Attention and Awareness
The skill of noticing
When I first encountered the Alexander Technique, there was very little that I noticed about the way I moved. I had been to university, trained at drama school and studied movement, yet my awareness of my own movement and posture was surprisingly limited. What I noticed most was discomfort.
The way we move is influenced not only by strength, flexibility or physical skill, but also by what we notice and where we direct our attention. When aspects of our coordination remain outside awareness, we are limited in our ability to change them. As awareness grows and attention becomes more skilful, new possibilities for movement and action become available.
Awareness Is Broad
Every moment contains more information than we can consciously process. Being aware of everything is not possible. We can bring our awareness to a situation or a context. We may be aware of the room we are in, the people around us, the sensations of standing, our breathing and the task at hand. This broader awareness provides us with context. Awareness helps us recognise relationships, patterns and possibilities that might otherwise remain unnoticed. It provides the wider picture within which movement takes place.
Attention is focused
Attention, on the other hand, allows us to focus on particular aspects of an experience. It’s a narrow focus that we bring to bear. Attention allows us to make interventions, solve problems apply consideration and discrimination.
Attention allows us to focus on particular aspects of experience. It is a narrower focus that we bring to bear. It helps us investigate, solve problems, make distinctions and refine our actions. We may notice how we are balancing, how much effort we are using, or how we organise ourselves before moving.
Awareness provides the wider picture. Attention helps us explore parts of that picture in greater detail.
Integrating Awareness and Attention
Together they support greater coordination and adaptability. Awareness helps us recognise possibilities that might otherwise remain hidden. Attention helps us investigate those possibilities through observation and experience.
For the Movement Intelligence student, awareness and attention become practical tools for improvement. By noticing more clearly and directing attention skilfully, people can make constructive choices about their movement and their responses. Over time, this process supports greater ease, coordination, adaptability and more useful movement habits.
The Movement Intelligence Approach
As conscious awareness develops, people often begin to notice patterns of their movement response that were previously hidden. They may recognise unnecessary effort, habitual reactions, changes in balance, variations in breathing or the ways they organise themselves before and during movement.
These observations create opportunities for constructive attention and experimentation. Rather than being told the “right thing to do”, the Movement Intelligence process leads you to guided discovery. The knowledge and experience that you gain provides you with an organic learning experience that empowers you to take action.