The Alexander Technique Workbook: Your Personal Program for Health, Poise and Fitness (Health Workbooks) [Paperback]

Richard Brennan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Element Books Ltd; Reprint. edition (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852303468
• ISBN-13: 978-1852303464
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,013,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Brennan has studied the Alexander Technique since 1983 and has been teaching the technique full time since 1989 he travels throughout Europe giving talks and courses on the Technique. He has taught the Technique at many educational centres including Galway University, Limerick University, Dartington College of Arts, Middlesex University and in the Music Department of DIT, Dublin

Richard has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines including The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune, The Irish Examiner, Cosmopolitan, Hello and Home and Country; he has appeared on BBC I & RTE 1 and been featured on BBC Radios 4 & 5 as well as many local Radio around Ireland and the UK. He has written four books on the Alexander Technique, which are translated into eight languages including Russian and Hebrew which are on sale world-wide and his first book - The Alexander Workbook is currently being undated after have sold more than 100,000 copies. He has also written many articles on the technique for a variety of newspapers and magazines.

Richard lives in Galway, Ireland where he is the director of the Alexander Teacher Training College, Ireland (STAT and ISATT approved). He has also been the President and Vice- President of the Irish Society of Alexander Technique Teachers. (ISSAT) and he also guest presenter for the AmSat annual conference in San Fransisco in 2009 and gives workshops at the AT Congress.

For any further Information please visit www.alexander.ie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Alexander Technique!, April 8, 2002

By 

Tim Burness (Brighton, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alexander Technique Workbook: Your Personal Program for Health, Poise and Fitness (Health Workbooks) (Paperback)

Not having had a course of Alexander Technique lessons myself, I still managed to gain a considerable amount of physical and mental self-awareness through reading this book, helped by a partner of mine who was having regular Alexander sessions at the time. A course of lessons from a qualified practitioner is no doubt necessary to gain the full benefits of the Technique, but many of the ideas and suggestions from this book still remain with me several years after first coming across them. They have helped me considerably with my posture as a singer and guitarist.

According to F.M. Alexander, "You translate everything, whether physical or mental or spiritual, into muscular tension". The Alexander Technique is a deceptively simple way of becoming more aware of the balance, posture and co-ordination of our bodies as experienced in everyday activities. It begins with basic self-awareness of how we sit, how we stand, how we think, physical and mental habits we have, and so on. From there it may be a case of re-educating ourselves through daily awareness, helped by a number of exercises with particular emphasis on the neck and spine. The aim is to "regain the natural grace and balance of a child".

These simple ideas and exercises (which to some extent are similar to other disciplines such as yoga or meditation) have played an important part in helping me develop and sustain a healthy mind, body and spirit over the years. I recommend them.