Teaching the Alexander Technique Online

Adapting to the Challenges of Covid-19

I’ve been teaching face to face Alexander Technique classes since 1987 and I now also include online work. During the Covid-19 epidemic, there were many months when we were not allowed to give in person lessons, so we had to adapt and began teaching the Alexander Technique online. I attended an online Primal Alexander course, the brainchild of Mio Morales, to develop my online teaching skills

Hilary King experimenting with movements on Mio Morales’ Course

The 12 week CPD course also extended my range of teaching procedures which I use in face to face lessons. Another benefit was that I connected with international AT teachers during that long period of time when we had minimal contact with others, which was great.

An Expanded Alexander Technique Vocabulary

Mio’s developed a new vocabulary for online work, to explain the concepts of the Alexander Technique. For instance Mio talks of allowing ‘Ease’ in ourselves, as an alternative to the traditional wording of allowing movements to be ‘Free‘. This extended vocabulary expands our ability to communicate the Alexander Technique to students, particularly online. Mio also created a series of ‘etudes’, in which movement patterns can be explored whilst thinking about our body use. whilst we perform them.

Online Alexander Lessons

Online lessons are now regularly available. I have taught clients when they have been unable to come to their in person sessions and also people from many parts of the world where they do not have access to an Alexander teacher.

Interview for Hackney Magazine

Leave a Reply

Hackney Magazine Article

I was honoured to be interviewed by Hackney Magazine, who published an article about how the Alexander Technique can help people during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 17 2020). I’m not alone in finding the AT a great self-help tool that we can utilize in many ways. It helps me keep calmer and more positive; I use it to reduce discomfort and tension; it recharges my batteries and helps me manage stress.

Active Rest Procedure in Semi-supine

The lying down procedure is the easiest way to start using the AT, even if you haven’t had lessons. It’s more effective than relaxation exercises – the AT reaches the parts other disciplines just don’t reach! You can find more info about how to practice the Active Rest procedure here. The Alexander Technique has many more applications than I was able to mention in the article, that can aid us during this stressful period.

There is a positive gift to be found within lockdown: STOP

Many of us have to stay home, to stop our usual activities and very often our work. So we have to stop living in our habitual way. Despite the hardship and trauma, this stopping can be a gift, as it allows us to experience living differently and see the world afresh. For instance, many people appreciate the fact that there’s less pollution now, plus enjoy having more time with their children – and they are spending less money.

I’ve just moved house and immediately had to self-isolate with lockdown. Fortunately I’m used to living on my own and looking after myself. It’s hard not seeing my family and new grandson and it’s hard asking for help from people I don’t know – but I am very grateful to my new neighbours in Umfreville Road. They are so welcoming, offering help and shopping for me. I’ve had to adapt to new ways of doing things – very abruptly – and the Alexander Technique has helped with this too.

Letting go of old habits allows us to adapt

These are challenging times and we all need to adapt. Psychologists know that change in itself is a major stress factor for most people. Incorporating Alexander principles can help us gain some choice over how we respond to these changes and stresses. Having the AT, a tool we can use, also helps us avoid feeling powerless.

Choosing not to be ruled by old habits is a skill worth developing. Learning the Alexander Technique helps us to stop and let go of unhelpful habits, so we can choose new ways of acting and being. This allows us to be adaptable, which is invaluable, particularly when we’re facing such huge changes in our way of life.

For those of us fortunate enough to avoid the virus, remember what Charles Darwin said:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”.

Hilary King is teaching Alexander Technique in Harringay N4

Leave a Reply

I have relocated my teaching practice to the North side of Finsbury Park. I am teaching in Harringay, N4. This is part of the London Borough of Haringey – and yes, they have different spellings.

It was with mixed feelings that I said goodbye to my Stoke Newington home where I taught the Alexander Technique for 33 years. I miss my lovely old teaching room but enjoy the new one in Harringay.

