Alexander Technique

For living well

Alexander Technique helps us develop skills to

be as we would like to be as we do what we genuinely choose to do in the way we choose to do it.

It offers a way to tap into our own sensitivity so that we have greater freedom of choice. It’s a method for tuning in and training ourselves to be more sensitive to unconscious habits that control our posture, movement, thoughts, feelings and behavior. By letting go of unnecessary effort, unconscious tension and habitual reactions, we can allow ourselves to be with greater ease and well-being. This helps us to be more genuinely who we are.

Alexander Technique is not a passive therapy—it requires the active engagement of the individual, applying learning to thinking, movement, activities and rest.

It’s possible to rediscover ease and freedom of movement.

You’ll learn to treat your mind-body self kindly, compassionately and functionally. Alexander Technique is a method for becoming aware of, and changing, unconscious habits of posture, movement, thought and behavior that interfere with our ability to be at our best. You’ll learn to let go of what you don’t need in order to free yourself up.

Alexander Technique is a way of developing certain skills that help to improve functioning, movement, conscious response and feeling. It’s like developing a superpower of noticing—a nonjudgemental kind of noticing that allows and invites change rather than forcing it. Other skills include inhibition, direction of attention and regulation of muscle tone. 

Alexander Technique helps us learn to redirect our body in action (when we are most likely to forget and to be controlled by habit). This redistributes muscle tone to make movement easier, more efficient and more enjoyable while making us stronger and helping to prevent injury.

Alexander Technique is a method for living well in body and mind. It’s a method for tuning in and training ourselves to be more sensitive to unconscious habits that control our posture, movement, thoughts, feelings and behavior.

Here are some of the benefits people often experience from Alexander Technique:

What happens in an Alexander Technique session

The work we do in an Alexander Technique session follows principles of nonjudgemental noticing, non-doing and choice in the direction of the body and its energies. This often means proposing an action, observing the habitual way of engaging in it, not doing the habit or even replacing it with another action, and then consciously choosing to pay attention to the way of doing it with intention. I use hands-on contact, words and/or images to help you see the activation of habits that get in your way and to choose your course of action consciously. Gentle hands-on contact helps you to notice habitual reactions, undo unnecessary tension and allow your body to organize and move more freely, without manipulating or imposing a way of being. This process leads to reduced physical reactivity and a greater sense of calm and control that extends beyond improved physical functioning to a state of greater equanimity and the ability to self-regulate.

How Alexander Technique helps with pain

Alexander Technique has been shown to help reduce back, neck and knee pain. Two mechanisms of pain reduction have been shown to be reduced co-contraction and increased self-efficacy. Both of these make sense. The redistribution of postural tone and the confidence that comes with improved functioning help to reduce pain.

In an Alexander Technique session, you are in the driver’s seat making the decisions, and I’m beside you as “navigator,” guiding and proposing alternative routes you might take. You are not a passive recipient of therapy—you are an active participant in tuning in to your mind-body self and how you choose to treat your self. This non-manipulative approach empowers you with skills that help you turn down pain.

Find out more about research on the benefits of Alexander Technique