Frequently asked questions

Often AT is the last thing people try and the only one that actually helps them. Many methods are tackling only symptoms or parts of the causes of our problems. BodyMind Integrity is build on knowledge of the latest science in psychosomatic health, self-development, trauma healing, safe learning environments and non-violent communication. A big emphasis is put on creating the right conditions where learning, change and healing can take place. See more.

Yes, but like with any group learning, it has its limitations. Group learning by its nature lacks an individual component and personal attention but sometimes that’s just what we need. Group classes are great as an introduction or complementary work in addition to your one-on-one lessons. See more.

No. With children lessons are more playful and combined with activities. Children often learn unconsciously through imitation, teenagers learn indirectly from role models. In the never-stopping world youngsters often need to first learn how to pause. Grown ups and the elderly need the pause just as much, while exploring continual evolution through an often much needed letting go of patterns.

Yes. Virtual learning works well because of the shared presence and time with a teacher. To have somebody attend to you with an aim to positively impact your state is always more powerful than trying to bring it about yourself. Even though people love the hands-on experience of the Alexander Technique, it is not the hands that convey the message. It’s the state of being, the way of learning, the tone of my voice, the moments of stopping and noticing. Conditions for learning can be created through a screen and you might even enjoy feeling independent in your experience.

For the In Person lesson just come in comfortable and warm clothes.

For the online class you need:

undisturbed 45 minutes in a comfortably warm room;

a chair or stool to sit on;

a clear floor surface to lie down on; and

some books, to place under your head.

I will need to be able to see you in profile, standing and sitting down on a chair or stool.

No. It’s an interesting issue about learning - how can we learn if we have an attitude of not trying to get it right? But any trying you do in between the lessons is just accumulating effort and tension - both mental and physical. We suggest that back pain doesn’t need an exercise to make it hurt less, but you need to learn to do less of what has made it hurt in the first place. How you do your exercises is more important than what you do.

Yes. You can keep doing everything that you’re already doing. AT lessons are supportive and preventative, we don’t diagnose or prescribe treatments. Everyone is responsible for making informed choices for themselves and there is lot of expert opinion available from different medical and complementary approaches. You might find though that through AT you can eliminate the root cause of so many problems. This is why it might be an effective option to have a series of lessons, get to know the use-related issues and differentiate them from any other medical problem.

My approach to teaching The Alexander Technique is bodymind-connection centered, trauma-informed and kindness based. I’ve come to think that human behaviour, a person’s inner life and self-management abilities are all an outcome of the quality of self-connection in relation to the world around us. Keeping this concept as a centerpiece of the integration work, we are able to establish sustained feelings of centeredness, groundedness, inner balance and self-acceptance through the AT. Ease and effortlessness, both in thinking and movement, follow.

My mother once asked me about the possibility that she might not need AT. Although sometimes it’s easy to see what change is needed for us to live richer lives, the irony is that so much of our behaviour is habitual and unconscious. We think we manage well but we just don’t have the comparison of managing even better. I can’t imagine a situation where learning to break free from your unhelpful patterns isn’t beneficial.

No. It is an educational method to learn to live with more ease and less tensions. See relaxation as a side-effect, not a goal.

It is a learning process with a strongly therapeutical effect. You are not being taught new clever facts to manipulate your health with. You are learning how to let go of what is interfering with your organic and natural state of being. In other words - you get to know the capacity that already exists within human nature, but has been underdeveloped or masked under unconscious patterns. The integration process has a long-lasting therapeutic influence but without the (active) therapist and (passive) patient/client relationship.

No, but it will definitely help with any postural problems. Curved spine, hunched shoulders, neck tension and back pain are lessened through expert manual guidance in order to recover a natural poise.

As Alexander said: “You translate everything, whether physical or mental or spiritual, into muscular tension.” It’s not enough to work only on correcting the posture, as it’s not enough to work only on the mindset or psychology. These two are impossible to separate and AT is one of the few (the only?) methods that addresses this issue in practice.

Yes. We know scientifically and experientially that muscles store emotions. Emotional struggles are evident in our postural behaviour and vice versa: harmful postural patterns generate poor emotional functioning. Working on the body-mind link brings more awareness which brings psychological growth and healing. However, it is not to replace psychotherapy, which might also be appropriate sometimes.

There are many training schools all over the world, find out about some of them here. Training to be a teacher is a commitment of 3 years and 1600 contact hours. Alongside the professional qualification, many people are motivated to train for the journey of personal growth and development. That personal aspect is the most important part of becoming a qualified teacher.