  The $^{23}$Na$(\alpha,p)^{26}$Mg and $^{23}$Na$(\alpha,n)^{26}$Al reactions
are important for our understanding of the $^{26}$Al abundance in massive
stars. The aim of this work is to report on a direct and simultaneous
measurement of these astrophysically important reactions using an active target
system. The reactions were investigated in inverse kinematics using $^{4}$He as
the active target gas in the detector. We measured the excitation functions in
the energy range of about 2 to 6 MeV in the center of mass. We have found that
the cross sections of the $^{23}$Na$(\alpha,p)^{26}$Mg and the
$^{23}$Na$(\alpha,n)^{26}$Al reactions are in good agreement with previous
experiments, and with statistical model calculations.
