Alexander Technique lessons

Alexander teachers use a unique and subtle form of manual guidance; this does not involve sudden manipulations nor is it a type of massage. Instead I make delicate postural adjustments and suggestions with my hands, which enable the student immediately to experience greater ease in movement, and specifically an improved relationship between the head, neck and back which form a central axis to our structure.

Typically this hands-on work takes place in simple everyday postures - sitting, standing, lying down, bending, walking. The principles learned in these situations can then be applied to everyday activities such as sitting while typing, standing while washing the dishes, running for the bus, or bending while digging the garden, or to skilled activities such as playing a musical instrument, dance, craft-work, martial arts or public speaking.

Hands-on work is combined with verbal explanation so that the student builds up an intellectual as well as kinaesthetic understanding of their improving coordination.

Alexander work is gentle and supportive - though powerfully effective - and is often possible in cases where manipulative therapies have been advised against.

Alexander lessons are usually both surprising and enjoyable, gradually building the student's skill in preventing unnecessary strain. Body awareness improves and students learn first to notice, and then consciously to change, habitual patterns of stimulus and response that may result in tension, pain or underperformance.

Clothing: Please wear loose fitting trousers or tracksuit trousers, or bring a pair to change into once you arrive. We work without shoes, so wear or bring socks. In cold weather you might like to bring woolly ones.