How To Learn The Alexander Technique

"The Alexander Technique is now recognized the world over as the most revolutionary and far-reaching method developed for maintaining the health and efficiency of the body."--Back cover

The Alexander Technique (AT) is a remarkably simple but powerful method for learning to skillfully control how your brain and body interact, allowing you to better coordinate your movements while increasing the accuracy of your mind’s thoughts and perceptions. Now, in How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, leading Alexander Technique master teacher Missy Vineyard sheds a completely fresh light on this revolutionary method and, in the process, offers path-breaking insight into the mind-body connection. Vineyard thoroughly explains and teaches the central skills of the AT through simple self-experiments, and she offers engaging stories of students in their lessons to show its effective application across a range of disciplines, including the performing arts, athletics, health, psychology, and education. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live introduces us to a world within ourselves that we know surprisingly little about--and thereby helps us to understand why we often cannot do what we should be able to do, why we harm ourselves with chronic tension and anxiety, and why our thoughts often seem beyond our control. Vineyard is also the first AT teacher to draw on cutting-edge research in neuroscience and to synthesize those findings with AT theories and techniques. She fully illuminates the benefits to be reaped by mastery of the Alexander Technique, which include: Release from acute or chronic physical pain Enhanced mental attention and focus Reduced anxiety Improved balance and coordination Relief from tension and stress Increased ease and efficiency performing precise movement skills

The Alexander Technique for Musicians is a unique guide for all musicians, providing a practical, informative approach to being a successful and comfortable performer. Perfect as an introduction to the Alexander Technique, or to supplement the reader's lessons, the book looks at daily and last-minute practice, breathing, performance and performance anxiety, teacher–pupil relationships, ensemble skills, and the application of the Alexander Technique to instrumental and vocal work. Complete with diagrams and photographs to aid the learning process, as well as step-by-step procedures and diary entries written by participating students, The Alexander Technique for Musicians gives tried-and-tested advice, drawn from the authors' twenty-plus years of experience working with musicians, providing an essential handbook for musicians seeking the most from themselves and their art.

Although running is becoming one of the most popular sports, learning to run properly can take time, energy and consistency. You need to do it regularly to become good at it and until you have achieved a certain level of competence, it is unlikely that you will enjoy it very much, or for very long. For many runners physical and mental barriers can stop progress. This book’s ultimate aim is to help you enjoy to run – to enjoy the feeling of movement, to overcome inertia, to renew yourself and to boost energy as a result. Master the Art of Running is based on the proven principles of the Alexander Technique that encourage good body use and greater awareness of the way your body functions and moves. The technique teaches you how to release tension from your back and neck and how to run without suffering from injuries. The authors’ perspective on the sport takes them into areas rarely touched on in conventional manuals. Instead of placing importance on speed, targets and goals it emphasises the importance of the way you run so you can transform your training and performance.

"A primer for students of the Alexander Technique, a well-known method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination. This book provides the first authoritative account of William Conable's concept, Body Mapping, the study of how our ideas about our bodies affect our experience and movement. This concept is integrated with a lucid explanation of the Alexander Technique that clarifies and simplifies the task of teaching and learning the Technique."--Publisher's description.

The Alexander Technique has a worldwide following as a method of mind and body re-education, that reduces stress and muscle tension through correct use of posture and movement. Pioneered over a century ago by F.M. Alexander, it revitalizes all who practice it. Dr. Wilfred Barlow studied under Alexander himself, and this, his pioneering book, is now a classic. Recently updated, The Alexander Principle is essential reading for anyone interested in relieving body stress and improving posture and movement.

Rebecca Nettl-Fiol and Luc Vanier utilize their ten years of research on developmental movement and dance training to explore the relationship between a specific movement technique and the basic principles of support and coordination.