Glossary

Thinking in activity

In the Alexander technique, the concept ‘thinking in activity’ refers to thinking that includes an expanded body–mind awareness while responding to different stimuli in your daily-life activities.

This type of thinking is in contrast to relying on unconscious habit. Thinking in activity incorporates the use of the entire psychophysical self while you think, move, and act in your daily life. It includes inhibition and direction-sending and the holistic operation of your body–mind coordination as you respond to stimuli in your environment.

In practice, this means that as your Alexander technique lessons progress and you increasingly learn how to inhibit and direct, you experience a new use and sense of your whole united self and different sensations in your body. (In the Alexander technique, we refer to this as an improved sensory appreciation.)

As a result, over time, encouraged by your improved sensory appreciation, your overall psychophysical functioning and well-being improve and your attention expands beyond its previous habitual concerns. Your attention becomes more inclusive of your whole being. It also takes in more of what is occurring in your surrounding environment.

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