Align to Purpose: Literally. Not a metaphor. Head where you want to go.

Here’s a useful feature of being a vertebrate: when we’re clear in our direction, we naturally move that way. 

Head leads, body follows.

It’s an elegant and practical truth, deeply embedded in our biology.

There’s evidence everywhere! 

Take snowboarding. When people learn to snowboard, one of the first lessons is “look where you want to go.”  Why? Because that’s where the snowboard will point. It’s almost magical how using your focus leads your body to follow suit. 

Maybe you’re a rote beginner like me who, nervous about getting run over, looked up the hill instead of down. Turns out, a snowboard pointing up a hill isn't all that useful. In this case, head leads, body follows, butt falls. 

Head leads, body follows.

This idea shows up physically and also in mental clarity, productivity, and purpose when we move in concert with our vertebrate design.

This is one of the core principles of Integrative Alexander Technique (IAT.)

When our direction is free from doubt or conflicting messages, we just… go that way.

Picture a cheetah running across the desert in full sprint. 

Actually, you don't have to imagine, here’s a video:

The cheetah’s head seems almost still while all the moving parts power forward following the cheetah’s focused intent. 

I could watch this all day…… … … . .  

Ok, I’m back.

So, to bring in a whole-self perspective and move beyond simple biomechanics, you might instead say… 

Head leads, all of me follows.

When you have a clear goal or purpose you’re more likely to achieve it. 

There are a zillion self-help, productivity, and leadership books that use “mindset” as the solution – If you would just start thinking productively (or with confidence or like a leader) then you will behave productively (yada yada yada.) 

Mindset is only part of the picture.

What is often missing from these formulas is the body, a missed opportunity in my highly biased book. 

When your thoughts are scattered or conflicted, physicality often reflects this, manifesting as tension or inefficiency in movement. Or vice versa, when your movement is inefficient it can bring about scattered thinking. But this is not just a transactional cycle.

There is no separation between thought and movement. 

When we include whole-self, our thoughts and movements operate in elegant congruence. 

Sweeping away what’s no longer useful

Often, we’re not even aware of the debris that clutters our movement and thinking.

Once you start using IAT, ideas you are holding from the past may arise—useful strategies at the time, maybe not so useful now. 

Sometimes these strategies are metaphors we’ve taken in from others – “I was always told to float my head like a balloon.” At 10+ lbs, that's a pretty heavy balloon! Probably hard for your system to hold both the floaty image and the reality. 

Usually these strategies have served a useful purpose. 

For instance:

• Is this tension helping me? Sometimes extra muscle activity serves a purpose, like providing temporary support when you've been injured – muscles literally acting as a brace. 

Reminding yourself to use less and less of that bracing tension over time is super helpful for healing. 

• Is this belief useful? Like physical tension, we repeat old ways of doing things that can hold us back. For instance, a childhood strategy of staying small or quiet might have been important for safety in a volatile household. 

Reminding your adult self that you can be your full size, at whatever volume you choose, can open up new possibilities.

IAT helps us identify these patterns, decide what’s useful and release what we no longer need.

Try this: Follow your direction

To bring these concepts into your daily life, try these simple IAT-inspired practices:

📌 Look where you want to go

• When walking outside, or even down a hallway, choose a specific spot in the distance and head toward it. Notice how your body organizes itself to move toward that point. How’s the connection between your intention and your action?

📌 Write where you want to go

• Think of something you’d like to make happen in your life or in the world. Write a list of 5 reasons why you can’t make this change, and then a list of 5 reasons that you can. Notice any debris or interference, as signals from your body or in your thoughts, when you are writing these lists. Which list can you make choices about? 

Clear thinking, clear purpose

Ultimately, the Integrative Alexander Technique is about cultivating clarity—clarity of movement, clarity of thought, and clarity of purpose.

It’s not about forcing our way forward but about deciding where we want to go, and noticing any obstacles that prevent us from moving naturally in that direction. 

The wisdom of our vertebrate design can guide us not just through space, but toward our most dearly held goals.

So, Vertebrate, what direction do you want to go?

Whether you’re carving a path through fresh snow, sprinting toward a professional goal, or simply standing taller in your daily life, remember: head leads, all of you follows.