Welcome to Alexander Austin

        I focus my practice on exploring movement activites my students want to improve or do more efficiently.  I was trained and certified by teachers who worked with Marjorie Barstow, who was the first graduate of F. M. Alexander's teacher training program. F. M. Alexander developed the Alexander Technique in the early part of the 20th Century to help himself become a better actor. Marjorie Barstow continued and enriched what Alexander started, using teaching methods that focused on the exploration of activities students brought to her classes and workshops. Like the work of all good teachers and following Barstow's example, my teachers, Alice Pryor, Jane Bick, Cathy Madden, Robert Rickover, and Barbara Conable have continued to develop and enhance Alexander's work.  It is my goal to do the same...to meet each student's needs through strategizing ways to make movement easy, light, and efficient no matter the activity.

        The Alexander Technique will help you better understand how your body is structured. It will enable you to move and speak more efficiently with less strain on muscles and joints. It is an elegant and non-judgmental technique that encourages you to work on job-related, athletic or fitness, and performance skills as you improve the way you use your body in everyday activities. The Alexander Technique is body work that becomes an integral part of your life. 

What the Alexander Technique can do for you

•    Enhance freedom of movement
•    Free tight muscles and joints
•    Ease stress and tension
•    Improve the ease of accomplishing everyday activities like walking, sitting, standing
•    Improve athletic performance
•    Enhance artistic performance for actors, dancers, singers, and instrumentalists

What you do in Alexander Lessons

        My goal, first of all, is always to make Alexander Technique lessons playful and improvisational and fun.   I want to help you improve the way you use your body for the activities on which you want to focus in a way that is comfortable for you.  I often begin Alexander lessons with Body Mapping which was developed by Barbara and William Conable unless students have specific needs they want to address immediately.  Body Mapping clears up misconceptions many people have about their anatomy, particularly the precise location of the joints and their relationship to important muscle groups.  Once students understand the beautiful ways joints and muscles work, I begin working with students to improve simple activities such as walking, sitting and standing, and picking up objects. As you become more familiar with the technique, I will work with you to improve more complex activities. Learning the Alexander Technique is a partnership between teacher and student. I teach both with conversation and with my hands to guide you toward improving the way you use your body in all your activities or a specific activity.  Always, however, the focus is on students learning to put the Technique into practice on their own so you may begin with weekly lessons and gradually move to bi-weekly or monthly lessons and then occasional “tune-ups.”

Kinds of activities the Alexander Technique help improve

        The Alexander Technique is a very effective way to improve the ways you approach job-related activities such as sitting at a computer for long periods of time or performing repetitive activities necessary for clerical or manual labor. Actors and singers can improve and maintain their voices through more efficient breathing and sound production using the technique. Instrumentalists can improve the complex and delicate movements required for handling and playing any kind of instrument by learning greater ease and flexibility in holding or approaching the instrument and learning to breathe effectively, all of which can lead to improved musicality. Athletes and dancers can maximize performance and minimize pain and injury through strategizing movement practices that require less impact and muscular tension and also improving breathing. Importantly, the technique can help anyone perform simple everyday activities like picking up objects, writing with a pen or pencil, or driving with ease and efficiency.