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1] I want to learn to communicate the benefits of Alexander Technique clearly. So let's start with something concrete: Alexander Technique has massively improved my public speaking ability. A thread 👇 (And here's my ultimate guide to public speaking: https://t.co/ac3UWJIgCK) https://t.co/ZvUVL278Ms
2] First of all, let me say that I used to be someone who would do anything to avoid public speaking. During a presentation at my first job I was so anxious I was visibly shaking. I had to put my notes down. I kept my head down when asked to 'report back' during team meetings.
3] And now? Well let's see: 21 hours before that photo above was taken, I had dislocated my left knee walking through the conference centre (I have bad knees). Screaming in pain, concerned Koreans looking on, I relocated my own kneecap, then hobbled back to my hotel room.
4] The next day I was in severe pain, I was jet-lagged, and I had to present for 20 minutes at the Energy Leaders' Summit in front of 300 people, including the CEO of Korea's largest energy company. Despite all this, I had a great time. I credit that to Alexander Technique.
5] Why? Before I learned this skill, my awareness wasn't really under my own conscious control. It could be pushed around by fear of looking silly, by low confidence, by pain. You know when you're anxious and all you're aware of is the anxiety? AT is a way out of that.
6] So in the moments as I went up on stage, I was aware of my exhaustion. I was aware of the throbbing in my knee. I was aware of the enormous room, and the simultaneous translators. Each of those 'stimuli' — the thoughts, the pain, the fears — had the potential to hijack me
7] But I didn't let them. I stayed 'in the room'. I expanded my awareness. I connected with the audience. I lived in that precious space between stimulus and response. The pain and tiredness were there, but they weren't the entirety of my experience. I had choice.
8] I can't teach you how I did this in a single Twitter thread. This thread is my attempt to describe one impact of Alexander Technique in my life. If you want to learn more about AT then you can start here: https://t.co/pppidMHSzH
9] And I'm making a course to share what I've learned, because it's important to me that this stuff be out there and accessible to as many people as care to learn. If you want to hear about it, I'll be launching it to subscribers of this newsletter: https://t.co/Iol9o85q7O