Why I teach the Alexander Technique

I have seen and experienced firsthand what a powerful and positive influence Alexander’s work can have on one’s life.  In fact, I have yet to come across a more comprehensive tool for bringing about constructive change.  

I have seen people become instantly happier, more confident and somehow more alive.  I have seen people move easily and gracefully where they moved awkwardly and stiffly before.  I have seen people dare to take up challenges that they wouldn’t have previously tried.    And I have seen people take charge of the circumstances of their lives, exercise their freedom to change - and achieve more than they ever dared hope.

I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to learn this work and benefit in the myriad of ways in which I and my friends and colleagues have benefited.   

My Story

Like many people who become interested in Alexander’s work, I came across the Alexander Technique when I was faced with a problem: I developed repetitive strain injury during my last year at school.  I was unable to play the piano or the violin.  I was unable to write.  In fact, in the immediate aftermath of developing this condition, I was unable to hold a cup of tea without pain.  For someone about to fly the nest, this was not good news.

‘Give your hands a rest for a couple of weeks and you’ll be fine’ advised my then piano teacher.

I wasn’t fine after a couple of weeks.  I was no different.  My arms were stinging, swollen, and felt curiously ‘sticky’ on the inside.  In my desperation, I tried every kind of intervention I could access - and the Alexander Technique was one of them.

Very soon it became clear that the Alexander Technique was helping, but it was not until I discovered the ITM approach that I began to understand some of the basic concepts and principles that underpinned the seemingly magical experience.  I finally saw that I had caused my own injury by moving in ways that made unnecessarily high demands on my body, especially when playing the piano or violin - and that when I had suddenly increased my practice time to 6 hours per day, the threshold to injury was crossed.  As I learned more about structure and function in the human body, and began to develop the mental skills necessary to make use of this knowledge, I discovered that movement could be easier than I ever imagined.  

I had taken lessons with the sole intention of fixing my problem - but the Alexander Technique has helped me in all sorts of other ways, big and small.  I now enjoy a very different outlook on life and much healthier relationships with success and failure, work, money, and people.  And I have pursued - and reached - dreams that I didn’t even know I had!  

And practising 6 hours a day?  No problem.