Goodbye to my Alexander studio in Stokey

My Alexander Technique studio in Harringay

The Harringay Ladder N4

I now live and work in the Harringay Ladder . The name can be confusing, as Harringay is part of the eastern side of the London borough of Haringey. It is very close to the site of the old Harringay Stadium and Arena, which was a greyhound racing, motorcycle speedway and sports venue. I remember seeing many greyhounds being walked in local parks, years ago now. The stadium was closed in 1987 and is now the Arena Shopping Park. It is possible to get some free parking there, which is useful!

The Ladder is a series of roads that run between Green Lanes and Whiteman Road. On a map, they look very ladder-like. These roads are one way and if you come to me by car, you enter Umfreville Road from the Green Lanes end. There is restricted parking on the road and you need to pay by RingGo

Transport Links

Transport links are very good. My house is only a couple of minutes walk to the Harringay Green Lanes Overground station. This runs east-west between Gospel Oak and Barking.

Also nearby is the Harringay Rail Station with mainline trains running north-south from here.

About 12 minutes walk away is Manor House Tube station with the Piccadilly Line.

The buses serving the area are – 29, 141, 341 and W5.

Further info about my Alexander Technique teaching practice in Harringay:

Contact me for full details of my address, fees, lessons, courses and workshops.

Misha Magidov

2 Replies

Another sad notification, this time for Misha Magidov who died on 28 May ’19 aged 90.

Misha ran the North London Teacher Training Course where I qualified as an Alexander teacher back in 1987. Misha had trained with Patrick Macdonald, who in turn trained with FM Alexander himself. Misha was always so caring towards his students and his valuable teaching gave me a wonderful basis from which to work on myself and to teach the AT to others. Misha ran his course for many years with his lovely wife, Judith, until she went to Israel for cancer treatment but sadly died in 2005. Misha continued to teach in Israel but he visited the UK occasionally to run some workshops for AT teachers. We were always so pleased to experience his work again and he will be missed by many people.

I took this photo of Misha in 2008 when I participated in a Workshop that he ran in London.

Kevin Saunders

1 Reply

It was with great sadness that I learned of Kevin Saunders’ death {2019}. Kevin came to me on and off for many years for Alexander Technique lessons and during that time he trained as a yoga teacher then, I’m happy to say, as an Alexander teacher. Kevin went on to develop an approach to yoga teaching that utilised his AT training and wrote an excellent Blog on the topic.

Kevin Saunders. Photo: Ron Cox 2003

This lovely photo of Kevin shows him about the time he first came to me for Alexander lessons. Kevin thoughtfully explored many ways to incorporate the AT into his daily life – whilst playing the guitar, working in IT and fine- tuning his yoga.

The only photo I took of Kevin was when he challenged his sense of balance. He performed a deep ‘position of mechanical advantage’ whilst on a wobble board. Not something every pupil is asked to do, or could even think of performing!

Kevin Balancing on a Wobble Board

Kevin came to lessons with an intellectual curiosity and gentle thoughtfulness about the human condition. He discussed theories and explored many different ways of using the AT. He really made it into a way of life, which was great. I always found it stimulating to teach Kevin and in turn, I learned a lot from him over the years.

I miss him and I’m sure Kevin will be missed by many other people as well.

Successful ‘Stress? Take it Lying Down’ event

Leave a Reply

Stress? Take it Lying Down

We ran a very successful event for Alexander Technique Week 2018, the theme of which was ‘Stress? Take it Lying Down’. I am very grateful to The Old Church N16 as they kindly allowed me to use the premises for free, as we were fundraising for the local charity Safaplace. I also want to thank my colleague Jessamy Harvey, for all her help in setting up and running the event.

Over 40 people joined in the lying-down procedure. All Photos: Nell Greenhill

The Church looked beautiful and very atmospheric with all the candles and low lighting! We were fortunate to have two speakers from Safaplace, Sarah Finke and Rose White. They gave moving accounts about the formation of the charity and why it was set up in order to promote the positive mental health of schoolchildren.

I then described how the Alexander Technique can help us cope with stress as well as helping us be more poised. I also discussed how the AT explores the mind-body relationship and helps us unlearn habits we’ve developed, that can interfere with the way our bodies need to work.

