The Alexander Technique is traditionally taught in one-to-one lessons. This is the most intense way to learn, although after some degree of individual experience, learning in a small group can also be a good option.
In one-to-one lessons you will practise directing your attention to the body as you balance, breathe and explore simple everyday actions such as sitting, standing, bending, walking, lying down, vocalizing…In this process, you will be learning to notice and recognize unhelpful habitual patterns of tension or collapse that you may have – and to gently, persistently and playfully invite your body to undo them, even as you go into action, thus bringing intention, attention and action together.
You will be receiving gentle, subtle guidance also through touch, which helps to bring awareness into areas of the body which may be less “present”, or to calm others which are over-working, thereby clarifying the relationships of parts to each other and to the whole, and of the whole body in relation to the ground and the space. Touch is used as a tool of communication, and the student is actively involved from the beginning.
Some (visual) information about our musculo-skeletal structures and their functioning, when related directly to your physical experience, can also help to adjust your inner “body map” and make changes in your “use” possible. Seeing and knowing just where and how, for example, the head balances on the spine can help to direct your attention to this area, which plays a key role in maintaining our upright balance.
Over time, you can learn to apply the principles to a widening field of situations and activities.
