Alternative Therapy

Alexander Technique Courses: Learn About the Alexander Technique

Considering an Alexander Technique Course? 

If you want to learn about a technique that can help to improve physical and mental wellbeing, an Alexander Technique course may be ideal for you. The Alexander Technique is a method of personal education which involves self-awareness and releasing muscular tension. The excess tension slowly accumulates over many years of living in stress and often begins in childhood. If left unchecked, it can give rise later in life to common ailments such as neck and back pain, migraine, arthritis, sciatica, hypertension, insomnia and even depression. The good news is there are a ton of Alexander Technique courses available currently.  

History of the Technique 

Frederick Matthias Alexander was born in Australia on the 20th of January 2869. He was the eldest of the eight children of Betsy and John Alexander. He grew up in a small town called Wynyard which is situated on the north-west coast of the island of Tasmania. Alexander was a very sickly child, suffering from respiratory problems. Due to his frail health, he was taken away from school at a young age and tutored in the evenings by the local school teacher. During his teen years, his health gradually improved and he began to take part in some amateur dramatics. At the age of twenty, he travelled to Melbourne and passed the next three months visiting the theatre and concerts and going to art galleries.  

At the end of this three-month period, Alexander had firmly decided to train to be an actor and reciter. However, over time, he suffered further with his voice, visiting countless doctors to find a solution to his problem. Eventually, this took him on a journey of discovery that not only gave him the answer to his burning question but also revealed the mechanics of movement of the human being and the interference with reflexes and muscles that contributes to much of mankind’s suffering in our modern civilisation. Alexander’s findings were greatly underestimated at the time; however, his discovery has now come to be regarded as one of the greatest of the twentieth century.  

How Can the Treatment Help? 

The Alexander Technique can help to relieve back pain, improve posture, relieve stress and improve sports performance. There are also many benefits of the technique for women who are pregnant, for actors and musicians, for children whose natural posture is ruined with education and for voice and breathing.  

What Will I Learn? 

You will learn how the practice has evolved and about the principles that have guided it, the physiology and anatomy of the human body, how to become mindfully aware and exercises you can do to practice the Alexander Technique. The course will educate you on the holistic practices and how they can contribute to the overall health of any individual. Students will learn how the systems within the body are structured and exactly how they function, including a focused look at the skeletal and muscular systems. Postures, the senses and sensory perception are other areas that will be explored. Since the Alexander Technique is concerned with the body and mind connection, you will learn about the neurology of its fundamental methods and gain an understanding of the brain’s function and the various psychological habits that leak into the structure of the body and why this is important. The course will explore how to facilitate freeing and conscious movement and becoming mindful of your body and your thoughts to connect both elements to ultimate good wellbeing.  

If you’re serious about doing an Alexander Technique course, check out courses near you in the Nightcourses.co.uk national course finder.