Ideas about the primacy of the head-neck relationship in human coordination, balance and postural support are, of course, deeply embedded in much Alexander Technique theory and practice. In recent years however, more and more teachers, myself included, seem to be questioning some of the ways in which this idea has been formulated, or are even rejecting it altogether. In this article I’m going to look at three frequently stated assumptions related to the idea of Primary Control which …

It seems that hands-on work is getting a bit of a 'bad rap' in certain Alexander circles at the moment, and particularly in the online AT community. Contemporary hands-on oriented teachers could almost be excused (with tongue firmly in cheek) for wondering if they are hopeless old stick-in-the muds — has-beens doomed to get left behind in the brave new world of group classes, teach-yourself resources and ‘virtual’ online lessons….

Recently I’ve been involved in a couple of conversations where people have been wondering how as Alexander Technique teachers we can work with patterns of misuse which have a strong emotional component, so I thought I’d share a simple example of one way we can approach this from my own practice.

In the last couple of years I’ve found myself now and again sitting back-to-back with my Alexander Technique pupils. This is not a tool which I use very often, and by no means with everyone, but it can be a very powerful resource in the right situation and I thought I would share some of the ways I use it, and why I sometimes find it so helpful.

In this article I explore current understandings of trauma, particularly developmental trauma, and look at the fundamentally embodied nature of human emotion and social connection. I then go on to look at how this knowledge is relevant to Alexander Teachers today.

In this article I look at practical ways in which Alexander teachers might expand the scope of what they do to include more consciously considered and helpful approaches to dealing with emotional and somatic material from the past that can be aroused by Alexander work, while avoiding compromising the principles, qualities and values on which AT work is based…

For quite a few years I was professionally involved in furniture making and design, and as an Alexander teacher it felt natural to relate what I was doing in this field to the Technique and to its principles which underlay the rest of my life….

How can we as Alexander teachers integrate insights from other modalities without losing the essence of what we are and what we do?

Over the last decade or so polyvagal theory has revolutionised the way body-focussed practitioners conceptualise what they do, and has found a central place in many approaches to working with developmental trauma and PTSD