The Subtle Power of Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique to Help You Get in Tune with the Earth
- Brainz Magazine
- 4 hours ago
- 8 min read
Jamee Culbertson integrates Taoist practices, Alexander Technique, and spiritual healing for transformative experiences. She is a Senior Healing Tao Instructor teaching Tai Chi, Qigong, and Taoist Meditations with the Universal Tao Boston School of Taoist Practices. Jamee is a teacher trainer certifying teachers in both disciplines.
Discover how ancient wisdom and mindful movement can bring harmony to your body and mind. In Tune with the Earth explores the gentle yet transformative power of Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique, two practices that reconnect us with our natural alignment and inner calm. In a world of constant tension, these subtle disciplines offer a path back to ease, awareness, and balance.
The synergy between tai chi and Alexander technique training
We were hosting our Tai Chi Master, Wei Lun Huang, for a bi-annual weekend workshop in Boston. I had planned an Alexander Technique (AT) lesson with my Alexander Technique trainer, Tommy Thompson, so I could be in better shape for the rigors of the weekend. I picked Master Huang up at the airport and he accompanied me to my lesson with Tommy.
Master Huang watched quietly as Tommy worked with me, helping me to come into a deeper, more coordinated sense of myself. When we left, Master Huang remarked on how refined the AT is. As we drove home, he asked what it was all about, what was being communicated with his sensitive touch, yet with so few words spoken?
As I described AT principles, Master Huang would say, ‘Ah, that’s tai chi. ’ I’d share a little more and he’d say, ‘Hmm, that’s tai chi. ’ Satisfied with our conversation, as enlightened as I was to have a new understanding of tai chi, it was time to eat.
Tai Chi is a wonderful practice to apply AT principles. It offers a living expression of Alexander Technique principles, one of them is called psycho-physical unity, the inseparability of mind and body in all human activity. Rooted in ancient observations of nature and refined over centuries, Tai Chi deepens our relationship with nature, with gravity, breath, energy, and space.
At the Universal Tao Boston, School of Taoist Practices, we have had the pleasure of teaching tai chi, qigong, and meditation to 100’s of people over the past 35 years, from teenagers to seniors.
Look at how children move and play; they don’t have to think about coordination, they simply move towards their curiosity and desire. As we grow and are influenced by education systems and society, we tend to bring unnecessary effort into all we do, without realizing what we are compromising.
Alexander Technique lessons remind us of how easy life can become in our movements and in exploring fresh perceptions.
Tai Chi’s slow, intentional movements cultivate rooted awareness and awaken energetic flow, helping us develop breath and balance, refined coordination, and calm responsiveness, all while enlivening the internal current of life-force energy known as Qi (Chi). Tai Chi complements and enriches Alexander Technique lessons, offering a path of integration that is both grounding and expansive, practical and profound.
How tai chi reflects Alexander technique principles for mindful movement
Though arising from different traditions, the Alexander Technique and Tai Chi both emphasize natural coordination, effortless balance, and movement initiated from a deep, responsive center. They cultivate a quality of mindful movement and presence in activity, rather than collapsing into habits or forceful effort.
One of the main tenants of the Alexander technique is what the founder, F.M. Alexander, calls Inhibition, to no longer give permission for the expression of unconscious habitual patterns of behavior to manifest. In this way, conscious choice can foster integration. Tai Chi’s slow, choreographed movements reveal where we brace, collapse, or rush. Through repetition and patience, Tai Chi teaches poise through transitions, allowing weight and intention to flow without breaking continuity. Do you see how well these two disciplines blend?
Much of Tai Chi comes from observing animals and the natural world, learning to flow with it rather than resist. It is also a martial art acknowledging the difference between moving against and moving with the flow of energy. Each gesture emerges from centered stillness, flowing effortlessly into the next. Both practices encourage trust in the body’s intelligence and in a mind that is more and more clear.
Cultivating intention and inner guidance: Yi and inhibition
In Chinese, the word Yi refers to intention or focused attention, a subtle inner directive that guides and shapes movement from within. In Tai Chi and Qigong, it is said that Yi leads the Qi; intention directs energy. In the Alexander Technique, as in Tai Chi, intention quietly orchestrates the whole self, allowing coordination to unfold without force. Clear and calm intention brings body, mind, and being into harmonious alignment, restoring us to our original design. Yi ignites movement before the body acts; mind leads, body follows. Both traditions teach that when mind and body unite in awareness, movement becomes natural, efficient, and free.
This is the essence of Wu Wei, effortless action, or doing without forcing. In both practices, the greatest change arises not from striving, but from attuning. We allow the body to organize itself according to natural principles. Rather than impose control, we invite coherence. Intention becomes a gentle current, subtle yet powerful, moving us toward balance, presence, and quiet vitality.
How tai chi and Alexander technique calm the nervous system and enhance breathing
On a physiological level, this gentle current of energy flow is deeply connected to the nervous system’s regulation. When intention aligns with the body’s innate patterns, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, fostering relaxation, resilience, and optimal flow of energy. The parasympathetic nervous system governs rest, digestion, and recovery. Slow, intentional movement shifts us from sympathetic ‘fight-or-flight’ activation to a calmer state of alertness, responsive, not reactive.
This harmonious state supports the unobstructed movement of Qi, the subtle life force that courses through the body’s meridians and energy centers. By cultivating Yi, we engage both nervous system regulation and energetic flow, creating a feedback loop where calm presence enhances Qi movement, and balanced energy supports nervous system health.
