The Cult of Doing: Finding Effortless Flow with the Alexander Technique

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The Alexander technique offers a way to achieve unity of mind and body, allowing for freedom and flexibility in daily life. It teaches techniques to break free from habits and autopilot behavior, leading to a state of effortless flow and increased creativity.

Tee has a spirited chat with Lulie Tanett, an independent researcher, Twitter celeb and teacher trainee of the Alexander Technique.

We follow the narrative arc of Lulie’s own self-development journey, somewhat intentionally falling into rabbit holes of all varieties, including:

(12:35) The Taking Children Seriously (TCS) parenting movement and educational philosophy – “My first words were ‘that’s coercive!’”
(29:50) Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing “changed her life forever” and is the “foundation of all inner work.”
(33:10) The surprising (to us) usefulness of the Enneagram – blindspot prediction, character construction, and healthy & degenerative expressions
(47:25) Enheartened philosophical exploration and debate versus ‘grabby’ intellectualism
(1:00:45) The Alexander Technique and VIEW (Vulnerability, Impartiality, Empathy, Wonder)

Spicier parts of the episode include spotting hallmarks of the pretense of vulnerability often found within Authentic Relating circles (1:19:52), Tee’s pushback of Alexander Technique-isms (1:18:30), skepticisms about emphasizing a single type of personal development tradition (1:39:28), Lulie disabuses Tee of his bias against ‘mindsets’ (1:41:00)and what Lulie would now say to the previous “floating brain” version of herself regarding bodily processing and energy (2:02:44).