Caroline Sears followed with a talk about Alexander in Education. This relatively new organisation has been introducing the Alexander Technique to schools and colleges in the UK plus many institutions around the world. The AT work helps students handle exam and performance stress, plus avoid developing problems such as tendonitis.

Lie-down time

After this, it was lie-down time. The Old Church was full of quiet bodies as Natasha Broke talked people through the Active Rest procedure. All the teachers then gave people an experience of AT hands-on work whilst lying down. All the teachers assisting on this event are registered with STAT and are alumni of LCATT, an AT teacher training course where I am a visiting teacher.

Six AT teachers gave mini taster sessions

Finally, we gave some mini taster hands-on turns whilst sitting and standing, to those that wished to explore the AT a little more.

Many thanks to Janet Foster who looked after the door, the friends who ran the bar and helped out and Nell Greenhill for taking the photos – all of whom, like the AT teachers, offered their time and services for free.

Donations to Safaplace

I am pleased to say that we raised over £423 for Safaplace – thanks to the generosity of all the participants!

If you would like to read more about Safaplace and / or would like to donate to them, you can do so here: https://safaplace.org/

Why I Trained as an Alexander Teacher

Leave a Reply

The Ballet Years

I had lessons in classical ballet from the age of 5 and serious training began from the age of 11 when I became a boarder at the Royal Ballet School. It was sometimes wildly exciting and it was great to visit the Royal Opera House, sitting in the Royal Box during rehearsals! But life was very pressurised and quite lonely and stressful. I was put on diets to slim down and I acquired strains to my Achilles tendon and lower back. I’d tried too hard to increase my flexibility. My body was always under examination and deemed to be ‘lacking’. Looking back, I can understand why it didn’t seem to belong to me.

In my late teens I was accepted into the Sadler’s Wells Opera Ballet (now ENO) where I happily performed for a number of years. I met my opera-singer husband and first heard about the Alexander Technique then – but sadly did not have AT lessons until some years later.

Hilary King performing with Sadlers Wells Opera, Welsh National Opera and BBC TV

Build-up of Stress Studying for a Degree

Later, I gave up dancing so that I could be where my husband worked (as women still tended to do back then). We had children, got divorced and then my ex moved abroad. I needed to re-train so I could earn some money. I studied for a degree majoring in Psychology and was in one of the last groups of people that were fortunate to have grants and were able to study for free.

Studying for a degree was hard as a mature student and single parent with 2 small children. Then my mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Life had become extremely stressful and I was concerned that if I went on my health would deteriorate and I would end up like my mother.

One of my Psychology lecturers, Peter Ribeaux, also taught the Alexander Technique at college, so I dived in and took AT lessons. I began to gain tools that I could use to calm myself down and clear my head. I studied better, my marks improved and was less cranky with my long-suffering children. Using the lying down procedure in particular helped transform me, as it gave me an immediate tool to help myself with. The AT also helped me with my old back injury. I learned to listen to my body and began discovering what it needed, rather than just making it perform for me, as I had done through the ballet years.

Semi-Supine Emergency Kit!

I gained my degree – just missing a first – which was sad but also wonderful. I’d not had any A levels, because ballet dancers were not deemed to need brains in those days (!) I then explored the idea of training in dance therapy and did some psychotherapy training but finally decided to train as an Alexander teacher. I was so impressed by the beneficial changes that had come about in me through having AT lessons.

Alexander Technique Teacher Training

I commenced my Alexander Technique teacher training at the Ribeaux school and completed it at the North London Teacher Training Course run by Misha Magidov, qualifying in 1987. I have had many happy years of teaching and am very grateful that I’ve been able to work in such a wonderful discipline that helps me look after myself in both my my mind and body, as I teach others how to do the same.

Walk With Awareness on Slippery Paths

Leave a Reply

Use the Alexander Technique While You Walk

Winter brings rain, fallen leaves, ice and sometimes snow on the ground, which can make our footpaths very slippery and treacherous. We need to walk with awareness on slippery paths in order to maintain an easy poise and balance.

