Results tagged “alexander technique” from Hilary King's Blog

The Back Show 2009 takes place at Earls Court               2 - 4 October

There will be a host of interesting items on display that are designed to help our backs. There will be talks, demonstrations and many exhibitors who will be keen to discuss their approaches to dealing with back pain.

STAT, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, will be one of the Exhibitors there and you will be able to find out more about how Alexander lessons can help people prevent and heal a variety of problems, including back pain. Alexander Teachers will be there to answer your questions and to give short demonstrations of the work. If you would like to find out more, come to the Back show and find us at Stand 311.

http://www.backshowexpo.co.uk/exhibitor-list.php

You can also contact me to find out about individual Alexander Technique lessons in Stoke Newington N16 and my upcoming Introductory Short Course, which is an International Alexander Awareness Week event.

Tel: 020 7254 9206 

Dilys Carrington, one of the senior teachers of the Alexander Technique who had lessons and had trained with F M Alexander himself, died peacefully at her home on the 22nd September 2009.

Dilys Jones was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire and later read Mathematics and Psychology at the University of London. For a short period, she was F M Alexander's secretary at Ashley Place, where Alexander ran his teacher training course and his private teaching practice. Later, Dilys worked as secretary at the Physical Society.

Dilys began taking lessons with FM Alexander in 1938. In 1940 she married Walter Carrington who had graduated from Alexander's Teacher Training Course in 1939. They had three children.

Dilys also started to train as a teacher with F M Alexander, shortly before his death in 1955. She then completed her training with Walter Carrington. Together, they developed and ran the Constructive Teaching Centre, which is still running today and is the oldest Alexander Technique Teacher Training Course.

Throughout her teaching career, Dilys was an active and influential member of STAT, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique and was a member of the STAT Council for a number of years.

Dilys Carrington will be missed by many people.

Anne Battye will be the Guest Speaker at the next London AT Friends' Event. The evening will be a workshop with lots of hands-on work, exploring F M Alexander's concept of 'Giving Directions'.

AT Friends is a charity for people who have already had Alexander Technique lessons and already use the Technique in their daily lives. If you would like to find out more about AT work and wish to get together with others who are also interested in the Technique, you might like to consider joining and attending the workshops they put on.

London AT Friends Event

Tuesday 13^th October

6:30-8:30pm, Friends Meeting House,

8 Hop Gardens, St Martins Lane, WC2N 4EH.

Entrance fee: £5 (concessions £3)

Guest Speaker: Anne Battye

Further Info: http://www.atfriends.org/index.html

International Women's Day 8 March '09
Introductory Alexander Technique Workshop for Women

I will be running a beginner's Alexander Technique workshop, just for women, 10.00am - 12.30pm Sunday morning, 8 March '09.

Earlybird fee is available before 20 February.

Participants will also be able to have a reduced rate follow up private lesson.

Further information here

Or phone Hilary on: 020 7254 9206

With wintry frost and ice here, it's time to take care on pavements. If you are afraid of falling, it is tempting to tense up all over but remember, you will have more sense of your balance and more control over your movements if you refuse to tighten but walk in an alert and free manner - a good time to use all you have learned in your Alexander lessons.

It's also time to keep warm, in order to look after our health. Perhaps we can do our bit for the environment and start off by wearing an extra layer of clothing, rather than turn the heating up without thinking.

Wildlife needs even more help from us at this time of year. I was watching a blackbird trying to drink in the birdbath, which had frozen. He kept pecking at the ice but it was too solid. The blackbird watched as I went out and poured water into the birdbath and seconds later he was happily having a drink and a bath.  My pond has also frozen over, so it is necessary to gently create some openings in the ice, so the frogs that are hibernating there will be able to breathe.

There is good news for people interested in the Alexander Technique and for anyone who is suffering from chronic back pain.

The BMJ Online has just published the results of the ATEAM Research Trial which shows that people who had 1:1 lessons in the Alexander Technique, with a registered teacher, experienced a significant reduction in levels of back pain along with an improvement in the quality of their life. Importantly, these results were sustained one year later.

