The Alexander technique
The Alexander technique sets out to help people change physical habits that are detrimental to their health and limit their ability to move. It views the person as a whole bodymind unity, and uses both language and gentle touch to bring awareness to unnecessary strain in the body and to learn ways to release it.
By alleviating stress and compression on the vertebrae and other parts of the body the Technique creates a relief in a wide range of problems including: back pain, neck pain, headache, as well as helping change breathing and voice problems.
The Lessons
The first part of a lesson is spent looking at a students' everyday movements, such as rising from sitting to standing, walking, bending, or stretching. With a combination of hands on work and conversation I bring the student's attention to habitual holdings and help them release them and find new ways to move. The later part of the lesson is spent on a massage table. Lying on their back, fully clothed, students are led to experience a state of improved coordination and deep ease.
I see lessons as a dialogue between my students and myself. Using words and gentle touch, I help them identify and become aware of, their movement habits, and guide them to a new experience of moving. This processes is typically accompanied by a sense of lightness and ease. I pay special attention to breathing patterns, as I believe that they reflect one's present state in a profound way.
Lessons are geared towards the students' individual needs and interests. We study the activities that are central in each student's life, and identify what is preventing them from feeling ease, or from fulfilling their potential. In time, students acquires the tools that enable them to reach this freedom on their own.
A lesson is 50 minutes long and costs 400 shekels.
They take place at 32 Ben Yehuda street suit 1135.
By appointment only
F.M. ALEXANDER
F.M. Alexander (1869-1955) was an Australian actor who began to experience chronic laryngitis whenever he performed. When his doctors could not help him, Alexander discovered a solution on his own. He had not been aware that excess tension in his neck and body were causing his problems, and began to find new ways to speak and move with greater ease.
His health improved to such an extent that his friends and several of the doctors he had consulted earlier persuaded him to teach others what he had learned. Over a career span of more than fifty years, he refined his method of instruction. After teaching for over 35 years, he began to train teachers of what has now become known as the Alexander Technique.