Having Lessons
Alexander Technique is an educative technique that people learn to improve the way they move and feel. Poeple have been learning Alexander Technique for over 100 years.
It's about creating constructive outcomes through implementing simple skills that you learn. In a nutshell, you learn to apply thinking to the way you move in your daily tasks. It is safe, enjoyable and has a measurable cost benefit for those who apply the skill.
The list of students of the Technique is in the hundreds of thousands,if not millions. Famous people who have learned include Paul McCartney, Sting, Julian Bream, Yehudi Menuhin, James Galway, Sir Colin Davis Professor Niko Tinbergen (Winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine), Frederick Perls (Originator of Gestalt Therapy), Moshe Feldenkrais (Originator of the Feldenkrais Method), Terry Gross (host of the NPR radio program "Fresh Air"), John Dewey (the American Philosopher), Paul Newman, Jeremy Irons, Joel Gray, Mary Steenbergen, Julie Andrews, Patrick Stewart, Kevin Kline, Joanne Woodward, John Cleese, John Houseman, Robin Williams, James Earl Jones, Christopher Reeve, Judy Dench, Ben Kingsley, William Hurt, Keanu Reeves, Hillary Swank. Heath Leger, George Bernard Shaw, Aldous Huxley, Robertson Davies, Roald Dahl to name but a few.
Imagine if you could choose movements that always place you at an advantage. It would mean you could take pressure off, you could move easily and you could achieve your outcomes seemingly without effort. This is part of what FM Alexander discovered when he methodically observed movements in himself and others towards the end of the 19th Century.
Alexander Technique Sydney
You achieve great improvement in tasks and skills by applying the new principles. It is extraordinary how movement, muscle use and posture can influence emotional state, mind set and whole well being.
It is a great complement for many conventional health treatments. Many medical practitioners, physiotherapists, chiropractors and alternative health practitioners have referred clients to the Alexander Technique. The skills that clients gain from the Technique can greatly assist in rehabilitation of many musculo-skeletal conditions.
Musicians often get into poor habits of tension that affects the sound of instrument and cause pain in playing. It is hard for a musician to let go of inappropriate tension without the help of an Alexander Technique teacher who can provide Alexander's strategies for easing tension while still achieving the goal.
Actors also can get into problems with tension affecting both their vocal work and their performance. The physical pull down on the larynx, the harsh over-efforting to gain character, the stilted posture and gesture are all liberated by applying learned AT skills.
Long term benefits from Alexander
A recent randomised control study in England demonstrated how useful the Technique is for people sufferring chronic back and neck pain. Long term benefits were reported.[read the BMJ findings on the Technique for yourself ]
Read about a randomised control study of AT and people with Parkinsons disease.
Another randomised trial was carried out in 2002 at Westminster University. It found benefits for Parkinsons disease sufferers though taking Alexander lessons.Specifically, the application of skills allowed Parkinsons's sufferers to reduce their level of muscle tension thereby alleviating to some extent pain and discomfort from muscle spasm.
There was also a study by the US Journal of Gereontology on the positive affects of Alexander lessons for maintaining balnce amongst older people.
Michael Shellshear Alexander Technique
Come and have lessons with me at Leura in New South Wales Blue Mountains. I also hold group classes weekly. Ring me on 02 4700 9084 and get started on learning a life changing skill, now. [contact Michael Shellshear to organise your private lessons weekdays from 9-5]
Live in Sydney or elsewhere in Australia? That's OK, because I have accredited colleagues all around Australia who can competently teach you.[click here to find a teacher from the Australian Teachers of Alexander Technique (AUSTAT) web site.]
SYDNEY WORKSHOPS-2010
Coming in 2010 a number of Sydney based workshops with Greg Holdaway and myself. Also we are hoping to bring American teacher Tommy Thompson out from the USA for t he first time. Tommy is known world wide as a master practiitoner of the Technique.
02 4700 9084.
Michael Shellshear.Alexander Technique teacher.
FM Alexander as a young man.