What is the Alexander Technique?

I am entering an addendum to this blog post, just over a year after I initially wrote it.
In re-reading it I am struck by two things:
First, my thinking about the AT has changed a quite a bit and second I now disagree with a majority of what I have written in this post.  I think a majority of the definitions given below are wrong and misleading.  This is very hard to say publicly.   The statements below were made by those with far greater experience, so logically I should conclude that I'm very wrong.  But I will stick to my guns: I disagree with most of the following definitions. 

The AT is a learning experience, taught by teachers to student.  It contains two concrete tools and a set of interconnected principals.  To effectively teach them takes somewhere between six and 30 lessons - thought I have had much more than 30 and no doubt have much still to learn.
The AT is about bringing conscious reasoning to bear on one's responses to stimuli.  Our responses are generally habitual but the AT involves acquiring the ability to respond instead with ones fundamental intentions: to respond in a new way to a stimulus that always used to put us wrong.  It involves replacing subconscious habit with conscious reasoned responses.
I mean to be quite clear here, that I am not making any distinction between the mental and the physical.  The AT, I believe, is just as helpful in someone who suffers from an eating disorder as it would be to someone with low back pain.
Why do these experienced AT teachers define the AT in terms of it's physical benefits?    I will not offer an opinion.   
The idea that the AT is defined in physical terms and that the benefits are limited to the physical body is contrary to FM Alexanders teachings, and based on a fragmentation of the unified self, which, although deeply ingrained in our culture, has been repeatedly proven to be non-existant.
Here is my current favorite definition:
The AT teaches two tools and recommends that students use them.  The AT also offers a few principals that aid in the use of the tools.  That's it.  That is a complete definition.  
Do AT teaches claim that practicing these tools will result in any changes?  Yes.  The use of these tools with bring conscious reasoning to bear on one's responses to stimuli.  It will improve the use of the self.  Does the AT claim to make any more specific benefits?  No it does not.  It is reasonable to expect a wide range of benefits.  There have been scientific studies which show a wide range of benefits.  We do not yet know the limits of the benefits and there are many realms of human activity (creativity, psychology, sports, etc) that have not yet been studied.
   This definition is the most accurate and honest.  But it may be difficult for some to fully understand.   The best teachers define the AT in ways that is both honest and easily grasped.  

When I want to learn something I often start by going to Wikipedia - but I don't think it's a great description - it does not capture the richness of the technique.  Also, surprisingly, it does not mention the scientific evidence that shows the techniques efficacy or the studies that illuminate how the technique works.
A better way to start might be the main professional organization in the US of AT teachers.

Or go right to the source and read F M Alexanders books.  There is no doubt that his writing exactly represented his thinking.

For those interested in the Yoga of Zen, I think it would be useful to talk about how the AT relates to each of the guidelines proposed in my earlier post.  I'll give that a try in subsequent posts.

Another definition was written by the author of the largest study into the AT, proffesor Paul Little.    He writes:

"Lessons in the Alexander technique offer an individualised approach designed to develop lifelong skills for self care that help people recognise, understand, and avoid poor habits affecting postural tone and neuromuscular coordination. Lessons involve continuous personalised assessment of the individual patterns of habitual musculoskeletal use when stationary and in movement; paying particular attention to release of unwanted head, neck, and spinal muscle tension, guided by verbal instruction and hand contact, allowing decompression of the spine; help and feedback from hand contact and verbal instruction to improve musculoskeletal use when stationary and in movement; and spending time between lessons practising and applying the technique"

Those interested in podcasts can listen to a collection of interviews that Robert Richover, a AT teacher, has given with dozens of teacher, students and researchers.

He starts each interview by asking his guest "What is the Alexander Technique?"  The responses are quite varied, and I disagree with many.  I hope Robert does not mind, but I have a few edited some.
The Alexander technique:

will help you do what you want to do.

is a method of unlearning bad habits of movement and posture and relearning a more easefull way of doing whatever you are doing.

It's not a specific set of exercises.  It is a set of principals, an educational system that teaches people to become aware of  harmful movement paterns and gives them the tools to consiously choose a better and more efficient way of moving or doing any task.

is a set of skills and information that can be brought into movement, exercise or daily activity: can go anywhere and help you to do anything.

shows people how to interrupt bad habits and insert instead a more thoughtful way of doing whatever you do.

is the long standing foremost method for mindfulness in the east.

It's a way of dealing with habits: recognizing and then interupting them

is a method to become aware of unnecessary tension.

is a method to become aware of and change movement and postural habits that cause or exacebate pain, or get in the way of any activity.

is the conscious interface between rational mind and the movements you make.  The relationship between the head and the neck is important because it is the first movement you make and the body follows.

is an educational process: To build awareness of yourself and your actions and habits, then learn ways of thinking to help move more efficiently and easily.

it is a 100 year old educational technique that uses observation, verbal suggestions, and gentle hands on guidance to improve balance, movement and the overall coordination of the body.

a method to be more centered and connected that give people more choice to respond to any over-excitement or stressful event.

is learning to be aware of, and change, unconscious habits that distort posture and impairs coordination in the form of muscle tension - Learning how to not to do something - learn how to make better choices about how you move and use yourself.

is a method to help people do things with less unnecessary tension and encourages more freedom of movement.

AT results in a diminished need for reactive response patters.

unlearn old habits so that people can perform any activity with more awareness, freedom and enjoyment.

is a study of human coordination.  Liberating our most efficient and graceful coordination by reducing straining patterns of interference that we do habitually.

is an educational approach that help us to identify and free ourself from habitual interference allowing our natural ease and well being.

to help pt's find balance and the flow of their lives.

will help musicians understand how their thinking effect their function.