he Alexander ideal of perfection is the body of a small child. Children tend to move with natural ease, balance, support, and freedom. The tasks of adult living, from cooking to driving to typing, cause people to hold unhelpful tension in their bodies. Alexander technique teaches how to re-enter that childlike state of physical grace.

"At the end of my first Alexander workshop, I felt that something had changed for me in a major way," says Wacker-Hoeflin, "not only about how I felt about movement, but also about how I felt about handling a lot of the stresses I perceive." At that point she decided to concentrate on studying the Alexander technique. "After four years, I’ve realized Alexander is a learning process," she says. "It connects the mind and body and sees its relationship as one, not separate. It’s about how we work with gravity, instead of fighting it."

She takes her hands away. Everything already feels better — my head, arms, back. I’m ready to keep listening.

Wacker-Hoeflin, who first encountered the Alexander technique in her career as a professional ballet dancer, has partnered with Ives and Keller to prepare an interdisciplinary workshop on the program. The three will present a three-day workshop October 20–22 to more than 70 students, faculty, and staff members from all over the College, as well as community members and even one parent. The effort is financially supported by all five schools, the student government, the president’s office, and nine other groups.

Along with learning the details, participants will explore whether or not mind-body education belongs in the general, or core, curriculum of the College. It’s the kind of progressive thinking, Wacker-Hoeflin says, that puts Ithaca College at the forefront of education. "Mind-body education in higher learning is not that common," she points out. "I am hoping that our work can be used as a model for other colleges looking at the value of integrative learning. Mind-body interaction has innumerable applications to how we learn."

In addition, she believes that the suffering induced by unhelpful physical patterns and habits can actually hinder our learning process. For instance, a student who slouches in class may find himself growing sleepy rather than more attentive. Or an engineer who spends eight hours a day in front of a computer in a overly tense position might find it difficult to enjoy her job and develop new skills.

Betsy Keller, an outdoorsy woman who has just come from horseback riding, is especially interested in the role the Alexander technique can play in learning. "When I was in graduate school," she says, "lab sessions focused on different parts of the body. The physiologists thought everything was circulation. The neuromotor guys said the nervous system is ‘where it’s at.’ And the biomechanics folks said it’s all cellular. And I thought, ‘It’s the body! None of these systems can function on their own.’ We’re not just a bunch of levers and weights. I see things in a more integrative sense."

Keller spends her days training students to become exercise science practitioners who write an individualized exercise prescription for each client. "We know a lot about the science of exercise," she notes, "but little about what it takes to get someone to adhere to these programs."

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