Alexander Technique
Learn to live, play, and work well.
The Alexander Technique is a unique educational method that focuses on improving impulse control and reducing patterns of stress. This technique will help you learn how your manner of reaction in daily life effects your overall wellbeing and give you practical tools to reduce stressful patterns of thought and muscular tension. The Alexander Technique will help you learn to live with more ease, curiosity, and self awareness in both daily life and specialized activities.
A Deeper Look: All humans respond to stressful situations with the fight, flight, or freeze response. This is a natural and healthy response that allows us to make choices and remove ourselves from the stressful event. To complete the entire stress cycle, we must return to a regulated and calm state, or deescalate from fight, flight, freeze once the event has passed. When we are repeatedly exposed to stressful situations it becomes harder to return to normal functioning and we get stuck in the muscular and thought patterns associated with stress. The Alexander Technique will help get you back on track to ease and comfort.
To hear more about how this technique works, check our "Have You Heard of the Alexander Technique" by Cassie.
Photo by Michaela Drew Photography
Interrupt Harmful Patterns
Stress is a pattern that develops in response to things in our lives. Learn actionable tools to undo patterns of stress and return to a state of ease.
Enhance Impulse Control
We have all developed automatic responses to things in our lives. Gain the power to notice when automatic responses arise and say "no" to the responses that don't work.
Find Ease in Activity
Enhance your performance in activity (music, sport, work, parenting) by improving your presence and self awareness gently.
Who Will Benefit?
Anyone can benefit from the Alexander Technique! This is especially true for those who would like to be more conscious of their reactions and behaviors.
The Alexander Technique is an educational method that helps people reduce patterns of stress that they may or may not yet be aware of. By looking at common muscular patterns associated with stress, anyone can learn to inhibit the ones that reduce wellbeing. Reducing these patterns brings about better functioning in both daily life and specialized activity.
While many people originally find the Alexander Technique through activities such as playing musical instruments or acting, it has a much broader use case! Alexander Technique is used by professionals, artists, parents, school children, and those who are generally interested in self exploration. Because it focuses on broad functioning of the human organism, it can be applied to any activity.
Everyone is invited to explore what the Alexander Technique has to offer.
What's in a Lesson?
Alexander Technique lessons are taught one-on-one in studio or in your home. Just as learning to play an instrument takes time, learning to improve patterns of thought and muscular use happens over a series of lessons.
In each lesson, expect gentle hands-on guidance from your teacher who will guide you through both daily and specialized activities such as getting in and out of a chair, writing, and interacting with familiar objects. Be ready to experience these activities in new and refreshing ways!
No experience or prior preparation is needed. Please wear comfortable clothes that you can move in.
Inhibition, Slackline, Yoga
What is inhibition and why is it so important in learning the Alexander Technique?
Listen to Cassie discuss the Alexander Technique (and how it has changed her favorite activities for the better) as a guest on the Patterns of Posture Podcast.
"Working with Cassie was so eye opening. She has an ability to read extremely subtle patterns in my body movements. I was so impressed by her sensitivity to the practice, which I can only imagine comes from years of experience. Cassie practices with so much patience and kindness, but perhaps the best part is her ability to interpret everything she sees and feels into something connected and tangible for me to understand and go home with. 10/10 would recommend."
-Rachel D., Pittsburgh PA
"Cassie is brilliant at this work. Her gentle and attentive nature, coupled with her desire to truly help and teach, was apparent not just in how I learned to move throughout my day, but it was evident in the structural change of my body. My shoulders literally are lower, my arms move more freely, and I am generally less 'sticky in places' then before we started. I would highly recommend Cassie for this work."
-Kimberley R., Portland, OR
"To protect myself from pain, I move my body in ways that hurt less; but in a cruel feedback loop, these movements become habits that also create pain and discomfort in the long run. Taking Alexander Technique lessons from Cassie has helped me unlearn these harmful habits and re-learn healthy ones. Cassie teaches through touch, guiding my body through motions that make it become fluid, balanced, and free."
-Heather H., Pittsburgh, PA
Frequently asked questions
Where is your studio located?
The studio has moved! The studio is now located a half mile from the Beaverton City Library. New address shared upon booking.
Arrangements can be made for in home lessons (in limited areas) at an additional cost.
What is the cost per lesson?
Pricing options:
Individual lesson: $75
6 lesson package $420 (expires in 3 months)
Monthly members receive 10% off private lessons
Inquire about student and low income discounts
How many lessons are recommend? How frequently?
Six lessons is considered an intro course. These first six lessons cover the basic principles and tools of practicing the Alexander Technique. Beginners are recommended to take six lessons at one a week. If you are not able to take one a week, you can schedule what works best for you.
If you choose to continue, a second course of six lessons will give you the chance to apply the work to more individualized activities. One lesson per week is recommend during the first 12 lessons.
The Alexander Technique is like learning to play an instrument, the more time you spend with it, the more skills you will acquire and refine. Many students decide to continue lessons after their first 12 lessons at a pace that works for them. Cassie is happy to discuss a schedule that fits your needs.
Do I need special materials or clothing?
You do not need any special materials for the Alexander Technique. Comfortable clothing that you can move in is recommended.
In the first photo (taken 2012) you can see the pattern of muscular tension, caused by habitual stress. In the second photo, after studying the AT (2022), you can see much more freedom in both stance and expression. The Alexander Technique will give you practical skills to free yourself from harmful habits.