Who can benefit?

Back Pain

Voice & Respiration

Music-making

Work-Place

Personal Growth

Health & Fitness

Posture

Many people working in London offices are spending hours every day sitting down. Unless one sits in such a way that the spine is still maintaining length there is a risk of causing downward pressure on various parts of the body, and of making it difficult to move the arms freely. Although there are many special types of office chair on the market these days, the most important factor is knowing how to find the right "upward" response to gravity in one's own body, whether sitting or standing.

This kind of "tone" in the postural muscles cannot be achieved by exercising the voluntary muscles. It is only by maintaining the natural "upward response" to gravity that true postural tone is improved.

Stress

Stress affects people in different ways. Some tend towards more tension and others towards collapse. In either case the Alexander Technique gives one a practical method of letting go of excess tension, finding the right degree of tension and avoiding extremes. The more we can control tension, the more resilient we are in the face of stressful situations.

Upper Limb Disorders

Upper limb disorders (R.S.I.) mostly develop from a combination of poor ergonomics, poor body mechanics and stress. Provided there is no permanent damage and there is a willingness to "re-learn", most sufferers can be helped.

Fingers and hands are very dependent on appropriate tone in the arm muscles for their efficient functioning: the arms should relate in a particular way to the shoulders, which should rest lightly on the upward thrusting spine and rib-cage. Any unnecessary tension or collapse in the torso will usually mean that the shoulders do not "hang" in the right way - in which case the arms and hands are under stress.

To try to treat injuries to the hands, wrists etc. in isolation from the rest of the body is to only deal with a part of the problem.