In stress, energy tends to rise and breathing becomes shallow. Tai Chi’s slower breathing matches movement, allowing deeper diaphragmatic breathing that calms the nervous system. These practices reintroduce neural spaciousness, a widened gap between stimulus and response, offering choice aligned with true needs.
F.M. Alexander earned the nickname ‘the breathing man’ because his work helped restore natural conditions for free, efficient breathing, especially for voice professionals. His method goes beyond breathing to address foundational coordination and psycho-physical unity.
Practicing Tai Chi releases unconscious muscle tension, the ‘surface tension’ that interferes with our natural connection to the Earth by holding onto ourselves instead of finding support through the ground. Trying and forceful movements create more tension, which eventually manifests as discomfort. Tai Chi offers a way to stand and move with ease and grace, no longer bound by excessive tension.
The Alexander Technique complements this by showing how to exchange strain for balanced tension, necessary for harmonious, unified motion. Tai Chi’s slow movements give us the chance to notice and reduce effort, while applying AT’s principle of non-end-gaining: moving without striving, not forcing a result or fixating on outcomes.
The tao of poise: Wu Wei and conscious movement practice
Tai Chi is rooted in Taoist philosophy, especially Wu Wei, “non-doing” or effortless action. Wu Wei means attunement with life’s flow. Tai Chi’s movements emerge from stillness and return to it. We step into the river, not push it. This aligns with the Alexander Technique’s principles of ‘inhibition' and ‘direction'. Both reject striving to “get it right.” Both apply by removing any interference that blocks natural coordination.
F.M. Alexander said, “The right thing does itself.” When we stop forcing and allow clear direction, natural coordination arises. Lao Tzu echoes, “The Tao does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone.” Both reveal that aligning with natural order unfolds right action effortlessly.
Learning Wu Wei shifts our understanding beyond Tai Chi postures into a life practice of natural flow. Alexander lessons teach non-doing, not rushing into action, but reducing what gets in the way, allowing movement to emerge. This shift requires letting go of control and inviting allowance.
Energetic anatomy and psycho-physical unity in embodied practice
Tai Chi invites exploration beyond physical anatomy to energetic anatomy, a subtle, intelligent inner landscape. Cultivating awareness of energy flow (Qi) enhances vitality and balance. The lower dan tien in the lower abdomen is a grounding wellspring of strength and energy transformation. Moving from the dan tien allows arms and legs to follow naturally.
Awareness of energetic anatomy helps shift from sympathetic fight-or-flight to parasympathetic calm. Tai Chi’s ‘chi state’ is relaxed readiness and embodied presence. This is understood in two specialized classes I designed: ’13 Points of Power’ and ‘Tai Chi Coordinates’.
Our energy system is included in Alexander Technique’s psycho-physical unity, the inseparability of mind and body. While Western languages lack a word for our ‘wholeness of being’, both Tai Chi and AT cultivate presence through conscious awareness and intention rather than force.
Tai Chi’s flowing energy and AT’s path to stillness complement each other, enabling us to sense and undo limiting patterns. Transformation arises not from trying harder, but from clearer seeing. This gentle inquiry helps us trust the body’s innate wisdom to interface with nature, to move, breathe, and be with greater ease and authenticity.
The cosmic context: Earth, space, and movement in mindful living
Both Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique restore a cosmic context. We are not isolated egos controlling bodies; we are dynamic expressions of life interacting with gravity, breath, energy, and others.
Tai Chi names this subtle vitality Chi, or Qi. Qi is energy, life force energy. Alexander spoke of primary control and the ‘use of the self’, a unified system of intention, direction, and awareness. Our ‘use’ shapes not only posture or pain, but how we perceive and engage with the world.
This awareness invites acceptance, humility, and beauty as we engage in an intimate relationship with our patterns, the ground beneath us, and the space around us.
Suspended between Earth and sky, anchored below and open above, our movements become spacious, fluid, and easeful.
Integrating tai chi and Alexander technique for lasting presence
The integration of Tai Chi and Alexander Technique offers more than complementary tools; they invite us home. Presence is not achieved but allowed. We awaken to consciousness and we return to moving and being fluid, awake, and in tune with Earth.
Practiced separately or together, these arts support living with grace, ease, and soul. They aren’t quick fixes or trendy hacks but quiet pathways back to our natural design where breath flows, awareness widens, and the whole self exhales.
Take the next step toward embodied movement and mindful living
In a world that urges us to rush, there is quiet wisdom in slowing down. I invite you, whether you're an Alexander Technique practitioner, a student in training, or someone drawn to deeper embodiment and presence, to step into the slow, steady rhythm of Tai Chi. Rediscover how you inhabit your body with Alexander principles. Reclaim your breath. Reconnect with the Earth beneath your feet and the space that holds you.
Ready to explore the transformative power of the Alexander technique and tai chi?
Take the next step toward embodied movement and mindful living.
Read more from Jamee Culbertson
Jamee Culbertson, Senior Instructor, Teacher Trainer
Jamee is a Senior Instructor at the Universal Tao Boston School, teaching Tai Chi, Qigong, and Taoist meditation. With nearly 40 years of experience, she integrates Taoist practices, the Alexander Technique, and spiritual healing. She is an internationally certified Alexander Technique Instructor and teacher-trainer at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Jamee has taught at Harvard University, Mass General’s Home Base program for veterans, and community wellness events like Rosie’s Place. Her work blends ancient wisdom and modern techniques to support healing, balance, and self-awareness.