It is likely that if people maintain their improved use and application of the Technique,  the results could be sustained for even longer but it has not been possible to clinically evaluate this as yet.

Recurrent back pain is extremely common and is one of the main causes of disability and absence from work in developed societies. However, until now there has been little clinical evidence to show which treatments may help people and the ATEAM trial now shows that supervised exercise can have some benefit, massage has less but that the Alexander Technique offers the greatest long term benefit for people with non-specific back pain.

As one of the registered A/T teachers selected to teach on the ATEAM Research Trial, I am particularly pleased that the results show so clearly that learning the Alexander Technique can be of great benefit for people with low back pain. Alexander teachers have known for a long time that the Technique can help people with chronic back pain and it is good that there is now some statistically significant evidence to this effect that we can put before the scientific and medical community.

If you would like more information about the Technique or individual Alexander Technique Lessons in Stoke Newington N16, you may contact me here.

You may also phone me:
+44 (0) 20 7254 9206

Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain BMJ 2008;337:a884

The revised date for introducing the new Match Day Parking Scheme is August 2008

Please note there will be new parking regulations for Zone M. Saturday afternoons will be free parking whilst on weekdays, permits are only required until 5.30 each evening.


CPZ times for Zone M:

Monday - Friday ~ 8.30 am - 5.30 pm
Saturdays          ~  8.30 am - 1.30 pm


Arsenal Match Days:

Weekdays          ~ 5.30 pm - 8.30 pm
Saturdays          ~ 1.30 pm - 4.30 pm
Sun/Bank Hols.  ~ 12 noon - 4.30 pm


Please check out Arsenal Home Match dates, before you park, particularly if you are attending an Alexander Technique Course or Workshop at the weekend.

Look out for Boundary Signs as you enter the area, as these will show the next match dates, a couple of days in advance.  You can also visit www.arsenal.com for fixture dates.

Of course, you can always help the environment and leave your car at home.......

STAT has just announced the launch of the STAT YouTube Channel. 

This interesting new resource is designed to let people find out more about the Alexander Technique in an easily accessible manner. So far, 28 film clips have been posted, which illustrate different teaching styles and approaches to the Technique. These have been produced and edited by David Reed, MSTAT.

You can even see an extract from a film of F M Alexander himself as he taught Margaret Goldie, who in her turn taught the Alexander Technique for over 60 years. There are also films showing some 'first generation' and senior Alexander Teachers, who demonstrate aspects of the Technique plus their own styles of teaching and running workshops.

It is hoped that there will be an increasing number of videos on the site, from a wide variety of sources and STAT would welcome films that show A/T teachers in action.

This is a great way to extend your understanding of the Alexander Technique and it brings the work into a lively focus. Try it!

http://uk.youtube.com/user/TheSTATChannel

Dates for your Diary

Please note that I will not be teaching the Alexander Technique in Stoke Newington from 9th - 16th August, as I will be attending the 8th International Congress of the F M Alexander Technique in Lugano, Switzerland.

This should be an enriching experience, as the Congress offers all teachers of the Alexander Technique a chance to exchange work and ideas with other Alexander teachers from around the world. We may have different styles of teaching but we have all developed our work within the framework of   F M Alexander's theories and teaching practice.

Ellen Graubart a local artist who, incidentally, is familiar with the Alexander Technique, held a solo exhibition which was well worth going to see. You can read about Graubart and see some of her work if you visit the URL below. I'll let the photos of the paintings speak for themselves but will add that they are even better in reality. It was an exciting and vibrant exhibition.

 Art exhibitions are a time when many people end up with back ache, because they are standing for long periods without being aware of the way they are using their bodies. Looking up above eye level to see a painting, without awareness, can contribute to the problem if we contract our neck and the muscles in our lower back. This can create problems such as a hollow back, putting pressure onto the lumbar vertebrae and discs, which causes discomfort and even back pain.

So take yourself to art exhibitions and remember all you have learned in Alexander lessons; be aware of your use, look after your neck and back so that you remain freely poised and pain-free.



Sailing 2 - Ellen Graubart



http://www.millineryworks.co.uk/