A newly discovered letter has confirmed that Virginia Woolf had lessons with FM Alexander. The letter – written by Walter Carrington, one of the most influential teachers to have trained with FM Alexander – provides few details. Much more is known about the lessons taken by Virginia’s husband Leonard, partly thanks to Virginia’s own writings …
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The Mind in Movement Lab at the University of Idaho has just released a short video detailing some of its work. The lab’s principle investigator, Professor Rajal Cohen, has in recent years led some of the most groundbreaking and fascinating research into the Alexander Technique. This most recent video references the lab’s research into the …
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The Alexander Technique is all about improving how you function in daily life by ‘using’ yourself better in activity. And the movement from sitting to standing is commonly used by Alexander Technique teachers to help guide their clients towards better use. There is a lot to take in to find ease and balance in this …
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Among healthcare professionals, the Alexander Technique is recognised as helping people with hypermobility. More information on this is available on the hypermobility page of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. For a very personal view, you might like to watch the following video created by Jess Albertine, which has just been released. Jess …
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I was presenting the Alexander Technique again to musicians in Bucharest this month (more of this amazing programme here). A question that came up several times after the hands-on work was, ‘How can I find this [release, poise, relaxation, ease, coordination etc] again on my own?’ The answer is simple – but not easy. Simply …
The Alexander Technique (AT) is about how we look after ourselves in the face of the stimuli around us, and reversibility is a useful framework for seeing how we are getting on in that endeavour. Simply speaking, reversibility is the ability to reverse or ‘undo’ a particular movement at any moment along the way. While …
Some preliminary research has been conducted into the effects of the Alexander Technique (AT) on singing. Acoustic analysis of a single female voice recorded improvements in vocal quality (the so-called ‘ringing’ tone), vocal clarity (the harmonic-to-noise ratio, where noise indicates qualities such as raspiness or breathiness) and intonation. Measurements of vibrato and respiratory noise were …
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Some of the best Alexander Technique (AT) books are available to borrow from public libraries in the UK. If they’re in the library catalogue but not on the shelves, you can usually order them for free and they will be obtained for you from the wider library network. Below is my list of recommended reading …
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Consider for a moment a top athlete, dancer or musician, and you’ll realise that humans have the potential for incredibly accurate and coordinated movement. But what makes coordinated movement possible in the first place? Despite being entirely unfamiliar to most people, two aspects of ourselves govern our posture and provide a foundation for all movement …
Continue reading “Why your map matters: body schema and postural tone”
When actor Jonathan Pryce was asked which book changed his life, he replied: The one the teacher put under my head during the Alexander technique sessions at RADA. I grew an inch and a half. ‘Q&A: Jonathan Pryce’, The Guardian, 7 March 2015 And now RADA – The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – is …
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