To study the Alexander Technique, is to walk a path of self-discovery
What is your inner monologue, and how can you change the script?
Take yourself off of autopilot and enjoy living your life in the present!
Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor born in 1869, understood through shrewd self-observation, that he was performing physical and also mental habits while acting on stage. He then realized that he was performing these same psychophysical habits more subtly in his day-to-day life, off stage. He decided to take matters into his own hands to fix the issue and in the process he created an awareness-building technique to address his individual problems. He quickly came to learn that all humans walk this earth as a bundle of habits. So how do we reclaim our bundle? How do we find freedom of movement and change for the better? How can we develop new habits that override our old, detrimental habits? The path is what FM Alexander called “The Means Whereby” - the “how” of the “what”.
From a young age, people develop unconscious habits in the way that they sit, stand, move and breathe. These habits can create unneccesary muscular tension and imbalance.
The technique teaches increased self-awareness and conscious control over your body’s movements.
In this practice we learn to pause before reacting, rather than responding automatically with ingrained movement patterns.
The holistic approach inculdes giving the body gentle mental instructions such as “allow my neck to be free”, which encourages ease as one is changing physcically.
A key principle of the Alexander Technique is “Primary Control”, which refers to the dynamic relationship between the head, neck and spine. When those elements are properly aligned, the rest of the body is able to function more efficiently.
In a typical lesson, Jill will start by checking in with her student about where they are at physically and mentally in the moment and what they want to focus on for the lesson. She uses gentle hands-on feedback as well as verbal cues to help her students improve their posture and work towards their individual goals, which can range from reducing back pain that arises from sitting at a desk all day, to singing and dancing on stage with ease.
The technique encourages mental direction to influence physical ease and also aims to undo habitual physical tenion and poor movement patterns.
Some benefits from studying the Alexander Technique include:
Improved posture and coordination
Relief from chronic pain, including joint and muscle pain
Improved stage presence
Improved breathing efficiency and vocal production
Reduction of physical and mental stress and tension
Greater ease and efficiency of movement
Mangaing hyper-mobility
Please feel free to contact Jill with any questions you might have, and to schedule a lesson today!