Sabrina took Alexander Technique lessons in Macclesfield:
My back and neck problems could either be a side effect of dancing ballet for more than 20 years, something that has come with the joys of motherhood, or it just might be my “lovely” uptight nature, but the fact is that for the last six years I have been suffering from lower back pain (with two disc prolapses) and during the last four years my neck has been in continuous pain, with the added value of some terrible headaches that could easily transform me from Dr. Jekyll to Mrs. Hyde – no one at home was safe! I have tried many kinds of therapy, but the only thing that has work till now has been a long relaxing holiday… Wondering why? Well, my physiotherapist, a year ago, did. At that point, he had been trying to “repair” me for quite sometime, and after seeing me before and after a long holiday in Spain, he simply (and wisely) said “book an appointment with James!” Do believe me when I tell you how happy I am I listened to him. My journey with James (and F. M. Alexander) hasn’t been as smooth and straightforward as others claim theirs have. But I believe it has been as rewarding. My first lessons were full of confusion, questions, doubts and enquiries. Lucky for me I had the pleasure to work with the very patient James who didn’t (seem to) mind answering time and again all my queries. My main problem was that I built a lot of tension in and around my neck. Every movement (even speaking) made me tense in, out and around my neck. And as I found out during my lessons, it’s not only my neck, but also places I didn’t even knew I tensed – like my eyes or my jaw – plus some bad postural habits like protracting my shoulders. Learning the technique hasn’t been easy for me. I just couldn’t understand how something could possibly be as easy as to do nothing! James made me understand that it’s not my doing, but my letting go which would help my own body learn to inhibit, and eventually be used the way it’s supposed to be used: without tensions. Letting go has an amazing effect. But funny enough, you only learn to do this when you are conscious of it. To achieve this James used to send me some “homework” which I absolutely love: lie down and do nothing for at least 15 minutes each day. Wonderful!! Your day-by-day, your work, your routines, they make you build up tensions and don’t allow you time to sit back and wonder what it is that is not working properly. I have learnt that there is nothing wrong with me, but that I needed to reconciliate with my own body. James, reminding me of this, has been an excellent guide during this journey. It has been with his help and attention that I finally am able to remember to let go, to be my own boss, and go through life in accordance with my own body.