Amy Ward Brimmer
3 Reasons to Take Alexander Lessons

A 3-minute video about the 3 most common reasons people come for Alexander Technique lessons.

3 Reasons to Take Alexander Lessons
Awareness, Mindfulness
Amy Ward Brimmer
Fear is Not the Enemy

I learned a long time ago that I don't have to be afraid of fear. It's an energy, and a rather unpleasant one -- unless you're choosing a scary book or film as entertainment. It can be mild and continuous or sudden and strong, but as emotions go, it's one of the easiest to recognize. And one of the hardest to bear.

Fear is Not the Enemy
Alexander Technique, Awareness, Mindfulness, Spirituality
Amy Ward Brimmer
Truths That Blow Your Mind

Over the years I have heard statements that rang true and woke me up to reality. These are truths that seem obvious upon hearing, but also feel familiar because they are easily verifiable by direct investigation or experience. It leaves you wondering, “how could I have forgotten this?” or amazed that you’ve never thought of it in that way before. The truths that blow your mind.

Truths That Blow Your Mind
Balance, Alexander Technique, Alignment, Meditation, Mindfulness
Amy Ward Brimmer
Steady in the Middle of it All

The spring equinox brings an equal amount of daylight and darkness, and it’s a good time to explore balance. Learning to surf the waves of life requires a commitment to turn toward direct experience, to include whatever is arising with acceptance, to learn how to balance in the gap between stimulus and response. Equanimity develops as the other factors of awakening are cultivated, and mindfulness is the link between them all.

Steady in the Middle of it All
Awareness, Mindfulness
Amy Ward Brimmer
Don't Go Back to Sleep

Two weeks into the new year, and many of us are already hitting trouble spots in sticking to our resolutions. That’s pretty typical, because deep and lasting change is not easy. The poet Rumi has some wise advice for how to stay awake and keep honoring those intentions.

Don't Go Back to Sleep

Bodymind Experiment

, , , , , ,

Return From the Ghost Realm

, , , , , ,
Return From the Ghost Realm

I was 30 years old before I realized that I was disembodied. Like so many people, I walked around thinking I was living a life, and of course I was, but most of my existence played out in my head. I had almost no present moment awareness of my body.

In taking Alexander lessons, I found something better than the short-term safety provided by shutting down or numbing out. I literally learned how to feel my body once again.

I used to think I was rather damaged or deficient in this area, that normal people didn’t have to remember to be embodied.

I was wrong.

, ,

Ease Up for a Change

, ,
Ease Up for a Change

F. M. Alexander and the Buddha both came to understand is that there is no need to lean into the future, or make a big project out of meditating or moving. We don’t need to grasp each moment and squeeze out its essence. We can ease up.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

, ,

Sensing and Knowing: Your Superpower

, ,
Sensing and Knowing: Your Superpower

Have you ever wondered how you know you’re sitting and not, for instance, standing or lying down?

A key feature of the AT is its ability to activate kinesthetic awareness, which functions like a superpower, helping you know how you are doing anything that you might be doing. It is how you know what you’re sensing and how you sense what you’re knowing.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment

, , , ,

There is a Body

, , , ,
There is a Body

It has been my experience over 25 years of teaching somatics and mindfulness that most people are in a state of senselessness. Almost no one is fully inhabiting their body all the time.

Learning to Pause, Sense, Repeat is an easy, practical way to more fully embody your life.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

, , , ,

Expanding and Contracting

, , , ,
Expanding and Contracting

Life is fluid, dynamic, and always shifting. Ultimately, this is good news, but we have been conditioned to expect reality to be solid, fixed, and predictable. The essential groundlessness of our existence frightens us, or at best, takes us by surprise, and when that happens, we react by resisting. Habitual, unconscious resistance shows up in the body-mind as contraction. It is such a basic and common response to living as a human that we don’t even notice it. Yet the moment we do, we are liberated and can transform contraction into expansion.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

, , , ,

Being > Doing

, , , ,
Being > Doing

When we choose to stop working so hard we shift our relationship to ourselves as well as to our social circles. We expect less and question what we believe is expected of us. We might end up doing exactly the same number of things as before, but "I Have To" becomes "I Get To," as we allow more spacious awareness in both body and mind. We can learn to ease up and stop trying to push the river, as they say. Letting go is one way to do less. Letting be is another.

, , , , ,

Practicing the Pause

, , , , ,
Practicing the Pause

One of the key components of mindfulness and somatic processes like the Alexander Technique is practicing the Pause, learning how to wait before taking action. There is a moment between stimulus and response, and in that gap is the possibility of making a fresh, perhaps different choice. When we don't do that, we often increase our own suffering.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment

, , , , , , , , ,

Awake and Aligned the Alexander Way

, , , , , , , , ,
Awake and Aligned the Alexander Way

If you study and practice the Alexander Technique, it will change your life for the better.