Icy Newington Green

You can see how quickly snow compacts into slippery ice, here on Newington Green – making it so easy to skid, slide and lose your balance, if you are not careful.

Observe Your Reactions and Walk Mindfully

How do you cope with slippery surfaces and paths? If you are aware, you can notice your reactions as you think of going out into the cold – do you start becoming tense at the mere thought of icy conditions? Perhaps you can say ‘no’ to bracing and choose not to do that, so that you can avoid building up unnecessary tension. Observe how you walk on slippery surfaces and experiment by relaxing and being thoughtful about how you move – and you may well experience a different, easier way of walking on slippery surfaces so you feel more secure and confident.

Try Ice Grippers on Your Boots

Adding ice grippers to your footwear is a practical aid to helping you cope with icy conditions. They make it much easier to balance and to avoid tensing up if you have a fear of falling.

I know from my own experience that it is very tempting to tighten up our legs, feet and ankles, the muscles around our hip joints and even our neck and shoulder muscles when walking on slippery surfaces. Most of the tightening is the result of anticipating a possible fall and this can
be tiring plus restricts our movements and circulation – and it’s a waste of energy!

Say ‘No’ to Bracing!

We really don’t need to brace ‘just in case’ we might slip and fall. This doesn’t serve us. In fact, tightening our neck muscles reduces the information we can obtain about our balance, and locking our ankles and hips also interferes with our ability to fine tune our balance. A recent Research Trial concluded that Alexander Technique lessons aided older people with their balance and fear of falling, so that they felt more secure.

I remember an occasion when I was walking tentatively on an icy pavement and I was gradually getting very tight muscles around the tops of my legs – then a teenage girl sprinted down the icy road in front of me with beautiful grace and freedom of movement. Seeing her easy running skills reminded me to keep freeing up my neck muscles and my whole body as I moved and I felt a lot more comfortable as a result! When we do this, we are able to obtain more information about our balance, not only from the structures in our ears but also from the tiny movements our heads make as we walk and the AT can help us to do this. It is always helpful to walk mindfully but it is particularly important when paths are slippery.

If you would like to try out the AT, 1:1 Alexander Technique lessons are available on a regular basis.

Reaching Up and Bending Down

Leave a Reply

Harvest Time!

Even in my London garden, there is fruit to be picked and enjoyed in autumn and I have been doing just that. It’s made me aware of how necessary it is to think of my body-use whilst harvesting. Just how do I climb my apple tree and look up and reach for fruit, whilst looking after my neck? How do I bend down to look under the leaves of raspberry plants to search for the often hidden little balls of sweetness, or pick up windfalls from the grass whilst looking after my back?

Looking Up and Reaching to Search for Apples

It is one thing to briefly look at something above our heads and it is fairly easy to do this mindfully and freely. However it is much harder to maintain our balance and freedom in our neck muscles when we spend a long period of time looking up, as when picking apples, birdwatching, or painting a ceiling.

There are always some apples that are too high to reach – and awkward corners of rooms that can be tricky to get at when you want to paint them! It can be tempting to end-gain and just get on with the job as fast as possible, forgetting to look after ourselves. These situations illustrate why using the Alexander Technique can be so valuable, as we can use it to be aware of our body-use and remind ourselves not to over-reach, or tighten and compress the neck. Continually over-using one set of muscles creates uncomfortable tension and leads to patterns of mis-use. It helps if we frequently allow our heads to change position and come back to a more ordinary poised stance for a while, in order to consciously allow the neck muscles to free up and lengthen out again.

Deep Monkey position whilst gardening.jpg

Gardening Requires Lots of Bending Down! Monkey Position to the Rescue

Of course we bend down at all sorts of times in order to put shoes on, or pick up toys from the floor etc but in gardening we often have to spend a long time bending over whilst weeding and planting. Being mindful about the way we bend is important, so that we can protect our necks, avoid getting back pain and maintain a good balance during our movements.

