Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique enables you to discover whether you are moving and holding yourself in non-optimal ways and to learn to do the things you want to do better.

Lessons help you to become more aware of balance, posture and co-ordination in everyday activities. Many people work harder than they need to to move and speak.

It is important to remember that the Alexander Technique is not a therapy or a counselling therapy. Practitioners of the Alexander Technique are not therapists, they are teachers. By learning not to continue causing problems, your improvement is in your own hands and not someone else’s.

Essentially, learning the Alexander Technique is life-enhancing. The development of better poise and balance may mean that you can respond to problems more rationally and make decisions more calmly. You learn to be more conscious in everything you do, whether at work, in everyday activities such as driving or cooking, or in sport or the performing arts.

People come for lessons in the Alexander Technique for many different reasons. Bearing in mind that teachers do not offer a cure, they can help motivated people with the following conditions if they are caused or worsened by that person’s learned way of doing things:

• Headaches
• Back pain
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Indigestion
• Loss of voice
• Osteoarthritis
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Anxiety
• Stress and related conditions
• High blood pressure
• Anorexia nervosa
• Agoraphobia
• Repetitive strain injury (RSI)
• Difficulties with co-ordination and movement
• Joint and muscle problems 
• Breathing disorders
• Lack of self-confidence  
  

Less specific symptoms such as:

• Unnecessary fatigue
• An inability to progress in a skill
• General tension and immobility
• Bad posture
• Depression
• Persistent problems related to sports injuries or injuries sustained in car accidents or at work or home.
  

Alexander Technique can also help people deal better with chronic medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, M.E., osteoporosis.

People hope that by applying the Alexander Technique they can become alert, balanced relaxed, focused, effective and confident.

Lessons are usually on a one-to-one basis and last approximately 30 to 40 minutes. The optimum frequency of lessons is weekly - to keep the impetus going and provide time in between lessons to apply what is being learnt - but lessons may initially be more frequent.

Group classes may also be available.

Generally people have 20 to 40 lessons or more and the benefits start accruing immediately.

As the Technique is about everyday activities, no special clothing is necessary. Sometimes women prefer to wear trousers rather than a skirt. A teacher may request that shoes be removed but otherwise the person remains fully clothed.

If you are having treatment for a medical problem it is a good idea to mention it to the teacher when first making contact.

Individual lessons can cost anything between £20 to £40.

There are four organisations representing teachers of the Alexander Technique who are working together as the Alexander Technique Voluntary Self-Regulation Group (ATVSRG http://www.atvsrg.org.uk/). The ATVSRG are working to develop a framework for forming a single register of teachers ultimately to set up a system of voluntary self-regulation.

see also:

• Alexander Technique International
• Interactive Teaching Method Association
• The Professional Association of Alexander Teachers
• The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique