Category: Blog

Alexander discovered that there exists an optimum coordination of the head, neck and back which makes human movements fluid, easy and graceful.

This organisation of movement exists in all vertebrate animals. Small children have this coordination instinctively. Due to stress and harmful habits we may lose this natural coordination. Typically we strain the neck, causing the head to compress down on the spine, and we shorten the spine. Instead the whole muscular arrangement of the body should ease and expand so that the spine can lengthen and the head can be delicately balanced on top of the spine. This makes for uprightness and freedom of movement.

This is not achieved by exercise or manipulation but by a conscious change of our habitual way of sitting, standing and moving in everyday life.

With the Alexander Technique you can reinstate this primary coordination of movement.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

Breathing can be deep and easy. Too often we hold our breath unconsciously or breathe shallowly by restricting our breathing capacity. One of the reasons may simply be mechanical: that we collapse in the front, thereby compressing our neck and chest.

With the Alexander Technique we achieve an upright poise. The spine lengthens and the ribcage can expand. Then the lungs are free to move and breathing becomes naturally effortless. Air is essential for our well-being, not just our physical well-being, but our psychological well-being. It is not only a question of not getting enough air but also of exhaling freely. Holding our breath, breathing intermittantly or inadequately can be a cause of feeling tired or stressed. Conversely, when we feel ‘well ventilated’, we feel free, unhindered, unrestricted, and ready for action.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

People who are living with Parkinson’s Disease can derive great benefit from learning the Alexander Technique. Many case histories and personal reports as well as research suggests that the Alexander Technique can provide benefits for people living with PD such as:

• they felt more positive/hopeful as a result of the lessons
• felt less stressed/panic
• improved self confidence
• improved balance/posture
• improved walking
• improved speech
• reduced tremor

The Alexander Technique is not a treatment, but offers strategies which can help Parkinson’s patients to manage themselves better in their daily lives and gain more control over movement patterns. As the Alexander Technique is something you learn and apply in your daily life there is a high potential for longtime retention of the benefits. Alexander Technique can be a valuable contribution to the quality of life of people living with Parkinson’s.

From 2016 to 2018 Regina was involved in devising and setting up a project in London to make the Alexander Technique more available to people with Parkinson’s and their carers. In an article for the latest issue of STATNews, the newsletter of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) she reports about the development and activities of this project.

More on the “AT for Parkinson’s” project on the website of the Walter Carrington Educational Trust.
Research studies (please scroll to “Diseases” for research specifically on Alexander Technique and Parkinson’s).

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

Habits are useful for many purposes but may also cause us to become stuck in a routine. We may become stuck in a certain ‘groove’, a certain way of doing things. A habitual way of doing something comes to feel familiar, comfortable, and ends up feeling like it is the only way of doing things. Take sitting, for example. We adopt a certain sitting posture, not because it is any good for the purpose but because it is habitual. That habitual way of sitting may be too stiff (too much tension) or too slouching (not enough tonus) or a combination of both, and because it is habitual we are not conscious of it. The Alexander Technique makes us conscious of our habits. The Technique brings to our attention the amount of muscular effort we bring to an activity. As we become more aware of what and how we perform whatever activity we are engaged in, we can break the habit. You learn to prevent the habit with its associated stiffness and rigidity, and instead allow the muscular system to expand, thereby increasing the length and reach of your body. By breaking habits you will have more choice. The Alexander Technique does not tell you what to do; it provides the skill to break habit.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of  lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

Over the past 15 years or so sitting has been linked with diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and even depression. Although the evidence is not solid and headlines such as ‘Sitting is the new smoking’ is too dramatic, there is enough evidence to warrant a consideration of the problem. After all, many people get back ache from sitting many hours at work. In these discussions, however, there is no attention given to how we sit. The Alexander Technique is concerned with how we perform an activity, whether sitting, standing, walking or any other activity. This is not about posture as such – there is no ‘sit up straight’ in the Alexander Technique – but about how we use our musculature during sitting. By regulating the tonus of our musculature we develop a more efficient of use of ourselves, which in turn improve our sitting. A better sitting position comes about indirectly, as a byproduct of becoming aware of how we do things (more accurately: ‘using ourselves’) and how to do them more efficiently. With the Alexander Technique you learn general principles which can be applied to every aspect of life, including sitting.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of  lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

The Alexander Technique a is practical method for daily life; for how we sit, stand, walk, breathe, work, run. It is needed because most of us are using far too much strain and effort in even the simplest of activities, causing us to fatigue easily and often slump. There is a mechanical aspect to the Alexander Technique; one needs to become aware of oneself as a weight-bearing structure which functions most efficiently when it is in balance. But there is also a ‘psychological’ aspect: no movement is devoid of thinking and feeling. Our attitude towards moving, whether sitting down or taking a step, shapes the movement in subtle but fundamental ways. The Alexander Technique teaches us how we can become aware of these influences, and so provides us with more control of how we move. It is not what we do, but how we do it which is important.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of  lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.