What happens in a lesson?

Through subtle use of their hands, Alexander Technique teachers help students to experience proper head-neck-back relationship, to inhibit actions/reactions that interfere with it, and to replace harmful habits through awareness and thought. By being guided through such basic movements as sitting, standing, and walking, students begin to recognize their unconscious patterns of thought and movement. On a bodywork table, students learn to recognize and let go of habitual tensions and to return to a healthier position. Students may also explore the changes that occur when they apply the Technique during any particular activity, such as playing an instrument, singing, or typing.

Lessons generally last 45 minutes and cost $40 a lesson.

CHAIR WORK

In our culture, we spend a significant proportion of our day sitting, so chair work can reveal our unconscious habits as well as open the door for fundamental change. Through chair work, students explore habitual movement in sitting, standing, walking, leaning over, and picking up objects. By refining our awareness of the relationship between the head, neck, and back in the basic movements of chair work, it becomes possible to translate insights from an Alexander Technique lesson into our daily lives.

TABLE WORK

One of the fundamental principles of the Alexander Technique is inhibition. Inhibition means learning to stop and think before acting out harmful habits. The complementary principle of direction means thinking in new ways that free the student from these habits. Table work teaches these principles as students lie down on a bodywork table in a semi-supine position with the head supported. Here they observe themselves through practicing inhibition and direction as the Alexander teacher gently encourages an improved head-neck-back relationship. By the end of the table work, students often experience a new sense of balance and weight, as well as more ease in movement. Over time, as the student learns to apply the Alexander Technique, this sensation becomes the norm in daily life.

THE “WHISPERED AH”

F.M. Alexander began his search for this technique when he had trouble with his voice and breathing. For this reason, at the heart of a lesson in Alexander Technique is improved breathing. This improvement often occurs spontaneously, but a “whispered ah” is the way to explore more directly the interactive relationship between breath and ease of movement.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

Alexander Technique can be applied to any human activity, but many students seek it out because it is particularly helpful in examining and changing repetitive movement. Whether your concern is with playing a musical instrument, singing or public speaking, swinging a golf club, typing at a computer, tending to a baby, or any number of daily tasks, a lesson in Alexander Technique can help you explore your current habits and open the possibility for beneficial change.

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