why in-person, hands-on lessons are better

Virtual lessons won't work for me. As your teacher, I rely on my hands, not just my eyes, to help me carefully monitor how you are using the inseparable mind-body unit we call your Self. I can't find out what I need to know by relying on a visual assessment alone. This is because the use, or misuse, of your Self is expressed through extraordinarily subtle changes in muscle tension and release, which are discernable via touch, but often virtually invisible.

Learning Alexander Technique is like a conversation directly between two nervous systems. So, although I do give verbal instructions in my lessons, much of the experiential knowledge I convey to students reaches them via the primary language of Alexander Technique: touch. Without touch, crucial information would be missing in our communications, reducing the teaching and learning process to a kind of guessing game.

Everyone who enters the betterATbeing studio wears a mask, and agrees not to come in without appropriate vaccination, or while experiencing symptoms of any kind. 

While I would not encourage immune-compromised people to pursue hands-on lessons (even masked), I strongly recommend in-person, hands on lessons for anyone else who wishes to master the skills of Alexander Technique. And this is why hands-on teaching is all I do at betterATbeing.

Elizabeth Hurwitt