Discover the Alexander Technique
The thinking person's solution to pain and stress.

. . . Do you wish you could find another way to handle stress?

. . . Do you wish you had a long-term solution to your chronic pain or muscular tension?

You can by using a proven method of self care called the
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE - an intelligent way to relieve the pain and stress caused by everyday misuse of your body.

WITH THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE,
you learn to strip away movement habits and tension patterns eliminating any discomfort you may have. You learn how to balance your own body and take charge of your own health. You learn to think differently and to sit, stand and move with safety, efficiency and ease.

The Alexander Technique Teacher
leads you through a one-on-one learning process tailored to your needs. Over a course of lessons, your teacher helps you release muscular tension and restore your body's original poise. As you address your entire body - not just segments - you learn to improve overall functioning.

Noted performing artists have used the Alexander Technique for over 100 years.

FEATURES & BENEFITS

For People of All Ages
* Learn to relieve and prevent pain.
* Reduce strain and muscular tension.
* Prevent injury.
* Find a better way to manage stress.
* Improve posture, balance, and coordination.
* Increase range of motion.
* Access a greater resource of energy.

The Alexander Technique is about the study of the "Use of Ourselves." How we "Use" ourselves affects how we function in our activities. "Use of the Self" refers to more than one's posture or movement. It includes how one thinks.

APPLICATIONS
Relief, recuperation & prevention
The Technique benefits people with a variety of neurological and musculo-skeletal problems, including:

* neck, back and hip disorders
* traumatic and repetitive stress injuries
* chronic pain and arthritis
* breathing and coordination disorders
* stress related disorders and migraines
* depression and anxiety

Daily Life
The Alexander Technique is an intelligent way to solve common body problems and improve your self-image. Study of the Technique optimizes your strength, endurance, muscle tone and flexibility. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts use it to help them reach their goals.

Performance
For over 100 years, actors, dancers, singers and musicians have used the Alexander Technique in order to be more effective on stage. The Technique is taught worldwide in universities and conservatories, including the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory of Music, the North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale School of Drama, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The Royal College of Music and The Verbier Festival and Academy.

IN EACH LESSON YOU WILL:
* Receive sophisticated hands-on guidance & feedback.
* Learn from a highly-qualified professional.
* Get personally-tailored one-on-one lessons.
* Enjoy a safe, sensitive, nonintrusive approach.
* Unravel stress while you lie on a bodywork table.
* Learn about your habitual patterns of thought and movement.
* Relearn basic movements and improve activities you choose such as computer work, public speaking, gardening, running.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who was Frederick Matthias Alexander?
As a young man, F.M. Alexander (1869-1955) was a Shakespearean Actor touring in Australia and Tasmania. A chronic hoarse voice interrupted his burgeoning career, and he lost his voice while performing. When no medical treatment helped him, he looked at his own use for the source of his vocal trouble. Through nine years of rigorous self-observation and experimentation, he solved his problem, developed a full, rich voice and discovered what he named the Primary Control.

What is the Primary Control?
Alexander observed that the relationship between the head, neck and torso is a primary factor in controlling movement and function. Compressive movement habits interfere with the body's ingenious design. Having control over the primary control restores the innate postural reflex - natural, dynamic force the counters gravity and easily guides the torso upward.

Are Alexander's theories scientifically valid?
Leaders in the field of mind/body medicine and behavioral science throughout the past century have supported Alexander's innovative research. Clinical studies have shown that the Technique improves breathing capacity and posture, modifies stress responses and is, for those who suffer from chronic pain, the preferred method for long-term relief.

What happens in a lesson?
In a lesson, your teacher helps you to understand how your movement style is hindering you.
S/he instructs you - with words and touch - to approach movement differently. Using a unique hands-on method to elicit you primary control, s/he gives you an experience of dynamic expansion. With this expert guidance, you learn how to replicate that expansion on your own.

Can I learn the Technique on my own?
Habits are unconscious. It takes a highly-trained teacher to help you perceive and change your ingrained patterns. With a gentle, supportive touch, your teacher helps you notice areas of tension, make pleasurable changes and experience your body in a new way.

How long does it take? What does it cost?
Duration of study depends upon your initial condition and personal goals. To enjoy the full benefit, a recommended course is 30 private lessons. Lessons average 45mins. Please contact me for current rates.

Will I always need lessons?
Of course not. The goal is to use what you learn independently so you can participate in the pursuits you enjoy with renewed energy, comfort and confidence.

Bio/My Story
After pursuing a professional career as an actor, I took some time off in my late 20's to finish the Bachelor's degree I had started years earlier. During that time, I had my first Alexander lesson. As an actor, I was always seeking ways to free myself, be more at home in my skin, express myself fully - especially in front of an audience of people watching me! I had also accumulated some significant back and knee pain. I struggled with bouts of insomnia. I had frequent headaches. My Alexander lessons with my lovely teacher Shel Wagner came as a revelation. A whole new world of possibility began to open up before me. I felt tensions unravel and I began to learn how I had developed habits of moving that was actually causing myself to be in the pain I was in, and causing me to not be as expressive onstage as I wanted. The Alexander Technique invited me to completely re-think what movement could be for me, what the experience of being in my body could actually feel like on a moment-to-moment basis. Not only did my back and knee pain begin to ease, but my acting improved. I became totally intrigued and fascinated with this unique method of self-care, so much so that after completing my B.A., I decided to take my life in a new direction and train to be a teacher of the Alexander Technique. In June 2001 I graduated from an intensive three-year, 1600-hour teacher-training course at the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles. In the beginning of 2002, I had the great pleasure of introducing Alexander Technique classes into the curriculum of two of the major acting conservatories in Los Angeles: The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Stella Adler Academy of Acting. I am truly passionate about sharing this work, and it is great fun (and endlessly inspiring) to assist people in opening up new avenues for thinking and moving and being. I am excited to be moving to beautiful North Carolina, and to be a part of the talented community of the School of the Arts.

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