Welcome to Joanie Mercer’s Blog site. It is my intention this site will inspire, offer insight, and create enthusiasm for the Alexander Technique. I also hope to fan the flame of desire to live life with more awareness, mindfulness and compassion for oneself as well as others.
People often ask me how I got to be an Alexander Technique teacher. Two words: back pain. Back pain was a family affair. By the time my mom was 50 she was spending at least half her day in bed due to a “bad back.” Back in 1973, I was a Hatha Yoga teacher. Yoga was just coming into people’s consciousness. One day I did a simple forward bend and could not easily stand up again. Not wanting to take my mother’s route of pills or surgery, I went to the chiropractor and through an x-ray found out that I had “degenerative discs” and scoliosis. Determined to find alternatives I began to study with a clinician who did workshops in Gestalt, Feldenkrais movement and Neo-Reichian breath work. It was at his insistence that I look into the Alexander Technique. I went to the library and checked out a copy of The Use of the Self by F.M. Alexander. It is 40 years later and I am still reading this book and still learning from it!
Joanie Mercer Blog 
Linda
/ June 26, 2012Congratulations on your new blog! Wishing you the very best. Linda