The number of lessons you need will depend on
your condition and goals. Some students take lessons for a
relatively short time, while others will choose to study on an
on-going basis. After 2 or 3 lessons you'll know if the Technique is
right for you. After 10 or 20 lessons you'll have a clearer sense of
the long-term benefits of the work.
The most lasting changes will happen with a
commitment of 30 lessons. Students often choose to take several
lessons a week at the beginning, and will gradually space their
lessons farther apart. While it is optimal to get frequent lessons
early on, you will choose what works for you. I do offer a discount
for students who take more than one lesson per week.
Who can benefit from the Alexander
Technique?
Performing artists, athletes and equestrians .
People with chronic pain.
People coping with high stress and / or anxiety .
People who don't like their posture, the way they move or the
way they're aging.
Seekers of better and more mindful ways of
living.
Please note: AT teachers are not doctors, and do not diagnose, treat or
cure.
Who was F.M. Alexander?
F.M. Alexander
(1869-1955) was a young Australian
actor who suffered from recurrent voice loss on stage. When doctors
were unable to help him, he set out to help himself, with the aid of
several mirrors and a great deal of patient observation. He
discovered that as he would begin to speak, he would massively
tighten his whole body, most notably compressing his head into his
spine, shortening his spine and constricting his larynx. After much
experimentation, he discovered that changing the way he thought
before he spoke could prevent this pattern of over-tensing, allowing
his head to balance freely over his spine and his spine to lengthen
upward. He also noticed great improvement in his breathing, posture
and overall coordination. His voice recovered completely and
improved dramatically, and he began teaching others how to
understand the link between their own thinking and coordination. He
developed a highly sophisticated way of conveying a new experience
to students with his hands, helping them to identify their own
tensing habits and to find a new sense of ease and balance. He took
his work toLondon
and received great acclaim from the performing arts and medical
communities there. Later in his life, he began training teachers to
carry on his work, and there are now several thousand teachers
world-wide.
Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the
Alexander
Technique
by Pedro Alcantara
The Use of the
Self
by F.M. Alexander
Freedom to Change
by Frank Pierce Jones
Mind and Muscle
by Elizabeth Langford
Bodysense by Sally Tottle (for riders)
What kind of training do
teachers have?
Certified
teachers of the Alexander Technique have completed a teacher
training program of 1600 hours of class instruction over a minimum
of three academic years with a student/teacher ratio no greater than
five-to-one.AmSAT (American
Society for the Alexander Technique) maintains the nation's highest
standards for teacher training, certification and membership and
maintains affiliations with similar credentialing bodies worldwide.
In theUS there are twenty AmSAT-approved
teacher-training programs in ten states and dozens of programs
certified by affiliated societies in countries around the world.
Board-approved AmSAT teacher training courses meet the requirements
of the Training Approval Committee which periodically reevaluates
each of AmSAT's teacher training programs and its directors. There
are over 600
AmSAT certified
teachers nationwide.
Students of the Technique include this
short list of luminaries:
Actors Kenneth Branagh, Maggie Smith, Robin
Williams, John Cleese, Annette Bening, Juliette Binoche and
Kevin Kline, musicians Paul McCartney, Yehudi Menuhin and Sting,
soprano Renee Fleming, conductors Sir Colin Davis and Sir Adrian Boult,
dancer/choreographer Trisha Brown, equestrienne Sally Smith, scientist
Raymond Dart, authors Aldous Huxley, George Bernard
Shaw and Robertson Davies, and philosopher/educator John
Dewey.
The Technique’s many benefits include minimized
tension...mind/body connection...and an inch and a half of
additional height! --- Kevin Kline, actor
Here are some of the
educational institutions that offer the Technique in their
curriculum:
The Aspen Music Festival, The American Dance
Festival, The American Conservatory Theater, The Juilliard School,
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute,
New York University, Boston College, Boston University, The Acting
Studio (NY), New England Conservatory, Yale School of Drama.
There are many more.
