I offer only in-person lessons, since I was trained especially in the art of hands-on guidance developed by FM Alexander and passed down through the teachers he trained.
While the AT principles are simple enough to be applied by people of any age, private lessons require sustained attention and the ability to closely follow verbal instructions, and are generally most suitable for ages 10+. However, accommodations can be made for younger students when appropriate.
There are no specific “AT exercises” as such, since the AT entails an unfamiliar way of thinking about poise and movement, meant to be applied to any activity. Grasping the essence of this way of thinking usually requires a number of lessons. Once established, it is up to the student to apply it to any and all acts of life.
No. Mindfulness is an English translation of the Pali word sati, which in Buddhist scripture refers essentially to a “lucid awareness” of sensations, thoughts or memories. In other words, it simply denotes the mental faculty of conscious attention. By contrast, the AT is a stepwise, reasoned process—a technique, or way of doing something—that you learn specifically in order to improve your psychophysical coordination.
The AT is not incompatible or mutually exclusive with mindfulness—it can be an aid to mindfulness meditation and vice versa—but they are not the same thing.
No. Physical therapy offers specific, direct instructions for resolving bodily complaints—e.g. strengthening exercises for a sore shoulder, chin tucks to improve poor posture, massage or stretches for tight tendons—whereas the AT is a way of improving the coordination of the self as a whole through conscious reason and awareness.
Yes. A 2002 randomized control trial found that AT lessons “are likely to lead to sustained benefit for people with Parkinson’s disease,” while another from 2008 found that AT lessons have “long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain.” However, it is important to remember that the AT is not a finite treatment, but a skill that one learns and develops over time, with compounding dividends for those willing to put in the practice.
No. The AT is just a way of doing something: a mental tool or procedure. There are techniques for dance, romance, healing, and even for attaining nirvana or enlightenment; the AT is a technique for improving the use of the self.
Before his death, FM Alexander established a rigorous training standard still in use today: the training is a three year long, 1600 hour course taught by a teacher trainer with at least seven years of experience teaching the AT.
