Time for something new
I’ve been in hibernation over the winter, which has given me time to try something I’ve been wanting to learn for a while.
Touch typing.
Yes, of all the things that could’ve captured my attention!
I realised that I type a lot; emails; notes; research etc etc. So, to learn how to type more efficiently would be handy. I’ve tried to learn to touch type a few times over the years, but recently I found https://www.typingclub.com/ a great free training website.

Start at the Beginning

I let myself become a total beginner again, and start at lesson 1. It meant I only typed with my index fingers on ‘f’ and ‘j’, aligned to the little notches on those keys. I let myself go along with the training programme the site offered, not trying to second guess what level I thought I should start on. It felt a bit silly, as I was saying to myself that I can already type, so I should be starting somewhere else, but I wasn’t clear where, of course. Over the years I developed my own special way of typing, using the classic index finger technique, poking and prodding the keys, moving on to my ‘non-standard’ touch typing style.

Let something else happen
This time I put my pride to the side and just followed each lesson, with new keys being progressively introduced. Interestingly, a few lessons in, I realised that I didn’t have to move my fingers or hands (or shoulders!) very much to type. I noticed my fingers were tapping away at the exercise and I wasn’t really thinking about what I was doing with my fingers, they were almost doing it themselves! Other times though I’d crash and burn and get in a right mess.

Where am I in this?
What I also started to notice was how I ‘d tense up and become slightly contorted when I was struggling. I’d get frustrated and started to consider giving up. But then other times it flowed easily and I’d stay more balanced and less stressed.
I was getting to know how I habitually react to stress. Now I must come clean, I teach the Alexander Technique and it has some great tools to unearth some little nuggets of information. I can  bring awareness to myself, start noticing my habitual patterns and begin to develop new more beneficial habits.

Bringing it into the everyday.
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m a touch typist, but I’m much further down that road. When I’m typing notes, emails and blog posts! I can bring this awareness to the activity and sprinkle some Alexander ideas, and notice how things change – if they change. Using the touch typing site was a handy way to just practise typing, without worrying about what I was writing, so it was a bit easier to pay attention to what I was doing with my mind and body in that activity. Which brings me to the disclaimer: Touch typing isn’t essential to having a happy and successful life. But it was something I was into learning and in the process I opened up some space to learn about myself. And that’s a handy thing.

Come to a workshop
I’m running a new short course in Tottenham starting on the 8th March exploring the basic ideas of Alexander’s discovery, through games and fun experiments.

If you’d like to come, you can book a place here. Or contact me for more information.

Give the Typing Club a go, and let me know how you get on, or feel free to write a comment below.

The image used has a Creative Commons License