The Alexander Technique and Burn-out

Many people nowadays have gone through the experience of a burn out.

Very few have recovered without the help of a long sick leave and proper medication.
Some get back to a ‘normal’ life (usually not the one they were living before the burn out) and some others take longer to recover.
But life for them will not be the same anymore. They will have to watch themselves better than before in order to avoid habitual
patterns of behaviour that might lead them back on a way to a new burn out.

Here is not the place to try to understand why today and in this part of the world in particular, where on the whole we are supposed to enjoy good standards of living,
so many of us burn themselves out without having been able to see it coming or at least not having been able to take the signs seriously enough to prevent it.

Some of them, in search of more awareness knock sometimes at the door of an Alexander Teacher, as some did to my door.
The help they have received through understanding and applying the Alexander Technique principles leads them to become much more aware of themselves
and learn to listen more easily to the signs of dangers their body does not fail to send them when they start to behave in a way dangerous to their future health.

A free and coordinated body allows us to be much more aware of our true state of the moment and behave accordingly.
We all know what to do, but often we fail to listen to ourselves.

The Alexander Technique helps to consciously bring ourselves to a mental and physical state
from where we can more easily listen to the more reliable sensations this better state of use and coordination produces.

In addition, the Alexander Technique lying down procedure (in supine position) that is taught to any pupil of the Alexander Technique is a resting position
that helps the person in burnout go the day and cope better the fatigue and the lack of energy that comes with his condition.