The Alexander Technique is an internationally renowned self-care method that teaches individuals how to use the body efficiently, easily and gracefully - as it was meant to be used.  It helps you become aware of and change movement patterns in your body that create unnecessary and often long-standing pain and discomfort.

Our bodies are beautifully designed for movement.  We all possess a mechanism termed the "Primary Control" by F.M. Alexander, the founder of the Alexander Technique.  The Primary Control is the easeful, balanced relationship between the head, neck and back.  When this mechanism is working well, the entire body moves freely and with a noticeable sense of lightness.

But there are subtle habits of tension or collapse which we repeat over and over in our daily activities, like standing, sitting and walking.  These habits become so familiar to us that we are no longer even aware of them on a conscious level.  Over the course of a lifetime, these habits often worsen, interfere with our Primary Control and consequently rob us of ease of movement in our activities and cause us pain.

Using a set of mind and body skills, the Alexander Technique allows us an opportunity to learn to be aware of these unconscious habits that work against our body's design.  By learning to get out of our own way, we can exchange those habits for the calm, directed sense of balance, ease and well-being that is our birthright.

Benefits of the Alexander Technique

"Many types of underperformance and even ailments, both mental and physical, can be alleviated by teaching the body musculature to function differently."

Nikolaas Tinbergen, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology and Medicine

The Alexander Technique directly reduces the amount of muscular tension in the body, as well as alleviates the stress response that creates even more unneeded tension.  By learning over time to release these ingrained habits of tension, students of the Technique experience in their bodies freedom, ease and improved health on many levels.  An expert teacher can then help the student replace these old habits with new and better functioning that allows for expansion, resulting in improved coordination and ease in everyday activities.

While not a medical cure, the Alexander Technique has been able to benefit many people with the following problems:

• Chronic pain 
  • Joint and muscular pain
  • Back problems
  • Hip problems
  • Migraines
  • Arthritis
• Coping with physical limitation due to aging
• Jaw tension and teeth grinding
• Breathing problems and asthma
• More speedy recovery from injuries
• Repetitive strain injuries
• Stress in everyday life
• Emotional issues
• Postural issues
• Fatigue

The Alexander Technique for Musicians and Performing Artists

Well-known in the artistic community for many decades, the Alexander Technique is an indispensable tool for musicians, dancers, actors and other artists in today's competitive performance world.  It effectively increases awareness of the body in activity, offers tools for greater control of both physical and emotional reactions and optimizes the potential of the body as an instrument.  As a student of the Alexander Technique, your body becomes more responsive to your needs as a performer and better, more consistent performances are the result.

Here are some of the benefits of the Technique for musicians and other performing artists:

• Eases or eradicates performance anxiety
• Gives and overall sense of inner calm and well-being
• Minimizes effort expended in activity
• Helps perfect coordination and balance
• Creates more ease and flexibility in movement
• Lessens the chance of injury
• Improves breathing capacity and quality
• Enhances stage presence
• Improves concentration
• Helps develop strength and endurance

"You can't do something you don't know, if you keep on doing something you do know."

F.M. Alexander

What holds performers back from achieving their best work are bad habits.  The Alexander Technique offers the unique opportunity to experience activity without the normal habit and from there, remarkable transformations can take place.

The Alexander Technique is taught at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the New York Philharmonic, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Juilliard School of the Performing Arts and in many colleges, universities and conservatories throughout the world.