What is the Alexander Technique, in 220 words?

So for those of you who are new to the Alexander Technique, let’s do a quick synopsis get to you up to speed.  The Alexander Technique is a method of neuromuscular re-education.  It allows us to change our habits of movement in order to function in a healthier way.  This manifests as nicer posture, prettier dancing, faster running, better singing, calmer, more grounded, etc.  Who studies the Alexander Technique?  Anyone who wants these things:  doctors, lawyers, singers, dancers, trumpet players, farmers.  Also, the Alexander Technique is very helpful for people with chronic back pain. 

 The man who invented the technique is named Frederick Mathias Alexander, born in Tasmania in 1869, died in London in 1955.  He invented the technique as a way of curing his own chronic hoarseness, which he experienced as a Shakespearean actor, and then found that it helped other people with myriad other ills.

 What was new and cool about it?  Well, psycho-physical unity.  The idea that in order to change our habits of moving, we must change our habits of thought.  We must interrupt the immediate chain of events that lead from a desire to do something to doing it.  The technique that grew from these ideas has stood the test of time, and can now be described with cutting edge neurobiology and motor control theories.