"The Alexander Technique doesn't teach you something new to do. It teaches you how to bring more practical intelligence into what you are already doing: how to eliminate stereotyped responses: how to deal with habit and change.". Frank Pierce Jones, Tufts University

Why do we become more curved, slower and heavier with the passing of the years?

It is accredited to the agitated life we live, to work and old age. Or perhaps it is due to a specific moment, of excess weight or exhausting work. We never tend to think that it is something that we cultivate along the life we live and that it only worsens as the years go by.

Have you ever observed how long we remain in the same position during the day? For instance, how many hours we are seated, be it in front of the television or of the computer or in the office? The fact that we repeat, day after day, determined positions for hours on end, affects our ability to observe how we are using our body. This mechanical repetition creates the conditions for the installation and crystallization of bad postural habits. Without self-observation, we deteriorate our physical structure along the years thus causing pains and illnesses so common nowadays such as, muscular stiffness, back pains, stiff necks, breathing difficulties, constant physical and mental fatigue, discouragement, etc.

These bad habits tend to persist and are not corrected with a simple and direct method, or through certain kinds of treatments, but through a process of re-education. Learning Alexander's Technique's can stimulate self-observation of your daily routine preventing the crystallization of these bad postural habits and their harmful effects on the organism.

"Through the Alexander Technique I was able to rehabilitate my running after 25 years of being unable to run through injuries, to the extent that I was able to set ten world records for veterans in 1982." Paul Collins, marathon runner

O desequil�brio da cabe�a causado pelo excesso de tens�o do pesco�o no exerc�cio f�sico pode sobrecar-regar a coluna vertebral e trazer uma s�rie de problemas.

A TA pode fazer com que o corpo esteja bem organizado durante a atividade f�sica, sem causar preju�zo para a sa�de.

Alexander Technique can be of great benefit to athletes and all that practice any physical activities. Alexander discovered that most of the people have a faulty sensory appreciation in their kinetic perception (kinesthesia is the sense by which one notices the muscular movements, the weight and the position of the body in space). This means having a wrong perception as to how much muscular effort is necessary to perform a certain physical activity or to simply maintain an upright posture. This faulty sensory appreciation can put at risk the stability of the body itself, because without an exact notion of these limits, work overloads can lead to problems like muscular strain, stiffness of the neck, poor performance, joint lesions, wearing of the vertebral disks, amongst others.

Alexander's Technique lessons can recover the precision of the sensations we have of our body and its movement, creating the conditions for a balanced posture, freer reathing, mobility of the joints and the appropriate use of muscular tonus in different physical activities. With economy and precision of the neuromuscular activity the sportsman can reach better results in his performance.

"The things that don't exist are the most difficult to get rid of." F.M. Alexander

Stress is a response to certain stimuli that we receive every second, small and unpredictable problems that occur without prior preparation. When these stimuli occur, we create a series of neuro-muscular reactions as a response to them. The problem is that due to psychophysical disorganization that we acquire along life, we tend to respond to these stimuli with excess of tension and effort. They remain active in us independent from our present state and even after we have solved such problems. We end up always reacting with conditioned responses to everyday problems. They are responses that do not allow a healthy adaptation in a world that is each day growing faster.

In the Alexander Technique lessons, the student can learn to identify and inhibit certain patterns of habitual response, in this way, stimulating the choice of new responses in situations in which the individual is involved.

"A series of problems such as a constant hoarseness made me discover that I needed to learn how to use the body - I made unnecessary effort to speak and kept limiting postures, like shrinking my neck that shortened my breath and affected my voice. Alexander's Technique is only a process: we learn what not to do, how to alleviate tension and how to move freely allowing the flow of energy" Camila Pitanga, actress

"You cannot separate your voice use from the rest of you. The impulse to communicate vocally comes from and uses your whole person,, not merely the vocal organs. And however your mechanical use is affected, so is your voice which is an expression of yourself..."Michael McCallion � The Voice Book

"As a ballerina, I was used to taking my body to the maximum limit and through Alexander Technique's classes I learned the importance of stopping and observing. The understanding of the appropriate use of the energy, of the muscular tonus, and of the intention in the performance of the movements brought more subtileness, freedom and integrity to my way of moving and dancing."Jaqueline Gimenez - Grupo Corpo's former ballarina

Throughout life we suffer several influences from our surroundings and independent from what qualities they possess, these influences mold our posture and movement. Before the ballet dancer executes a dance movement, all these acquired influences and automations in his body manifest themselves and telegraph movement. One of the advantages of the Alexander Technique for the ballet dancer is to bring attention to the moment that precedes movement, while body and mind organize themselves to execute a certain task.

"Forty years ago, after one of my concerts, Adrian Boult told me that I would be crippled if I continued to conduct in a specific manner, and that I should take Alexander Technique classes. Today still I take Alexander Technique lessons, as well as music; the learning process is endless. Not only does it affect the use of the body but also your self-image and behavior. The Technique can make miracles for those who experience pain and difficulties that come with time." Colin Davis, main conductor of LSO - BBC Music Magazine