Alexander Technique Lessons
Discover A Life of Easy Movement
with Jacqueline Novikov
Knowledge, Mindset, and Skills for comfort in daily life and tools to achieve expert performance.
Knowledge
Learn to move, sit, and stand with, not against, the biomechanical design of your body to reduce pain and
unnecessary tension.
Mindset
Approach challenges with curiosity, notice feedback from your mind and body, and learn to regulate your own nervous
system.
Skills
Become your own teacher, as you learn to make small adjustments throughout your day to reduce habitual pain and
discomfort.
Taking Alexander Technique lessons with Jacqueline has changed my life for the better. Jacqueline is a curious and open teacher with a warm heart. I've made significant gains in my overall physical comfort, not just while playing my instrument, but during my daily life, as well. The lessons are filled with laughter and exploration, and are the highlight of my week. I highly recommend anyone who is looking to try Alexander Technique to study with Jacqueline. You'll be thankful you did!
— Nikki Federman, professional violist & violin/viola teacher
I have gleaned so much from our sessions, which I am happy to pass along to my voice and yoga students. Jacqueline is a brilliant teacher; incredibly sensitive to physical subtleties and creative in helping students find more efficient ways of being and moving while singing, teaching, and in daily life.
— Dr. Madeline Miskie, professor of voice at Catholic College & Lecturer at University of Maryland
Jacqueline is kind, patient, and always willing to listen and find a solution to any challenges I am having. When I practice the exercises she recommends, I notice clear improvements in my posture, airflow, and playing endurance. These developments have been cumulative, suggesting that I am successfully replacing bad habits with better ones. Thanks to Jacqueline, I have integrated these techniques with my daily practice, leaving me mentally freer to do what I want to do most—make music!
— Liza Malamut, trombonist
I'd never experienced Alexander Technique and wasn't sure what to expect as far as results. In 6 weeks with Jacqueline, my mind has been blown and my body is so much more in balance. I've always dealt with neck pain and with two very simple adjustments almost immediately felt some relief. Jacqueline is a wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend working with her if you want to experience more ease and relief!
— Analisa Leaming, actor
I did not realize how much practicing and learning the Alexander Technique would help me in my everyday life. The body awareness that I learned practicing this technique with Jacqueline has helped me to carry myself in a healthier way and take better care of my muscles and joints. Jacqueline is a phenomenal teacher; patient, knowledgeable and excellent at teaching clear ways to support the body and reduce tension and injuries.
— Laura W.
What is Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is a learning process that lies at the intersection of bio-mechanics, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
It is a learning process that helps improve your quality of movement in daily life and helps you better regulate your own nervous system. Lessons involve learning about your bio-mechanical design and learning to dynamically distribute tension and pressures in a balanced way throughout your muscular-skeletal system. Many students find it surprising that exploring ideas related to the mind-body relationship and noticing your own habits of body and mind, are the primary ways of achieving a more effortless upright posture and ease of movement.
Is the Alexander Technique a therapy?
While students often experience a reduction in aches and pains, due to improved body coordination and stress management, the Alexander Technique is not a therapy nor a medical intervention and cannot cure pathologies. It is an educational process that helps students make improvements in their own habits of posture, movement, and mind.
What should I expect in an Alexander Technique Lesson?
In the course of a lesson, students may sit, stand, walk, or lie down as the teacher uses verbal communication and gentle touch to guide a student through movement, helping them notice and reduce their own patterns of unnecessary tension that may be interfering and restricting their options for comfortable movement.
Students are also encouraged to bring in their own activity ideas from daily life, so they can explore and discover easier ways to perform activities. Activities can be as specialized as singing, playing an instrument, or sports training, or can be as common to daily life as: writing, working on a computer, texting, knitting, sitting, picking up a baby, washing dishes, etc.
I’ve tried yoga and massage. I even bought an ergonomic chair, but I still have regular neck and back pain. Can the Alexander Technique help me?
Massage and therapies can help you after you’re in pain and exercise can help you strengthen weak muscles. The Alexander technique teaches you to recognize and change your unconscious patterns of posture and movement that lead to pain, so that you can interrupt the pattern in real time and redirect yourself into better ways of sitting, standing and moving before your body starts hurting.
My back hurts, but my doctor says that nothing looks wrong.
The muscular-skeletal system is designed to work in a particular way. Over time, we develop unconscious habits of movement and posture, where we either depend on the wrong muscles to do things, or use the right muscles, but use them more than we need. These scenarios put extra pressure on certain joints (especially in the neck and lower back), leading to chronic pain, injury, and labored performance of specialized activities (e.g. athletics, performing arts, artistry). Learning to use yourself more efficiently will redistribute the pressures of gravity, body weight, and movement more evenly throughout your muscular-skeletal system and take pressure off vulnerable joints.
Where do you teach?
Malden, MA (map) and online.
Other questions?
Email lessons@forma-music.com.