For people who have AT lessons, learning how to ‘Inhibit’ or stop, can sometimes be quite tricky and they may ask ‘Why are we having to do this?’ Well, it is an invaluable concept and when we use it during our daily activities, we give ourselves a very brief pause before starting a task or making different type of movement, which allows us the chance to choose how to do something, so we can avoid getting into old habits that mess us up.

To illustrate – rather than bending forwards with my old habit of curling over, which used to compress my spine and torso, I can pause briefly and remind myself to hinge from the hip joints, so that I fold forwards with a lengthened spine and a body that is able to move and breathe freely. In this way I am also utilising the AT procedure which F M Alexander called ‘the position of mechanical advantage‘ but is now nick-named ‘monkey position‘. This is a movement that comes quite naturally to children and some adults. We use it in a variety of ways, using a deep version to reach the floor, or a very slight angling forwards with the knees slightly bent whilst cleaning our teeth, for instance – and it’s so much more comfortable for our backs! The woman in the photo above is using an adaptation of the monkey position, in order to check out the lawnmower.

Semisupine Active Rest Lets Our Spine Decompress

It is also a really good idea to lie down in the semisupine position at the end of doing such activities, so that we can allow our spines – and whole body – to decompress and to free up.

Applying the Alexander Technique to Our Everyday Activities

When I teach, I spend a lot of time Alexander Technique lessons helping students to learn how to sit, stand and walk freely. Students can then transfer this learning into other activities and they learn some specific procedures like Monkey and Active Rest procedures. However, some people wonder how to use everything they learn out in the ‘real world’ and make the AT a tool they can use throughout life.

Therefore, as part of the lesson, I will sometimes explore different activities with pupils, so that they can think about how to apply and include the AT into their thinking whilst performing these.

Examples of activities I’ve explored with pupils recently:

one student thought about how to do exercises the physio had given her
two explored how to use a mouse and keyboard
another fine tuned how to play a guitar
one tried moving a table differently
and one explored how to bend over in order to clean the bath!

The important words here are ‘how to’. When we include the ‘how’ into our awareness and change the way in which we perform actions, we can begin to recover from conditions such as back pain or RSI.

Such a relief!

Remember

STOP
THINK
CHOOSE HOW TO RESPOND

This short video of the lying down procedure was produced by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, STAT: https://youtu.be/NhxMNou1Tfo

Some Benefits of Learning First Aid

Leave a Reply

First Aid as CPD

Over the 30 years I have been teaching, I have attended several short First Aid courses and recently took part in a full day Emergency First Aid at Work Course with Siren Training, which was organised by The Old Church where I act as a volunteer (thank you very much!). Fortunately I have never yet been in a situation where I have needed to use First Aid. Usefully, First Aid can also be seen as part of my Continuing Professional Development as an Alexander Teacher. Not all Alexander teachers have done First Aid and I would like to encourage them to do so, as I came away feeling reassured and confident that I know more about what to do in an emergency and can better care for any vulnerable AT pupils.

So Why Might I Need First Aid?

Some students that come for Alexander lessons are at risk of having diabetic or epileptic seizures, some may be prone to fainting, whilst elderly pupils may be more vulnerable to having heart attacks for instance – and accidents can happen any time. Knowing what to do under such circumstances will help both me and my pupils, should needs arrise. Of course everything I’ve learned on the First Aid course can be transferred to helping anyone who needs such care, so it will also be valuable when I’m involved with local community activities. With our health service increasingly under pressure, I do feel reassured that I am more likely to be able to help someone until one of our brilliant NHS Paramedics arrive.

The range of topics covered during the First Aid at Work course can be seen on the certificate below and cover most of the situations that I could come across in my work. These courses have a big experiential and hands-on content, so I came out with some very practical skills but I did also have to take a very short written test, in oder to get the qualification – that was a surprise and it was the first I’ve done for many years!

First Aid for All?

It would be great to have every Alexander Teacher doing some training in First Aid. These courses offer knowledge and skills I believe we should all have – but I hope we never need to use them!

In fact I would like to see First Aid taught throughout the country in schools and colleges so that everyone, eventually, gains at least basic First Aid skills.