Alexander Technique

Alexander Technique

by Noeline Levinson, a qualified Alexander Technique Teacher, talks about re-educating your body to improve your posture


To be or not to be, that is the question! Can Alexander technique be the answer?

The thing I love about the Alexander technique is that there is more to it than just where to put your shoulders. It has depth, and can be applied to many aspects of one’s life.

The premise of the technique is about learning how to ‘let go’.  We hold tension in our body and that holding habit is addressed by the Alexander lessons. My teacher used to say: ‘We are human beings, not human doings, I am teaching you how to be not what to do’. I loved this, because I had been a dancing teacher and was used to teaching folk how to do this or that, but most of all I had to learn for myself, how to just ’be’. 

The process of becoming a teacher was revealing, we spent three years learning how to be, and at the end of that my body looked so different, my movement was free and my body had elongated 2 inches in height.  It is this premise of ‘letting go’ that foxes so many of us.

The stress and tension of our daily lives, make us contract and hold onto our tension. We are in a holding pattern in our lives, in so many aspects of our being, the way we behave, the way we react to others and to situations.  We live with our habits, and our habits are unconscious.

The Alexander technique gives us an opportunity to examine those habits and to release those that are not working for us.  Either pertaining to the way we move, or the way we behave or think about ourselves. All these aspects can be changed if we take time to think about them and not rush into the next thing.  I often say, while teaching this to my students;’ we cannot hope to change the furniture in the lounge without being there to do so.’

Learning to let go has to do with being in the moment, making conscious decisions about our reactions to the stimulus around us. Being mindful and present.  Learning to ‘be’ is our greatest challenge.

Step lightly, be spritely

http://www.alextechnz.com/exercise-with-alexander-technique.html

Noeline's articles:
Flexibility + Mobility = Longevity
Stand up for self esteem
Sit up and Listen
Does education ruin your posture or can it fix it?
are you exercising or just beating up your body?


About Noeline:
Wisanow contributor, Noeline Levinson qualified as an Alexander Technique teacher in June 1990. She had studied in Israel, Tel Aviv for 4 years. Noeline taught Alexander technique to Opera students at the Cape Town College of Music and then taught at the Market Theatre Laboratory in Johannesburg, teaching aspiring actors and running workshops for professional actors. Noeline has been teaching privately for the past 21 years and has taught a variety of people from all types of performers, to people who work in companies and sit all day in front of computers. Noeline was asked to go to a number of companies to assess their staff in terms of their seating arrangements.  A number of staff suffered from headaches, neck problems and repetitive strain injury. All of which were assisted with The Alexander Technique. Noeline started out her career as a dancing teacher and then became interested in The Alexander technique and went overseas to study. Dance and exercise have always been a passion of hers. However, while she was teaching she noticed many people miss-using their body without really being aware of it. Noeline then devised a training programme for personal trainers called S.E.T. (Safe Exercise Training), which was accredited by a big gym group in SA at the time. Its aim was to exercise the body effectively and safely without the threat of injury.  Her husband is a personal trainer and used this technique with his clients and they had amazing results.

Back pain ranked very high on the list of reasons for employment absenteeism. It is a very real issue, from which many people suffer.

Noeline Levinson
email: noeline@family-focus.co.nz
09 522 8584
http://www.alextechnz.com/