What kind of person takes the three year course to become an Alexander Technique teacher? At first, I believe, it’s the same type of person who decides to take a few Alexander Technique lessons, and there’s no ‘type’ of person. To become a certified Alexander Technique teacher, you enter an Alexander Technique training school. You enter school after studying the Technique with several certified Alexander Technique teachers for some time. The usual requirement is to take more than 30 lessons before taking several ‘audition’ lessons to be accepted into a teacher training program.
Trainees enter school for the same reason students take lessons, which varies. Often people start lessons because they have pain or discomfort in the back, neck, shoulders or hands. Sometimes they seek out Alexander Technique teachers because of headaches, shallow breathing, bad posture both while at and away from the computer, or to reduce stress and tension. People have told me they’ve seen themselves in a picture or video, and are surprised by the way they appear. People will look for an Alexander Technique teacher because they want to present themselves with more confidence in their personal or business lives. Musicians study the Alexander Technique to improve their performance, or to rescue a career threatened by neck, back or hand pain.
The reasons for searching for Alexander Technique teachers are as varied as the people coming for lessons, or the benefits they could receive. People sometimes see starting results, and decide to stay with the technique for an extended period of time. A point may come where a few of them may want to be even more serious about the Alexander Technique. They may think “if one or two forty-five minute lessons a week are doing this much good, imagine three hours a day, five days a week for three years!” That’s the training course, and that’s my story.
I have had a few students who went on to become certified Alexander Technique teachers themselves. That really frees my neck.
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC
(917) 709-4648
So are the Technique teachers good enough to perform on themselves?
Hi Alfred,
Thanks for writing.
Most of the three year training to become an Alexander Technique teacher is dedicated to ‘working on yourself’. I don’t think you have to be ‘good enough’ to work on yourself; you just work on yourself. After just one 45 minute alexander Technique lesson, a student begins to work on his/her self. This may start with ‘freeing your neck’. You don’t have to be good at it; you just do it. Does that make sense? Either way, I’d like to hear from you.
Mark