This is a statement I can make with complete confidence and zero doubt. I can say this to absolutely everyone, no matter their condition or circumstances. With very few exceptions, there is no one who can't benefit from the principles and the process created by F. M. Alexander and developed over the past century by those who have followed his path.

That’s quite a claim. Read on.

, , ,

Four Ways to Alexander Awareness

, , ,
Four Ways to Alexander Awareness

The Alexander Technique provides a skill set that can be applied in every situation. That's a pretty big claim. Every situation? Really? Yes, really, because Alexander work teaches a way of being, in the same way that practicing meditation creates new ways to be in relationship with reality. Still, that's rather vague, isn't it? How does the AT get applied? In what situations might it be most effective?

Here are four basic positions we all find ourselves in every day, and they are wonderful ways to use Alexander awareness.

, , ,

Heel Thyself

, , ,
Heel Thyself

Someone recently asked me what physical habits of posture or use I see most often, and what I teach my students in order to to address these issues. This is not easy to answer, because everyone is different. But like any Alexander teacher, I typically see a lot of locked knees, shallow breathing, head/spine misalignment, tight jaws, and generally overworked muscles accompanied by low-level anxiety. One common misunderstanding I've seen in nearly everybody involves the heels. They are the base of balance and stability, but most people don’t access this ground-level support and, in some cases, make choices that actively work against it.

, , , , ,

A Most Reliable Mindfulness Bell

, , , , ,
A Most Reliable Mindfulness Bell

Wouldn’t it be great to become more oriented toward the ease and freedom in our bodies? What if our default was to look for sensations of high functioning, or balance, or unity and connection? If awareness is always present and ready to be accessed, then recognizing and supporting ease is merely a matter of intention and practice.

Includes a Bodymind Experiment.

, , ,

There is No Try

, , ,
There is No Try

When there is something I don't understand, if I remember to notice the tension that arises around "not knowing," I can release it before it begins to cloud my brain with panic-based messages. I feel this tension in my neck and behind my eyes; other people get upset stomachs or jaw pain or sharp headaches. I observe myself striving to understand a new way of doing something, using different controls, and in the striving, I tighten. So I let go of trying at the same time I let go of the tension in my neck. I think everyone gets anxious when they have to learn something new, even if it is something they are excited about learning.

Includes a Bodymind experiment for you to “do or do not.” But no try.

, , , , , ,

What To Do When You Feel Lost

, , , , , ,
What To Do When You Feel Lost

Do you ever feel lost in your own life? In spite of the privilege, the accomplishments, the satisfaction in certain key relationships, people often tell me that they feel disoriented or confused about how they got to where they are or how to move forward, and what steps they should take to do so.  Although specific situations sometimes prompt this feeling, it has less to do with external circumstances and is typically more about how one relates to those circumstances.

, , ,

The Generosity of Attention

, , ,
The Generosity of Attention

Generosity is a wonderful thing to keep in mind, because it instantly transforms the attitude and energy of any given situation. Although we typically think of financial giving when we hear this word, there are many ways to be generous. One of the most powerful ways is to give full attention to something or someone.

, , , , , , ,

3 Ways to Breathe Free

, , , , , , ,
3 Ways to Breathe Free

You possess a power that gives you ease, resilience, emotional and mental clarity, postural and spiritual alignment, and improved health and wellness. You are doing it right now. Or rather, it is "doing" you. Breathing.

, , , , , , , , ,

The Dance of Dynamic Balance

, , , , , , , , ,
The Dance of Dynamic Balance

People who come for Alexander lessons anticipate that their balance will improve, and that's almost always a predictable result. Yet most people are surprised to learn that balance is dynamic, not static. One doesn't maintain balance by holding on, but by letting go. Or, to be more precise, by letting flow.

, , , , , ,

Nothing Doing

, , , , , ,
Nothing Doing

When was the last time you did absolutely nothing? Is there a difference between “non-doing” in Alexander terms, and “undoing” in other traditions? What about the Buddhist concept of “non-striving”?

, , , , , , , ,

Don't Do Something, Sit There

, , , , , , , ,
Don't Do Something, Sit There

Are you sitting right now? Chances are good that you are, and if so, let me ask you something: Did you choose the way you are sitting, the arrangement of all the body parts? For most of us, the answer is no. Sitting is so common, and we have been doing it for so long, that we really pay almost no attention to it until something hurts, or until someone asks us to notice. (Did you change your position when you read the question about choice just now? Bet you did.)