Private lessons with Mr Jan Dames (36 Oxford Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 2EB, UK)

As a sufferer of ankylosing spondilitis: a chronic rheumatic condition, the Alexander Technique helped me discover relationships between physical and psychological ways of “letting go” in order to control pain. In particular, exposure to the Technique has enabled me to break self-perpetuating circuits of pain associated with inflammatory conditions by focusing on inhibiting learned muscle tensing habits which feed on pain and each other.