Lessons take place in my home which is located quite close to the city centre of Derry-Londonderry. I have a pleasant, light, dedicated teaching room with a nice view and an ensuite bathroom. Teaching from home means that I can keep the cost of lessons down and make them available to more people. I also offer to teach people in their own homes if they have an appropriate space.
My approach is practical, gentle, and individual, informed by decades of teaching the Alexander Technique, a long career in dance and movement education, and lifelong interests in sport, martial arts, and philosophy.
I work with people from all walks of life - from musicians, actors, dancers, and athletes, to those simply seeking greater ease, awareness, and lightness in everyday life. Together, we explore a more balanced, free, and conscious way of moving and living.
A lesson lasts 45 mins – 1 hour and includes:
Simple, practical activities through which we explore the principles of the AT and get a sense of how they are relevant and can be taken into daily life, whatever particular focus that life has.
Words and physical "guidance" through gentle touch are used by the teacher. The aim of both the words and touch is not to instruct in how to do things "right". Rather they are means towards awareness of the way we "use" ourselves and towards leaving space for new ways that are beyond our embedded habits of attention, and movement.
Lessons are taken in ordinary clothes but it is best to wear reasonably comfortable and loose clothing that doesn’t restrict movement too much. Generally I ask people to have stockinged or bare feet as this can help with awareness of movement, but sometimes people bring comfortable, clean footwear to wear in the lesson and that’s fine.
How many lessons are needed?
In my experience it is rare for people to get a degree of independence in their understanding and practice of Alexander Technique in fewer than ten lessons, so I’d suggest that is the minimum that people new to the Technique should think of.
I think that thirty or so lessons gives almost everyone a really good grounding. Many people, including teachers of the technique, continue to have lessons regularly or intermittently just as great musicians or athletes continue to find an ongoing relationship with teachers and coaches helpful in continuing to develop. I like to use the analogy of learning a musical instrument.
In a few minutes it is possible to explain to someone how to play the violin. “These are the strings, bow, tuning pegs,fingers – now experiment and practice!”. However, that’s generally not enough for most people. We don’t all need to do what F.M Alexander himself did, spending years discovering and refining the principles and practice of the technique. Regular, consistent and well organised guidance helps us to avoid having to “re-invent the wheel”, to learn efficiently and to not get quickly stuck and lose motivation.
The great thing about the Alexander Technique is that we are learning to “play ourselves” and we already have a lot to go on. It’s not like being given a musical instrument that we’ve never had in our hands before.
Reasons to take lessons
All sorts of people take lessons:
- People with a pattern of recurring injury, pain, or other physical problems which they think might be something to do with dysfunctional patterns in how they move through, attend to and react to the world around them.
- People who work in areas that demand a lot of repetitive and/or demanding movement, for example at computer screens, in construction, medicine or dentistry.
- People who work, or play, in ways that demand high levels of physical engagement and sense of detail; musicians, athletes, dancers, martial artists, climbers, actors, singers, horse riders. (Alexander Technique is a core part of the curriculum in many music and theatre colleges and conservatoires).
- People who have demanding and potentially stressful occupations dealing with situations where a calm attentive presence is helpful.
- People living with physical and/or sensory disabilities that make navigating the world challenging.
- People who just feel "compressed", run down, unable to recover their energy, in some way just "stuck" and who feel that they have lost the joy of being a "moving being" that they remember from childhood.
- People who are interested in the ideas and philosophy behind Alexander Technique.
No matter why someone comes the aim of lessons is the same for a teacher - to teach people a helpful, holistic way of attending to themselves in their movement and thinking, in any part of their daily lives, that offers a practical and effective method for taking independent agency in their own process of change and development.
Corporate and Business
Work environments are frequently challenging places in which to maintain good "use of the self". Physical and psychological demands related to constant screen use, repetitive tasks, physical labour, driving, deadlines or important collaborations can become stressful.
Lessons in the Alexander Technique may help staff to maintain equilibrium in their working lives.
Enquiries from HR departments about providing lessons for staff members, privately or under staff development programmes are welcome.
I am also available for introductory talks for businesses and organisations.
The standard price is £40 per lesson. However, I operate a flexible pricing structure to allow access to the widest possible range of people who are interested. I offer various deals to reduce the cost to those who need it. Don't hesitate to ask. I am particularly happy to consider requests for reduced prices from freelance/independent artists. Introductory lessons are always free.
I am available to make home visits for an additional fee to cover extra time and travel.
FAQs
I have tried to answer some of the most common questions about AT in our FAQ section.
Begin with a conversation
If you’re curious about lessons, workshops, or how
the Alexander Technique can support you, I’d love to hear from you.