Alexander Technique
- It’s not just for singers!
What is the Alexander Technique?
Alexander Technique is a BodyMind RE-education process that focuses on making conscious choices about how we interact in the world with our whole self while doing activities.
It has been in use worldwide for over a century. It’s a little bit of mindfulness, neuroscience, physical exploration, and energy work–a real East-meets-West method.
Often, we are so focused on accomplishing a task as quickly as possible that we don’t consider how we are using our bodies to carry out that task. Habits kick in and we are not conscious of the choices we have for making things happen. That’s why it’s a RE-education. We have to re-think how we do things, and in some cases re-learn new ways that are more efficient and effective!
Do you ever rush to go get something and stub your toe because you didn’t notice that you were cutting it too close to the table?
Or have you ever twisted your body while reaching up for something only to find a twinge in your shoulder or your back?
When you are trying to stay focused and concentrate at work or in school, do you notice how you get headache, a neck ache (too), or perhaps how your wrists hurt?
The simplest everyday activities can often cause pain, and you have no idea why...until you work with an Alexander Teacher!
During an Alexander lesson, your teacher will lead you through a series of experiments to explore options for how to complete your activity of choice. It is through these experiments that you discover what’s not working with your current habits (and what may be causing you pain or frustration). Through guided exploration, you will find new choices for how you can accomplish your goals with more ease. And when you go back to your regular life, you may find yourself noticing an old pattern popping up and consider using one of those new options.
This is the subtle way that the Alexander Technique starts to creep into your daily routines - suddenly, something that you’ve never really thought about before becomes a curiosity.
How could I do this WITHOUT that tension I feel in my hip?
How can I bend for that object without straining my back?
What if I moved like this when I’m vacuuming so I don’t have to pull so hard?
Sounds like it’s too easy, doesn’t it? So let’s get specific!
How can the Alexander Technique help you?
What if you experienced less pain in your lower back and wrists after spending hours at a computer?
What if you didn’t have to deal with eye strain while staring at a screen at work?
What if you could stand at your shift for long periods of time without aching feet and calves?
What if you could answer the phones all day, give presentations, or teach a classroom of 8 year-olds and not lose your voice?
What would it be like to walk in front of your colleagues to give a presentation and feel a level of calm that allows you to present without anxiety?
What if you could sing or play your instrument without that old injury flaring up? Or without creating new injuries?
What if you could walk without that pesky pain in your hips or your knees?
What would it be like to put on your socks and shoes without a twinge in your back?
Who can find help through this process?
Alexander Technique can benefit anyone who desires to find greater mental clarity, awareness, ease, stability, and a healthier physical function. From athletes to administrative assistants, from singers to surgeons, anyone, in any field, can benefit from this process, physical vitality, and awareness.
Alexander Touch Communication
As busy humans, we live our daily lives with very little awareness of how we are affected by the stimulus of stress, our expectations, or our reactions to life’s challenges.
Alexander Technique is a BodyMind education that brings us back to awareness of how our whole system is constantly under the strain and the choices we have for how we respond with our whole self (body & mind).
With “Touch Communication” an Alexander Technique teacher uses a form of non-manipulative touch to bring awareness back to our body’s responses and to communicate new possibilities through the nervous system in order to support the student’s learning.
Psycologists call this a form of co-regulation. Touch Communication is a specialized part of the Alexander lesson that takes years to master and is the final part of a teacher’s training which must be practiced for several hundreds of hours before a teacher is certified.
"I can personally say that Amy really knows what she’s doing. She has worked so hard to really internalize this powerful practice, but she also brings a real intuition and kindness to her work that I’m not sure would be possible to teach. Her adjustments seem like such simple ideas, but as you work through the process you realize that something on the opposite side of your body has relaxed. She has simply adjusted my stance and I’ve felt my breath open up, and she gave me the most amazing idea about balancing out my hips which had a real affect on the tension in my jaw… it’s really been a gift, she’s a wonderful person, and also a wonderful, and very compassionate, teacher."
Judeth Shay Comstock, Soprano and Actress
"Amy Mushall presented an Alexander Technique workshop for my Voice and Articulation Class at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs. Her knowledge is impeccable, her approach inclusive and inviting. The students enjoyed their experience immensely and look forward to working with her again!"
Solveig Olsen, Co-Director of Music, UCCS
"YOU ROCK MY WORLD! I know you're not certified yet, but you've done so much that other very experienced teachers haven't broken through with--mostly by focusing on the student's experiences, goals, and questions through the AT lens."
Brooke Graves, Singer and student of Alexander Technique
What is an Alexander Trainee vs. a Certified Teacher?
Amy Mushall is currently in the final phase of the 1600-hour Alexander Technique Teacher Training program with Total Vocal Freedom.
In this final phase of training, Amy is currently accepting new clients! Similar to how a doctor practices medicine in a residency program, an Alexander Trainee graduates to their final phase of training in order to refine and advance their teaching skills. These lessons are offered at a deeply discounted rate.
Amy has trained under five Alexander Teachers from around the world - Darci Balcom, Michael Hanko, Peter Jacobson, Molly Kittle, and Eleni Vosniadou - and has trained under guest master teachers Cathy Madden, Tommy Thompson, and Sarah Barker.
She is currently providing Alexander Technique Lessons (outside of the voice studio) as a part of her practicum hours and anticipates completing her training certification by the summer of 2024.
As anyone who has studied Alexander Technique, it is impossible not to infuse the principles of this work in their daily activities - and in their teaching!
As a student of the work since 2018, Amy has slowly implemented the principles of this work in her voice studio as a unique way of providing singing instruction with the belief that when Your Instrumental Body is balanced and poised and your mind is present to how the body is functioning as your music-maker, you are better able to apply vocal technique and make music in an artful, creative, holistic way.
