Cecile Raynor Alexander Technique & Thai Yoga

For decades, Cecile has been walking around Jamaica Pond thinking how nice and helpful it would be for walkers and runners to know about the Alexander Technique. This summer she is offering free hands-on demonstrations by the Boat House on Sunday afternoons around 2pm. At this same time and location, there is an impromptu jamming session by local musicians throughout the summer weather permitting of course!

The Alexander Technique is a mind/body learning process based on the fact that the balance of the head, neck, and back has a fundamental influence upon the functioning of the whole person. It teaches us to become aware of when and how we interfere with our postural reflexes so that we can let go of the unnecessary habitual tension thus created and eventually prevent it.

Teachers guide their students verbally as well as physically using a delicate touch. Students spend part of a lesson lying down on a table; they are also guided through simple activities such as getting in and out of a chair, bending, sitting, walking, or getting up after lying down. Teachers also work with particular relevant activities such as working with a computer or playing a musical instrument.

The Alexander Technique is a unique tool that can help you move from "poor posture" to poise. It gives you the experience that poise has more to do with how you think than with muscular effort. The Alexander Technique teaches you a way to function that is more efficient than the daily cycle of tension and relaxation people get caught into.

Basically Alexander Technique helps people with chronic pain and tension shed long-established habits and relearn how to use their bodies with ease and grace. Lessons in the Alexander Technique taught me how to sit in a state of lumbosacral poise and my chronic low back pain gradually became cured.