This month we release the second part of our conversation with Patrick Johnson, Gabriella Minnes Brandes, Victoria Door, and Rajal G. Cohen about their 2025 paper, “Pause, observe, intend: A qualitative study exploring expert practitioners’ perceptions of how mindfulness and Alexander technique work synergistically to address stress.”
Following on from Part 1, this second conversation explores the research process behind the study. Each of the researchers shares their thoughts on what made their study unique, including the use of dual-discipline experts, and how the team of four researchers were all actively involved in every aspect of the study.
The discussion also covers the challenges the team faced, and explores plans for where they might go next.
Full post and links
For additional details please click below to see the full post on the Alexander Studies Online website.
Click here for full post details and a downloadable PDF of the research study
Fascinating - I'm glad you set yourselves this challenge!
I've been interested in this topic for years, since back in the day I had several students come to me who had done the MBSR 8-week course that was being offered at that time on the NHS. Not sure if it still is. They saw the Alexander Technique as a way of helping to keep themselves mindful in some way - the strapline on my website at that time was 'body-mindfulness in activity'. At least a couple of them, as far as I remember, said that it gave them more practical strategies to implement when they noticed signs of stress.
And of course mindfulness in its original Buddhist context is a preparation for the practice of insight meditation, the aim of which is to lead to equanimity, ie to be able to accept and deal with whatever is happening without unhelpful reactivity - but that's a long and difficult path.
We're all just trying to find our way to ease and freedom!