Two narratives. One full of stress. The other full of generosity and peace.

Which world would you rather live in?

But this is a story repeated every day, in hundreds of different matters, at a consequence of great suffering. Whenever my mind is saying "You should…" or "He has to…" I know that I am in a narrative of poverty, not generosity.

Your key job to manage your Alexander practice is effectively engineering your state. Such a boy's way of saying it! I'll put it another way - to make your business work, you need to be feeling OK with your Self, to be happy all the time.

Who achieves that?

Not me, that's for sure. It's a daily work. I was powerfully reminded this morning of how important this is.

I've been meditating on the nature of failure lately, as I have had my good share.

What causes failure?

Personally, I've learnt that it is my stubborn-mindedness and courageous defiance in the face of overwhelming facts. Ironically, these two same qualities are drivers of my success. I push my Self to a brink, then either fly or fall.

Most people don't want to live like this, but since my own brush with death at an early age, I've lived recklessly and wildly, carrying a deep-hearted death wish glossed over by verve.

A feeling is a report from your past.

It is about what just happened, even if you are imagining the future. You see an image, you react to it. We dream, we imagine, we create - then we have feelings about these constructions. Our hormones are triggered; we feel multiple emotions coursing through our system.

As an Alexander Technique teacher, I used to think it was my job to supply a new feeling to my student. I was very good at it - people marvelled after my lessons how different they felt, how amazing the Alexander Technique was…

Susannah Keebler is an Alexander Technique teacher living in Mallacoota, Australia - a small town in Victoria whose population fluctuates between 972 and 8,000, depending on the time of year. Where she lives is odd enough, but the life and work she is creating makes that seem mundane. Her story has the potential to challenge your own idea of what you can do with the work. Are you interested in people who climb out of the box in order to change the world? Then you must be interested in Susannah's story…

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Continuing my series this month of stories from Alexander Technique teachers in my paid coaching program, Annie Turner from Cornwall in the UK – a teacher for over 30 years – relates a moving account of a life spent in pursuit of authenticity, and how Alexander's work informed her journey. There is a lot here you will identify with. Annie pulls up the veil and offers an account of a dark, inner journey that finally offered her enough courage to write for you today.

Following bad advice almost cost me a lifetime friendship.

I am an advocate of using mentors, a seasoned professional you might say. I am also a mentor to others. But be careful who you pick, and be careful how you listen.

Pick your mentor because they have already done what you want to do, and because you intuitively feel that they know something you don't know.

However, once you pick a mentor and start listening, here's one lesson I have learnt with great pain: ensure you are congruent with whatever advice you act upon.

Congruent?