The Benefits

 

The Alexander Technique can benefit people

in three major ways:

 

Relief of Chronic Pain and Discomfort

The Alexander Technique provides you with a set of skills that helps to effectively manage many types of chronic pain and discomfort. Harmful postural and movement habits can exacerbate a painful condition, and can even be the source of it. By learning to undo harmful tension habits, and re-educating the neuromuscular system, pain and discomfort can diminish or even resolve, and you will develop the valuable ability to help yourself keep the pain away.

 

Improvement in Skilled Performance

If you are a musician, dancer, actor, singer, public speaker, or athlete, Alexander lessons provide supportive practical tools that will give you more ease and confidence in your performance, help prevent injury, maximize breathing capacity, manage performance anxiety, and expand your inner resources.

 

Preventive Self-Care Tools

You don't have to wait until you're suffering to take lessons. If you want to be proactive
in maintaining healthy functioning, and minimizing stress, you will benefit from lessons
in the Alexander Technique. You'll gain insight into how your body works best, and develop skills to help prevent challenging situations from getting the better of you physically. It is a wonderful preventive self-care tool that will improve your quality of life and help you to age more gracefully into your future.

 

A list of specific benefits includes:

• Reduced pain, strain and tension in neck, shoulders and back •

• Reduced compression of nerves, discs, and joints •

• Reduced fatigue, increased energy •

• Improved coordination, balance, flexibility and range of motion •

• Improved performance of any activity •

• Increased comfort and support, both at rest and in movement •

• Tools for preventing injury/strain •

• More efficient breathing and body mechanics •

• More positive self-image •

• Better management of emotions •

 

The Process

 

Each of us has our own personal ways of using our body in activity – our own unique set of postural and movement habits. Often our habits take us out of balance and keep us there without our realizing it. This can cause us a variety of problems.

 

Using a gentle touch and simple verbal instructions, I will guide you through very simple everyday activities like sitting, standing, walking, bending, reaching, and even speaking and breathing. We will work together to discover the specific habitual ways you are taking yourself out of balance as you do those things. You will gain the tools necessary to begin changing any unhelpful habits, so that you can act and react in a more naturally balanced, light and free way, with less compression and less tension.

 

You will also spend part of each lesson lying on a comfortable padded table while I guide you through simple, gentle movements of your head, neck, back, arms, and legs. My students love this! You remain actively engaged in the learning process without having the added challenge of being upright. This encourages the releasing of unnecessary tension habits even more. What you learn on the table becomes incorporated into your daily activities.

 

Lessons can be tailored to your specific needs. If you engage in more complex activities such as an exercise or sport, playing a musical instrument, sewing, gardening or another activity, we can work with those as well.