Central to all teaching at Redway Pilates is the Alexander Technique, a process by which we can learn to co-operate with our body’s natural design, so that all activities can be carried out with the utmost ease, strength, and freedom.
At its heart, the Alexander Technique makes us aware of how we react to a stimulus. The stimulus may be to do something as simple as raise your hand, look at something, stand up, or more complex actions like walking, jumping, running, speaking, singing, dancing, and so on. Many of our troubles in life are not so much caused by what we do, but by how we go about doing it. A stimulus is essentially a call to action, but if that call to action brings with it a host of undesirable tensions, then our ability to effectively perform our chosen activity will be adversely affected.
In business it is understood that we need to put in as little money as possible and get out as much as possible. Minimum effort, maximum result. A business venture that results in more money going out than is coming in will ultimately fail. And yet do we ever stop to apply this same logic to how we use our bodies? For the most part we put far more effort into carrying out actions than is actually required. We have even created a culture that praises and encourages those who over-exert themselves.
But this is illogical, and furthermore, has long term debilitating effects on both mind and body. The Alexander Technique presents us with the tools to change this misuse of ourselves, to discover the minimum effort required for each action, and thereby avoid placing unnecessary and harmful strain on our body systems. As such it is a process of re-education, moving away from old, unhelpful, and even destructive ways of doing, to ways that are in harmony with the natural design of the body.
During lessons we will explore the way you do simple everyday movements and how these can be done with greater ease, thereby accessing your inherent strength, poise, alignment and balance. When this same approach is then applied to more complex physical activities (Pilates, athletics, sports, martial arts, dancing, singing, etc) then these activities become infused with the same attributes, and performance is naturally enhanced.
The Alexander Technique is taught in both private and group sessions.