What is the Alexander Technique?
Definition and Benefits
My personal definition of the Alexander Technique
What is the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is a method for re-educating the unconscious patterns that condition our responses, seeking to improve coordination by reducing unnecessary tension, both physical and mental. The result is a state of greater balance, calm and holistic wellbeing.
With over a hundred years of history, it is backed by scientific studies and is part of the curricula of major artistic institutions such as: Royal Academy of Music (London), Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (Paris), Hochschule für Musik Hanns-Eisler (Berlin), Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Vienna), The Juilliard School (New York), and the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia), among many others.
Benefits of the Alexander Technique
Pain relief
Reduce chronic back, neck and joint discomfort by identifying its causes in your movement patterns.
Better posture and balance
Regain your body's natural alignment without forcing it, releasing tension and improving your presence.
Freedom of movement
Move with greater ease and fluidity in all your daily, professional or sporting activities.
Freer breathing and voice
By releasing tension in the neck and torso, your breathing becomes deeper and your voice more resonant.
Enhance your artistic performance
Especially beneficial for musicians, actors and dancers: improves technique, prevents injuries and increases expressiveness.
Stress reduction
Learn to respond with calm instead of reacting with tension to everyday demands.
Forget "correct posture" and regain your body
Instead of striving to maintain a correct posture, the Alexander Technique proposes that we get to know our body and have a new experience: noticing how natural coordination functions within our organism.
When we stop interfering, the body knows how to reorganise itself. By paying attention to what we do unconsciously—to those automated reactions—we open up the possibility for change. Unconscious patterns become conscious. This self-awareness is the foundation for building our wellbeing.
The process takes time—time to feel and integrate—but even a small pause before acting can open the door to a freer response.
It is not about trying even harder, but rather learning to direct ourselves in favour of our balance in relation to what we want to do.
When we attend to ourselves in this way, we regain time and space to just be.
Every posture is full of movement.
Who was F.M. Alexander?
The news was not long in spreading. Actors, doctors, artists, and intellectuals began to seek him out, curious about his results. Among his students, we find names as prominent as the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the writer Aldous Huxley, the philosopher John Dewey, and the neurophysiologist Sir Charles Sherrington, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1932. He was also studied by the anthropologist and anatomist Raymond Dart, the biologist G.E. Coghill, and the animal behaviour researcher Nikolaas Tinbergen, who would receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1973.
In fact, Tinbergen was so impressed by the benefits of the Alexander Technique that he dedicated a large part of his Nobel acceptance speech to talking about it. Not only did it help him, but he also encouraged his own family to practise it.
Thus, what began as a personal search to regain his voice became a valuable tool for many people interested in improving the way they move, breathe, and relate to their own bodies in daily life.
What happens in a class?
Receiving an Alexander Technique class is a gift to yourself—a moment to return to your centre. It is a space to slow down, listen and feel.
In our first session, we will explore what brings you here and what you need at this stage of your journey. From then on, I will accompany you with gentle and mindful movements, using my hands and words as a guide, with delicacy and clarity.
We will work on a treatment table, in a chair or in motion, depending on what is most suitable for you: walking, sitting, standing… or even during an activity that is part of your daily life or personal expression, such as playing an instrument, practising yoga or holding your camera. Session by session, you will notice changes. Your way of inhabiting your body will become more refined, opening up and awakening.
You will feel balanced once again—present and available.
A “before and after” that is built upon gentleness.
Testimonials
Trustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. ¡Una experiencia que te acompaña para siempre! Con las clases de Germana, mi día a día se ha vuelto más placentero, ligero y agradable. He aprendido una forma de movimiento que calma y clarifica tanto mi pensamiento como mi sentir. Recomiendo estas clases a cualquier persona inquieta, con ganas de aprender y mejorar, ya sea en hábitos cotidianos o en actividades más específicas como la música o la danza. Avanzar con menos tensión es posible :)Publicado en Marta Atcher SolerTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Me ha ayudado a tomar conciencia de mi postura corporal y adecuarla para tener un mejor estado de salud. Lo recomiendo no solo para músicos, tb para personas que están mucho tiempo delante del ordenador.Publicado en Leonor Jiménez MorenoTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Una gran profesional y una gran persona. Me ha ayudado mucho con mi concienciación corporal a la hora de tocar el piano, es un placer trabajar con ella.Publicado en Paloma Marín SalasTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Germana es una persona que cree firmemente en la construcción del bienestar de las personas, por lo que ella se involucra con gran profesionalidad, vocación y sinceridad en la práctica de la Técnica Alexander. Efectivamente, Germana es una profesional que conoce en profundidad los fundamentos y pilares de esta técnica, y así lo aplica en sus clases, creando un ambiente de serenidad, sosiego, autoconsciencia y reflexión que llevan a una mejora de la práctica corporal diaria y su relación con el bienestar físico y emocional. La recomiendo como profesional sinceramente.Publicado en Mari Carmen QuintanaTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Germana es una apasionada entusiasta de la Técnica Alexander. La recomiendo plenamente. Tomar clases con ella es una forma muy agradable de aprender autocuidado, mejorar en bienestar y prevenir lesiones. Sus clases me han aportado una mayor conciencia corporal, un conocimiento de mis hábitos posturales y de movimiento; el descubrimiento de que puedo parar y soltar las tensiones innecesarias. Como pianista, todo esto me ayuda muchísimo a tocar con menos esfuerzo y más disfrute. Yo se la recomiendo a todos mis amigos. Es un aprendizaje para toda la vida.Publicado en Elena Cid IriarteTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Germana Gomez and the Alexander Technique have been great for me! She is bilingual, which made instructions in English easy to follow. I learned and practiced the technique for most of two years, having sessions once a week. I had previously had other types of body work, but this practice is more about not doing than doing. The regular practice and reminders gradually increased my proprioceptive awareness. This has been very transformative for the way I carry myself, as well as how, as a musician, I play my instrument, the piano. I became more aware of micro tensions in my body and stopped using muscles that were not needed in performing an action. The practice improved respiration and created more flow in my movement and playing. It takes time to change habitual patterns of movement and weekly sessions were my regular times to check-in with Germana for observation, correction and reminders. I highly recommend her work because she is very enthusiastic about the efficacy of the Alexander Technique and is committed to teaching it. Germana embodies the technique. Her example makes it easier to integrate.Publicado en Anne MuthTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Germana es una profesora fantástica y muy amable. Muy recomendable dar clase con ella tanto si eres músico como si no puesto que todo lo que enseña es aplicable a la vida cotidiana.Publicado en Francisco Javier González RegaladoTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Estuve recibiendo clases de la técnica con Germana, ha sido un antes y un después en mi vida, no solo con mi instrumento de música sino en mi vida diaria. Y ahora, después de unos años sin clases, me pongo al arpa y mi cuerpo aún se acuerda de las instrucciones, y poco a poco se va posicionando, sin tensiones innecesarias... La recomiendo para músicos, cantantes, actores... y cualquiera que quiera tener conciencia corporal y mejorar su postura... Otro apunte que me parece muy importante y que vemos en clases: la RESPIRACIÓN! ¡Os cambiará la vida!Publicado en Anne-Vinciane DoucetTrustindex verifica que la fuente original de la reseña sea Google. Germana es una profesional en su campo. Y además una gran persona. Si la tienes cerca, no dudes en recibir sus clases.Publicado en belen cobos
