Ellen Bermingham, Director of Marketing at Cisco Systems, and Weekend Warrior
A career coach suggested that I try the Alexander Technique to improve my speaking skills. Before I first started practicing, I was skeptical that it would greatly affect my ability to present ideas. However, having an awareness of how I am holding my body and how I am using my voice has made me a much more powerful speaker and, better yet, a more confident speaker. For me, the huge unexpected benefits were that my skiing, biking and running improved dramatically. Having a keener awareness of my movements has helped me to ski, bike and run with less effort and to realize more enjoyment from each activity.
Kleanthes Koniaris, Archer and Engineer
Olympic-style archery requires the ability to be nearly perfectly relaxed while holding the bow at full draw, and developing an excellent sense of precisely how one’s body is aligned, as uniformity brings accuracy. I started my study of the Alexander Technique to gain insight into relaxation and the positioning of my body, and it has been extremely useful in this regard. However, there have been some strange and fascinating benefits, with one example being that it has impacted the way that I speak! Relaxation of my neck has certainly lowered my voice, and learning that one can even talk until “running out of air” has slightly improved the cadence of my speech. My posture has markedly improved, both standing and sitting, and my (mild) lower back pain has gone away. Constance has an excellent eye for the deconstruction of physical movement, so her analysis of video that I bring her of world-class archers is outstanding, and she provides excellent insight and guidance to improve my technique, making things much easier for my archery coach. Constance is an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher, as she is fascinated by nearly any kind of human (or animal) motion—she has my highest recommendation!
AMSAT Certified Instructor
