The Alexander Technique teaches you the skills to help you move well and live better, in all that you do.
How the Alexander Technique can help me with:
What is the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is a skill for self-development teaching you to change long-standing habits that cause unnecessary tension in everything you do.
Whatever your age or ability, the Technique can help boost your performance in any activity and relieve the pain and stress caused by postural habits, like slouching or rounded shoulders.
Working with your teacher, you will learn to recognise your usual reactions to the stresses of life. You will find out how you have been contributing to your problems, how to prevent them and regain control.
Alexander Technique can help you with the following problems:
- Back, neck and joint pain
- Muscle tension and stiffness
- Poor posture
- Breathing and vocal problems
- Stress and stress-related conditions
I have suffered back pain for a long time and the last 15 years have been a merry-go-round of doctors, drugs and complementary therapies. At the end of my second Alexander session I started to ease into the process. I followed my teacher's instructions between sessions, and found I could focus on my body, its movements and its tensions. It now seems possible to be free of pain and my usual cocktail of painkillers is no longer necessary. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the technique.
I received my first Alexander lesson about 13 years ago when I hurt my back. After that first lesson I felt 95% better. I felt WHOLE. And I continue to receive lessons twice a month.
I hadn't realised I was a victim within my own body. The Alexander Technique has provided me with the power to control my body again, which in my case has been transformative.
I have been taking lessons for a few years now. Right from the first lesson my chronic back pain improved and I was moving more smoothly. After a lesson I always feel lighter, more positive and more confident. The Alexander Technique has helped me to realise that I have a choice about how I use my body. This awareness has spread to other areas of my life and I now feel more in control of myself and my life.
At about the age of 45, I began to experience severe pain in both of my knees. I was told I had damaged the cartilage, initially caused by the use of a kicking strap on a sailing dinghy, and made worse by many years of beagling, and to stop beagling or risk ending up in a wheelchair. A few years later a friend suggested the Alexander Technique. At first I was very sceptical, but had also reached the stage where I was ready to try virtually any means to solve the problem. A few weeks after my first lesson, I had gone out beagling, but only walking.
What are the core principles of the Alexander Technique?
- How you move, sit and stand affect how well you function.
- The mind and body work together intimately as one, each constantly influencing the other.
- Becoming more mindful of the way you go about your daily activities is necessary to make changes and gain benefit.
- The relationship of the head, neck and spine is fundamental to your ability to function optimally.
Conditions such as backache, neck and shoulder pain, as well as other sorts of long-term musculoskeletal pain are often the result of misusing our body over a long period of time, such as moving inefficiently and standing or sitting with our weight unevenly distributed. The aim of the Alexander Technique is to help you "unlearn" these old habits and achieve a balanced, more naturally aligned body, and we have the evidence to support it.
Go to Alexander Technique research
Who we are
The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) is the largest professional association of Alexander Technique Teachers worldwide, established in 1958 by teachers trained by FM Alexander.
We are responsible for maintaining professional standards of our members and for the promotion of the Alexander Technique. Only teaching members of STAT are eligible to use our stamp of approval, identifying them as fully trained Alexander Technique teachers who abide by the Society's Rules and Regulations.
When looking for a teacher, look out for this seal of approval:
Diversity, inclusion and anti-discrimination
STAT supports the fundamental human rights and dignity of all people.
We do not discriminate nor condone any expression of discrimination against any person on the basis of age, colour, disability, gender expression, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, creed, sex or sexual orientation and economic status. more...
