms and least in common with the first.

Applying the Alexander Technique involves two distinctive ways of thinking that FM Alexander called ‘inhibition’ and ‘direction’. Practising inhibition involves developing greater conscious awareness of ourselves, such that we are more able to choose whether and how to respond in any given moment (rather than the default mode of reacting instantly and habitually). Over time this practice leads to a general quietening down of our whole self, so that our minds race less and our muscles tense less and we’re less likely to over-react to what life throws at us in the moment.

For me, ‘direction’ is thinking spatially from an embodied perspective. This means that, whatever I’m doing, my mind-body lies at the centre of my awareness, and this is organised around my head and spine as its axis. Like inhibition, the character of direction is expansive – a light brush stroke of attention that sweeps around, not an intense focus. For example, when I’m standing, I’m directing if I simply think of where the crown of my head is in relation to the ceiling and this being the opposite direction to where my weight is going. Such thinking will indirectly and beneficially impact on my posture (in this moment) in a way that simply thinking ‘I’ll try and stand up straight’ never could. So, inhibition and direction are not our usual ‘doing thinking’ but more a ‘state of being’ thinking.

Through the Alexander Technique we learn to think in a more embodied way and to develop and refine our natural skills of awareness, so that we can take in our environment and ourselves simultaneously. This ‘expansive awareness’ (external and internal at the same time) is a natural attribute (animals and young children have it) but it’s a skill that we increasingly lose as we grow up – largely because we’re constantly encouraged to pay very focused attention to the task in hand. For most people, most of the time, attention switches between external and internal; and the internal attention switches between feelings/sensations and thinking. The Alexander perspective is different, so for example, while I’m looking at the computer screen writing this post, I am also seeing the room around the screen (obviously not in focus), hearing the sounds outside, and I have a sense of my sitting bones in contact with the chair and the movement of my fingers over the keyboard as I choose what words to write next.

My experience, as well as that of my colleagues, is that Alexander training, and practising inhibition and direction in daily life, lead over time to an overall shift in our way of thinking. In general, we become less judgemental, not so self-critical, not as anxious, and less likely to fixate narrowly on our goals. Instead we become calmer, more optimistic (yet, perhaps paradoxically, more realistic), more accepting and compassionate, and more open-minded, experimental, playful and quietly confident.

One final thought. For many of us, it can often feel like we’re subject to a near-constant stream of random mental chatter, full of ‘what if…’ and ‘I should….’ thinking, as well as self-criticism and such-like. Engaging with Alexander thinking replaces some of this chatter in a very simple and effective way – better directing our mental energy, and with resultant benefits such as less tension and a calmer state of mind.