Alexander Technique – FAQs

I have already done a workshop and/or attended lessons. Can I register for more?
Yes, we highly recommend attending as many workshops/lessons as possible. As the nature of the work is not linear, it is greatly beneficial for people to revisit to continue and strengthen their practice.

Is there an age restriction?
No, the Technique is appropriate for people of all ages. Children younger than 15 years should be accompanied by an adult to all lessons.

Is it beneficial even if I can’t practice regularly?
Yes, but attending lessons and practising regularly are highly recommended.

Are drop-ins allowed in the intensives?
You may attend one, two, or all three weeks of the intensives. However, you are required to join in the first week, regardless of how many weeks you plan to attend.

Where do lessons take place?
At Shoonya—usually in the small studio, unless otherwise specified.

Can I take lessons with an injury (e.g., a sprained ankle)?
Yes, 1-on-1 lessons might facilitate a speedier recovery.

Is the Technique internationally recognised?
Yes. Béatrice and Robin are affiliated to the Alexander Technique societies in England and Switzerland. There are many other societies of teachers worldwide.

Do you need dance training to participate?
No, the Technique is open to anyone.

Can I join an intensive without committing to the teacher training programme?
Yes, you are welcome to join any intensive to further and sustain your practice.

Is this a form of exercise?
No. The Technique helps you become aware of your habitual thought and movement patterns, and change them to improve your coordination, breathing, overall functioning, and well-being.

Do you offer one-day workshops?
Yes, we often have Introductions to the Alexander Technique and Breathing Workshops on weekends, which typically run for three hours each. Take a look at our events page to find out when the next one is.

Do you offer the technique at private spaces, corporates and institutions?
Yes, we do. Please contact us if you would like to organise workshops or regular consultations with the teachers at your spaces, organisations, hospitals, schools, colleges, residential communities or offices.

How is the Alexander Technique different from other methods?
The F.M. Alexander Technique is quite unlike anything else around in the psycho-somatic disciplines. Alexander discovered a centrally integrating principle that determines the way all vertebrates use themselves. By consciously employing Alexander’s principle together with the active positive prevention measures and the psycho-somatic conscious directions you develop your underlying postural support musculature and give yourself the freedom to act from choice rather than out of automatic habits. This process is one you can bring to bear on any activity in life which makes the Technique uniquely continuous rather than a therapist dependent or an intermittent process. The Alexander principle, the conscious psycho-physical directions and the continuousness of the process are unique to the Alexander Technique. The effectiveness of the Alexander Technique has been operationally verified for over 100 years.

What happens in an Alexander lesson?
The teacher helps you recognise and identify your habit patterns which often are not so obvious. By teaching you how to employ the Technique in daily life activities like sitting, standing, walking, breathing, bending and so on, you are easily able to apply a better way of functioning in whatever you do. So the Technique is more than a therapy because you learn how to master your own way of using yourself. Specific activities like playing a musical instrument or singing are given particular ways of working that are suitable to overcome individual difficulties and improve performance.

How does the F.M. Alexander Technique work?
By using the Technique you get taller and more self-aware so you can perform every routine daily action with better coordination and skill. It is applicable to any action and can be employed 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The Technique works by getting you more aware of the ways you usually hinder yourself in your everyday actions. Normally these habitual “misuses” (as they are known in AT) are so automatic that they are not observed or felt as anything wrong. By noticing these habits and learning how to stop them you transform your everyday actions.

Are there any exercises I can perform to change these habits?
The Technique begins to help you alter and improve your coordination, breathing and daily actions straight away. In this way your habitual ways of doing things are shown up and you soon discover alternative ways of carrying out any action with less effort and more awareness. You can begin to change these habits at once by applying the basics of the Technique. Teachers often give pupils ways of training so that habit patterns change in a general way by employing what Alexander called “positions of mechanical advantage”. These can be quickly learnt and practised.

Is there any method I can use at any time of the day that can help me improve the way I am doing what I am doing?
The F.M. Alexander Technique 🙂

Have a question we haven’t already answered?
Contact us: 77608 32226, info@shoonyaspace.com, or alexandertechniquebangalore@gmail.com

Guidelines for Alexander Technique Individual Lessons:

  1. Please be on time, try to be here at least 10 minutes prior to your appointment.
  2. Carry a notebook and pen/pencil with you in case you would like to take some notes during or after your lesson.
  3. Kindly note that non-attendance for scheduled lessons shall still need to be paid for according to normal professional standards. Please give 24 hours notice if you need to cancel.
  4. Kindly note that children of 15 years or younger coming for lessons should be accompanied by an adult. Many thanks for your understanding.

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

1-on-1 Lessons
Three Lessons — ₹3,500
₹1,000 for every additional lesson

Intensives
One Week — 7,500 / Two Weeks — 15,000 / Three Weeks — 20,000

Teacher Training Programme
Yearly fee — ₹72,000
Option to pay in monthly instalments (18,000 initial payment followed by instalments of 6,000), with a commitment to attend the full year.

Register now:
1-on-1 lessons — 77608 32226 or info@shoonyaspace.com
Intensives or the Teacher Training Programme — alexandertechniquebangalore@gmail.com