The Alexander Technique Consultancy

If it's not about 'posture' then what exactly is it about?

'To know when we are wrong is all we will ever know in this world'
F.M. Alexander

Alexander Technique and Psycho-Physical Re-education....

Just imagine for a moment what the world would be like if we could see ourselves as another sees us, if we could be a light unto ourselves and so deal more effectively with our daily lives......

When we are happy and healthy, our emotional freedom is revealed in the free movement of our bodies. We are less fixed and heavy seeming - more able to adapt to situations and less prone to injury or damaging emotional attitudes.

Alexander work throws a vital light on our habits, mannerisms, peculiarities and weaknesses - those reactions and tendencies that can undermine us yet so often remain hidden to ourselves - how often we imagine ourselves to be other than we are, for better or for worse! SEE RIGHT .....

But it's not just how we look, because we are our bodies, the way that we move and support our structure, that reveals the attitudes and beliefs that we literally, hold. Such attitudes are being played out and reinforced by our thought patterns, every moment of our lives. How often we judge ourselves to be right and another wrong when the only grounds are an habitual and unexamined feeling. Alexander work does in fact offer us a course in the micro-management of ourselves, a personal evolution that is conscious instead of habitual.

It's a practical technique based on clear principles and taught individually. There are no exercises as such, but lessons can give you a much needed space in which to stop, look and listen to yourself and to see yourself clearly and to get better at recognising your individual habit patterns. To show how you might (without knowing it) be doing yourself harm and, increasingly, how you might be able to stop doing so and invite more healthy options.

As serious as it all sounds though, lessons are often fun - by giving ourselves a break from the roles that we play, almost unconsciously, in daily life, new, perhaps more constructive attitudes can emerge that will eventually enable us to be more self reliant.


Some quotes from 'famous' people who have benefitted from the Alexander technique.

97% of people with back pain could benefit by learning the Alexander Technique - it is only a very small minority of back pain sufferers that require medical intervention such as surgery.

Jack Stern, spinal neurosurgeon



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I find The Alexander Technique very helpful in my work. Things happen without you trying. They get to be light and relaxed. You must get an Alexander teacher to show it to you.

John Cleese, actor



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Mr Alexander has done a service to the subject [of the study of reflex and voluntary movement] by insistently treating each act as involving the whole integrated individual, the whole psychophysical man. To take a step is an affair, not of this or that limb solely, but of the total neuromuscular activity of the moment, not least of the head and neck.

Sir Charles Sherrington, neurophysiologist



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We already notice, with growing amazement, very striking improvements in such diverse things as high blood pressure, breathing, depth of sleep, overall cheerfulness and mental alertness, resilience against outside pressures, and in such a refined skill as playing a musical instrument.

Professor Nicholas Tinbergen, Nobel Prize winner for medicine and physiology



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Balance is a vital aspect of good hammer throwing and getting the head, neck, spine and pelvis in the correct relationship enables the balance of the throw to come so much more easily. Once the balance is settled there is an enormous improvement in turning speed.

Howard Payne, Commonwealth record hammer thrower



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The Alexander Technique will benefit anyone whether they are an elite athlete or whether they just wish to live life without the aches and pains that many people suffer and accept as part of life. It is a pity that these techniques are not shown to us all at an early age for I have no doubt that this would alleviate many of the causes of ill health in our communities.

Greg Chappell Australian test cricketer (1970 - 1984)



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The Alexander Technique works... I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone who has neck pains or back pain.

Roald Dahl, writer



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Alexander established not only the beginnings of a far reaching science of the apparently involuntary movements that we call reflexes, but a technique of correction and self control which forms a substantial addition to our very slender resources in personal education.

George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel Prize winner for literature



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It gives us all the things we have been looking for in a system of physical education: relief from strain due to maladjustment, and consequent improvement in physical and mental health, increased consciousness of the physical means employed to gain the ends proposed by the will and, along with this, a general heightening of consciousness on all levels... We cannot ask more from any system of physical education; nor, if we seriously desire to alter human beings in a desirable direction, can we ask any less.


Aldous Huxley, writer



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I love the Alexander Technique. It has corrected my posture, improved my health and changed my life.

Alec McCowen CBE, actor



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The Alexander Technique has played an important and beneficial part in my life. John Houseman, actor, producer and director



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Alexander students rid themselves of bad postural habits and are helped to reach with their bodies and minds, an enviable degree of freedom of expression.

Michael Langham, Director, The Juilliard School, New York USA



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Effective learning must be based on first-hand experience.

John Dewey, educationalist and philosopher



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The Alexander Technique has helped me to undo knots, unblock energy and deal with almost paralysing stage fright.

William Hurt, actor



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The Alexander Technique can be sustaining; it is something that if learned well, can be carried along with you for the rest of your life. It gives you confidence to be who you are when you are up in front of an audience.

Patrick Maddams, managing director, Royal Academy of Music



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The Technique's many benefits for actors include minimized tension, centeredness, vocal relaxation, and responsiveness, mind/body connection and about an inch and a half of additional height.

Kevin Kline, actor



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Of all the disciplines that form the actor training program, none is more vital, enriching and transformative than the Alexander Technique.

Harold Stone, Associate Director, Theatre Department, The Juilliard School, New York USA



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I can definitely say without hesitation that I wouldn't have had the rowing success that I have had the luxury of experiencing in my short time on the water, without finding the AT and the great teachers that I have had the privilege to work with.

Valerie Thompson-Williams, rowing masters gold medallist



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The Alexander Technique makes a real difference to my often tense and busy life. Its thoughtful approach has made me calmer, improved my concentration and given me a clearer sense of my own well being. I am grateful for it.

Joan Bakewell, TV presenter and journalist



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The Alexander Technique changed my life. It enabled me to devote more time to creating beauty. This inner strength is essential for all.

Andrew Logan, sculptor