This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Using a Computer, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the computer technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
What makes the Alexander Technique teacher so extraordinarily good at working with computer users is our ability to work outside of the box, whether the Alexander Technique teacher has ever used a computer keyboard and mouse or not. In fact, the Alexander Technique teacher who has never used a computer may be able to give the computer user what he or she needs in a way that is way outside of the box. What do I mean?
When I was an aspiring concert guitarist, I went to an Alexander Technique teacher, because I was causing carpal tunnel syndrome to my left wrist, practicing the guitar hours and hours every day. Because the Alexander technique teacher I worked with was not a classical guitarist, she effortlessly got me to question everything I did on the guitar from head to toe.
It was extraordinary for me after years of playing and after many fine guitar teachers, to dismantle everything I thought was necessary to be a concert guitarist, and create my own personal guitar technique. (I do the same with my Alexander Technique clients, not letting my personal classical guitar technique override my Alexander Technique training.)
I kept what worked, let go of what didn’t work, fined tuned what almost worked, and added whole new ways of accomplishing for the first time what I was truly capable of on the guitar.
What I bring to the computer user are the eyes of an Alexander Technique teacher. I assist the computer user in being able to consciously use his or her whole body in a completely elegant, balanced, and coordinated way. I teach the computer user how to type and use the moused with extraordinary control without paying a physical price by collapsing or hunkering down.
How do I do this? I went through a three year training, and in my Alexander Technique training I learned to use my whole body with ease and balance in everything I do, from running, to brushing my teeth, to playing the guitar, to teaching the Alexander Technique.
My training also taught me to look at any activity, from walking to using a computer, and to spot when the person is sacrificing his or her body for the activity. What does this mean? It means when I work with the computer user, I can clearly see when the computer user is hunkering down paying a painful physical price to type with control and precision. I can see when the computer user is not connected to his or her torso and legs when using the computer. I can see when the computer user is not balanced from head to toe when he or she types and uses the mouse, and because of this whole body imbalance, is using too much upper body muscle to balance over the computer and strike the keys.
What I also bring to the computer user is that I embody whole body good use as I assist the computer user in creating his or her personal effortless and accurate computer technique. This means, even if the computer user doesn’t know it consciously, I demonstrate to the computer user with my own posture how to type and use the mouse without pain, strain, and compression. I also use verbal directions and directing hands on the computer user’s body to communicate what is needed to create a pain-free typing and mouse clicking technique.
SINCE I AM NOT SACRIFICING MY BODY AS I TEACH THE COMPUTER USER, EVERYTHING ABOUT MY POSTURE, WORDS, AND HANDS COMMUNICATE TO THE COMPUTER USER HOW TO DO THE SAME AS HE OR SHE TYPES ETC.
An Alexander Technique teacher is extraordinarily unique in the world of postural teaching, because the Alexander Technique teacher is teaching the computer user to do as the Alexander Technique teacher EMBODIES and says, rather than doing only as I say. Simply, if I tell you to type without locking your neck, and I tell you this with poor posture, you will have one heck of a time learning to type with a released and lengthening neck and decompressed spine.
You won’t know why typing with a free neck seems so hard, but it is because unconsciously you are receiving conflicting messages from me talking about good posture and exhibiting poor posture. A certified Alexander Technique teacher can truly say do as I do, do as I say, and do as my hands are communicating to your nervous system through my free nervous system.