An Alexander Technique lesson is instruction about how

to release excess physical tension and restore natural

coordination and balance.

In a typical lesson my teacher, Jano Cohen, gently guides

me to sit or stand or move so that I am holding my body
easily, without stress to my muscles. She uses a light touch
of her hand that suggests to my body what muscles need to
relax and what positions I am holding that need to be
shifted.

It is very subtle and if it weren't for the dramatic difference

as I release pain and tension, I would think that not much
was happening. While I am standing or walking, Jano
lightly touches the body part that needs to widen or
lengthen or reposition in some way.

As she guides my body with her hands, she uses words to

guide me as well. It amazes me. When I think the words, "I
wish my neck to be free," my neck in fact becomes more
free.

During the first half of a typical lesson, I am active. We

might review how I hold my body when I walk or stand or
when I get out of a chair. Jano is teaching and I am
actively learning and relearning how to be with my body.

For the second part of the lesson, I am on a massage table

and Jano works on muscles that didn't fully release in the
active part of the lesson. I just relax and receive while Jano
works.

When it's all over I feel relaxed, but focused, not spacey
the way I often feel after a massage. And I have
information that I can use every day to improve the way I
use my body so that I feel freer and more comfortable in
my body. Once Jano gave me a lesson in my house and
helped me improve on the way my chair was adjusted, so
my neck isn't strained when I sit at my computer.

Here are some typical words that most Alexander teachers

use during a lesson:
I wish my neck to be free
So my head may move forward and up, so that
My spine may lengthen, and
My back lengthen and widen, so that
My arms may lengthen and free, and
My legs may lengthen and free, so that
My neck may be free.

The following is an excerpt from a manual that will be

published by my teacher, Jano Cohen, in the near future:
I wish my head to lead and my whole body to follow
before, during and after the initiation of movement.
I may take up my full space/become my true size.
My occipital/atlas joint may free so that my spine may
lengthen sequentially all the way to my coccyx
My jaw is an appendage to my head, and when at rest
(centered, not in flexion, extension or rotation) in an
upright position is in front of the first few vertebrae of the
neck.
My jaw may release forward and down on its simple
rounded joint as my head moves forward and up.
50% of my weight may be on my heels and 50% on the
balls of my feet
My height may truly divide into two equal parts at my hip
joints, not at the waist (which doesn't exist), so that
bending forward from the hips happens by a rolling of the
pelvis over the heads of the femurs.
I wish to inhibit the urge to lean back or forward with my
upper or lower torso (or push the ribs forward or
backward) - even if this changes my experience of center
or balance.