The Alexander Technique
“My technique is a study of reaction in living”
The Alexander Technique is both practical and profound. It is a way of learning to live life with more awareness.
Many people only start to feel the need for this increased awareness when they are in pain and have run out of other options. Others recognise that in order to excel in any sphere of life they need to free themselves from limiting habits.
The Alexander Technique is a well known and proven approach for helping people recover from back pain and improve posture, but it offers a lot more besides that. For many thousands of people who have made it part of their lives it provides a route to life-enhancing change at a deep level .
Through learning and applying the principles in your life it is possible to discover a new level of calm and a feeling of being much more 'at home' in yourself. Most of us live in a background of muscular tension that we never notice until it is dramatically reduced.
Whether your current priority is to get your life back from being in pain, or to improve your posture, to enhance skills in the performing arts, or to understand yourself more deeply, the Alexander Technique can help you learn to make the changes you want for a better quality of life.
How can the Alexander Technique help you ?
“You translate everything whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension.”
By discovering how to move better, whether you are working at a computer, walking, driving a car, working out in the gym, running, practicing yoga, singing or playing a musical instrument, many conditions will disappear or ease. Here are just some of the benefits people experience through making Alexander Technique part of their lives :
Reduced back, neck and other muscular-skeletal pain
Improved breathing and vocal abilities
Better posture and co-ordination
Learning management skills for chronic Pain
Freedom from performance anxiety
Stress anxiety and panic attacks
Increasing freedom of movement/Range of Motion
Help for R.S.I.Rehabilitation after surgery, illness or injury
Enhanced performance in sport, music, dance
Greater poise and confidence
More ease and freedom in movement
Deepening meditation practice through somatic awareness
Enhancing yoga practice
Improved alertness and vitality
Mindfulness in daily life
“97% of people with back pain could benefit by learning the Alexander Technique - it is only a very small minority of back pain sufferers that require medical intervention such as surgery.”
Alexander Lessons
During lessons, you discover easier, more comfortable ways of moving which will reduce pain and strain, and improve performance in all your activities. This learning takes place using combination of subtle, gentle hands-on work and verbal explanations, interactions and questions. Gradually you discover connections between intention, attention and tension, and become able to make changes in the way your brain communicates with your muscles.
Initially we work with applying this new awareness to simple basic activities such as walking, bending, sitting and standing, and most lessons will include some lying down work. Lessons can also be based around an activity which you’d like to improve, such as singing, playing an instrument, dance, yoga, martial arts, working out, sitting at a computer, running technique and many others.
From the very beginning you will learn ways to help yourself between lessons, and with time and practice you will be able to apply your new skills to more complex and demanding situations in daily life. When you understand the process you will have a means of helping yourself for the rest of your life.
Lesson fees
Individual Alexander lessons are 50 mins long and cost £40.
The charge for a block booking of 6 lessons paid in advance is currently £222.
I have some concessionary places available, so please ask me about this if you can't afford the full rate.
