The Alexander Technique: Lessons in are for everyone whether you are looking
to improve your work as an artist, an athlete, or simply to find a way to be more balanced in your everyday life.
The Alexander Technique is a simple and effective way in which to learn how to move with greater efficiency and ease, improving the over-all use of ourselves including breathing, kinesthetic awareness, and the improvement of balance. Through gentle hands-on guidance, a teacher helps us to restore our natural coordination, freeing the body and mind to work in harmony. In learning how to pay attention to ourselves we can discover new ways to respond to the world around us, revitalizing ourselves through daily life rather then being drained by it. The Technique has become a vital part of training for many athletes and performers around the world as well as an essential tool in the assistance of our everyday lives.
Sessions in the Alexander Technique:
We are designed for mobility and programmed to heal, but nothing works quite as it should if we don’t have an undercurrent of stability. Habits of use, from slouching to over tensing, contribute to an overall malfunction of our entire system. Repeated stresses, whether environmental, emotional or physical, contribute to an overall misuse of our neuro-muscular system resulting in back pain, joint pain, vocal strain and overall poor functioning.
The Alexander Technique teaches us to wake up to our kinesthetic senses and redirect our energies in order to restore, and improve, our natural coordination. The work is simple in it’s execution and profound in its depth. Through a series of lessons, a teacher gives the student hands-on guidance in order to restore a core stability.
Sessions in the Alexander Technique:
- Restore natural coordination
- Reduce chronic pain
- Improve breathing coordination
- Reduce stress
- Improve athletic performance
- Increase flexibility
- Enhance equilibrium
- Improve kinesthetic awareness
- Change tension producing habits
- Are a wonderful practice in presence
We are designed for mobility and programmed to heal, but nothing works quite as it should if we don’t have an undercurrent of stability. Habits of use, from slouching to over tensing, contribute to an overall malfunction of our entire system. Repeated stresses, whether environmental, emotional or physical, contribute to an overall misuse of our neuro-muscular system resulting in back pain, joint pain, vocal strain and overall poor functioning.
The Alexander Technique teaches us to wake up to our kinesthetic senses and redirect our energies in order to restore, and improve, our natural coordination. The work is simple in it’s execution and profound in its depth. Through a series of lessons, a teacher gives the student hands-on guidance in order to restore a core stability.
History of the Alexander Technique
F.M. Alexander (1869-1955), an actor who began his career as a Shakespearean orator, developed chronic laryngitis while performing. Determined to restore the full use of his voice, he carefully watched himself while speaking, and observed that undue muscular tension accounted for his vocal problem. He sought a way to eliminate that restriction. Over time, he discovered and articulated a principle that profoundly influences health and well-being: when neck tension is reduced, the head no longer compresses the spine and the spine is free to lengthen. Alexander restored his own natural capacity for ease by changing the way he thought while initiating an action. From this work on himself and others, he evolved a hands-on teaching method that encourages all the body's processes to work more efficiently - as an integrated, dynamic whole.(From the 1996 North American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique Directory)
Alexander observed that the relationship between the head, neck and torso is primary in controlling posture, movement and function. Compressive movement habits interfere with the function of the body's ingenious design. Eliciting the primary control restores the innate postural reflex — a natural, dynamic force that counters gravity and easily guides the torso upward.
Leaders in the field of mind/body medicine and behavioral science throughout this century have supported Alexander's innovative research. Clinical studies have shown that the Technique improves breathing capacity and posture, modifies stress responses and is, for those who suffer from chronic pain, the preferred method for long-term pain relief. (From the American Society for the Alexander Technique)
Alexander observed that the relationship between the head, neck and torso is primary in controlling posture, movement and function. Compressive movement habits interfere with the function of the body's ingenious design. Eliciting the primary control restores the innate postural reflex — a natural, dynamic force that counters gravity and easily guides the torso upward.
Leaders in the field of mind/body medicine and behavioral science throughout this century have supported Alexander's innovative research. Clinical studies have shown that the Technique improves breathing capacity and posture, modifies stress responses and is, for those who suffer from chronic pain, the preferred method for long-term pain relief. (From the American Society for the Alexander Technique)
