Real change comes from the inside
5th Oct 2025
People change shape when they start Alexander lessons, often very noticeably! Improvements are long-lived because Alexander technique respects that real change comes from the inside, from new awareness.
If ever you were told to ‘pull your shoulders back’ or ‘straighten up’, and then told again, (and again!), let me say right now:
The reason you kept forgetting is because you are a human being, and we don’t work like that.
Alexander noticed that we have a beautiful innate coordination. You see it in young children. It's energised and responsive: we are balanced, free and flexible. He called it 'primary coordination' and he emphasised it a lot.
When we find ourselves in a poor posture, two things are probably happening:
The point of Alexander lessons is to wake up our primary coordination. This addresses the problems of too much tension and not enough deep support.
When it happens it's not some fixed position that we find, it's a responsive, energised coordination.
Recently I had the pleasure of working with someone as she truly allowed her primary coordination to activate.
She'd had about a dozen lessons and by now had a good personal practice; and knowing full well she was in a slumped position, waited there, practicing the technique. After a few seconds she began moving with a deep, emerging power whose strength took us both by surprise. Her whole being sat up tall and then stood, in one seamless flow: grounded, sure, integrated.
What I've described above is a big part of the technique. Alexander called it 'stopping'. I think you probably need some Alexander experience for this to work, but if you haven't had lessons you could try it anyway! First stop putting yourself into some posture – that's faking it. It will only cause tension and you will never access your primary coordination this way.
Holding a 'good posture' is like a faking a smile... it’s not the real thing.
Now this is super-important... if you catch yourself in a posture you don't want, or are feeling twisted or awkward, resist the impulse to correct it and instead tolerate being as you are. This is how internal awareness grows and these seconds are priceless.
As you wait quietly and attentively, go through your Alexander practice – you're giving yourself time and space to do something different. What will your body do? If nothing happens then leave it for now and go about your business. If you notice some tension then let it release. If you find yourself moving: not because you've decided to move but because something inside is initiating change, then it's a genuinely joyful moment – your primary coordination is waking up. Congratulations!
© Copyright 2025 Alice Turner
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