WHY STUDY THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

PAIN IS A MOTIVATOR
"The Alexander Technique enables people to get better faster and stay better longer. Its practitioners stress unification in an era of increasing specialization. This is undoubtedly the best way to take care of the back and alleviate pain."   Jack Stern, MD, PhD, Neurosurgeon

POSTURE IS A MOTIVATOR
One finds oneself slumping at a desk. The husband/wife/mother says to "straighten up." However, one can't seem to maintain "good posture." 

"Human activity is primarily a process of reacting unceasingly to stimuli received from within or without the self."
F.M.Alexander,
The Use of the Self, 1932

THE ARTS ARE A MOTIVATOR
Actors need stage presence. They want to be able to freely express themselves and to get out of their own way. They want to take on the physical characteristics of their character but their own habits may interfere.  

Living in Los Angeles brings many actors to Pamela's private practice. In addition to working with individuals employed in film and television, she has taught in the Theater School at USC; The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum; and The New York Film Academy.

Athletes, need to know their bodies. And, as importantly, they need to know their minds. How they think influences their performance. Pamela has had the privilege to work with professional athletes and found particular satisfaction collaborating with a pro baseball pitcher exploring the thoughts, form, and use he brought to his game.

Dancers get great value from studying the Alexander Technique by learning how to organize for movement. Pamela journeyed to Russia in 1998 to teach the Technique at the International Festival of Movement and Dance on the Volga, Yaroslavl, Russia. She has been invited again to teach at this Festival in August 2006.

Musicians spend long hours in private and orchestral rehearsals. They often can be over using their smaller muscle groups without the support of the larger muscle groups. The whole self needs to work together easily for the excessive repetitive use to be managed well. And, since oxygen flow is vital to replenishing the muscles, what the musician is doing with his breath is of utmost concern.  

Working with musicians is especially rewarding for Pamela and during her teaching career she has work with numerous individual singers and instrumentalists and taught at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute; The Colburn School of Performing Arts; the Music Departments at UCLA and the California State University, Northridge.

Singers have understandable concern regarding access to their breath. They want to be able to freely express themselves and to have their breath available to support their sound. Mr. Alexander was considered a Specialist in Respiration as early as 1905 and his insights in how to stop interfering with our breathing continue to be relevant today. How we use our selves definitely affects our breathing. Pamela sees numerous singers in her private practice, teaches the Technique to the South Bay Children's Choir at El Camino College and is on the faculty of Opera Works.