Are you experiencing back, neck or shoulder pain?
Are you suffering from stress and tension?
Do you crave more stillness and quiet in the midst of your frantically busy life?
Do you want to feel more comfortable in your body?
Are you interested in embodied mindfulness and nervous system regulation?
If your answer is yes to any of these, you have come to the right place. The Alexander Technique can help you restore a sense of natural ease, calm and poise and in doing so, may help alleviate many of the aches and pains of modern living.
What is the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is a way of learning how to release long-standing habitual patterns of muscular tension that, over time, cause pain, discomfort or a general sense that we could be functioning better in our everyday lives.
Lessons in the Alexander Technique teach us how to "undo" unnecessary or unhelpful patterns of tension by becoming aware of our habits. We learn how these habits are interfering with our natural state of ease, comfort and well-being. Once we become aware of them, we can choose whether to react in our habitual way to stimuli, which may have caused us pain or discomfort, or we can learn how to stop reacting in the old habitual way and choose to respond differently which has profound and beneficial effects on all areas of our lives.​
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The Technique is frequently described as a practical form of embodied mindfulness that takes mindfulness beyond just mental awareness to perceiving and understanding the mind and body as a psychophysical unity.
Image from the front cover of the British Medical Journal 337 (2008).
Is the Alexander Technique for me?
The Alexander Technique is a learned skill that can be of benefit to everyone and in all areas of life. Some of the benefits include:
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Reduced back, neck and shoulder pain
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Improved posture
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Better management of stress and anxiety
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A feeling of calm and centredness
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Easier breathing
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Improved confidence
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Eased tension headaches
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Improved co-ordination and balance
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Relief from repetitive strain injury (RSI) and work related injuries
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Improved performance for sports men and women, singers, musicians and performers, artists and writers
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Improved comfort for pregnant women
People of all ages and fitness levels can benefit from learning and applying the Alexander Technique. The youngest person I have taught was 16 and the oldest, 93. I have taught those who participate in sporting events such as triathlons through to those who have extremely impaired mobility who can barely walk.
If it sounds like the Alexander Technique might help you, take a look at what happens in a typical lesson: