The Alexander Technique Consultancy

What can I expect from lessons?

Expect to be challenged and to use your thinking in a different way.
Expect to find gaps in your thinking.
Expect to meet some important aspects of yourself, possibly for the first time…
Expect to meet the teacher half way – it is a lesson after all!
Expect to laugh at yourself (and your teacher) from time to time.
Expect to be surprised by yourself.
Expect encouragement from your teacher and a positive learning environment.
Expect to have fun!

How many lessons do I need?

My recommendation to most people is that 30 lessons are a good basis on which to start. To ‘use’ ourselves well takes time and is not achieved in a long weekend. Many people find this aspect of the technique challenging at first, but those that embark on lessons with the long view realise that it is essential to be aware of the ways in which we are wrong before trying to make ourselves 'right'. For many people lessons form an integral part of their lives and continue having them throughout life.

What sort of people come for lessons?

The short answer is, all sorts of people : desk workers, performers, sports people, teachers, students, academics, runners, public speakers; people in pain, people not in pain, people who are curious about the technique or people who are looking to develop their potential in almost any area; younger, older and any age in between.

Sometime people come because they have beeen referred by a medical doctor or because they are looking to solve a longstanding problem that has eluded cure elsewhere.


I feel well and have no pain or obvious difficulties - what can the AT do for me?

One of the central ideas of the Alexander Technique is that we can be unaware of our difficulties because we maintain ourselves according to our habit. As we become accustomed to our ways of reacting, to our own ideas,other people, in movement or whilst being still, we begin to lose sight of options that might provide a better base for future well being. It's remarkably easy to illustrate how many of us are mistaken about the extent to which real choice enters our lives, even in the simplest of activities. Alexander referred to this as 'mis-use' of the self, referring to the domination of fixed habits and attitudes over more flexible behaviour.

Alexander once said: 'you can bring me Socrates or anyone else for that matter - if their use is faulty then they will have holes in their thinking'.

What happens in lessons?

In Alexander lessons you will be guided by touch and verbal feedback in such a way as to reveal a better and more balanced use of yourself. Simple activities such as sitting and walking are used at first, 'progressing' perhaps to more complex activities relevant to you. I sometime use activities like learning to juggle to illustrate principles involved in the technique.

Isn't AT about good posture?

No, not really! Alexander's discovery relates to our behaviour as a whole. His work helps point us in the direction of a greater consciousness in all our activities. Improved physical balance and poise are just one marker of this development and growth. Improvements in skill are the result of this growth, in all aspects of our life. 'Posture', as popularly described is anathema to this growth. Anything that implies fixity or good positioning mitigates against adaptive change in terms of our individual life. Life is movement, and skilled movement denotes intelligent life.

Locations (Please copy and paste postcode into 'Streetmap')

London: Bloomsbury Alexander Centre WC1B 4BB WC1B4BB

Windsor Windsor SL4 5JF SL45JF

Please click on the links above and be taken to www.streetmap.co.uk