Alexander Technique lessons in Brighton, Hove & Portslade

What is the Alexander Technique?

Some therapies could be compared to a mechanic for humans, i.e. very helpful for directly fixing things. Alexander Technique is more like a driving lesson to learn to drive yourself well, i.e. take the hand brake off, get in the right gear, understand how to use your wing and rear view mirrors, etc. It is why the benefits are so many and so diverse.

The Alexander Technique is a mind body practise that you can learn and use to make your life easier. It involves learning to use less tension in your body, especially in response to stressful things, like pain, anxiety or performance of challenging tasks, like sport or public speaking. Excess tension is created by physical and mental habits that you can discover and change with the help of a teacher.

The teacher uses verbal instructions and also their hands to show you how to release tension, even while you are moving. Often you will release tension that you were not at all aware you were carrying. When we do something habitually it feels normal to us, so it is very common for people to be unaware of how much excess tension they are carrying until they let it go.

When you let go of tension in the right way you don’t end up feeling floppy or collapsed, you end up with freer, easier movement; lightness and flexibility – more like a springy young person than a heavy ‘relaxed’ half asleep person. This way of carrying yourself mentally and physically vastly improves your quality of life.

I teach people across Brighton, Hove and Portslade to use the Alexander Technique to manage lots of different issues. Many use it to manage pain well, often reducing it completely and where that isn’t possible the technique becomes a valued way of managing pain, that is reducing pain’s impact on their life. Others use it to increase efficiency in movement – whether that is in sport or performance. Almost everyone finds that it has a positive impact on their confidence and sense of self and for that reason it is a very effective way of managing generalised anxiety or worry around particular tasks.

Like mindfulness or yoga, people practise the technique for short focused periods pf time daily, either lying down, sitting or standing. This practise then allows them to apply the thinking easily throughout the course of the day. Once you understand how to use the technique then it becomes second nature to apply it to whatever you are doing as it makes everything that bit easier.

Words can’t really describe the experience of learning the technique, it's bit like trying to explain a delicious food group you've never tasted. So if you want to give try, go ahead and book your free initial consultation. You have nothing to lose. You will have the chance to talk through what is going on for you, how I could help and have an experience of some hands on instruction in this incredible, life changing technique.

If you are in the Brighton, Hove, Portslade & Sussex area, see how the Alexander Technique can help you.