About Our Work

Contemporary Alexander Technique is the study of the possibility of who we each can be in any given moment outside of the habits and ideas that currently define us. We study what else and who else is possible when we make space to set aside what is known and choose to playfully explore what is currently outside our awareness.

Foregrounding and deferring to the innate design of our bodies, the Contemporary Alexander Work explores these possibilities with a student through a hands-on study of how we each move through the world doing what we do - driving a car, doing the dishes, singing, tai chi, etc... The study is both practical and profound, creating new choices for each student as patterns of use are observed, explored, and transformed. Because our habitual patterns are often the source of our discomfort, pain, and imbalance, changes in these patterns through our awareness and choice are often accompanied by significant diminishment of our dis-ease, fostering a renewed sense of joy, freedom, and balance.

In a Contemporary Alexander Technique lesson, a teacher observes how you are doing whatever it is you do in order to notice what might not be working the way that you want it to. We observe with kindness and clarity as we witness you doing what is important to you - public speaking, yoga, playing the cello, etc... Whatever it is, we watch you with a benevolent eye. We see what you are doing well, and we perceive what is interfering with what you want to do. We help you to notice your interference. It might be a subtle tightening, or holding your breath, or it might be an idea you have about how to do your task. Often we use our hands, always respectfully and without force, until you undo what you are doing that’s getting in your way. Pleasure, comfort, and ease return. You learn how to help yourself.

About Us

Each of us teaching as Contemporary Alexander Technique teachers in Oregon bring various backgrounds, priorities, and areas of expertise to our Alexander Technique teaching. In common, however, we all graduated from the Contemporary Alexander School/Alexander Alliance International (US) directed by Robyn Avalon. We were trained to teach this work by a cohort of amazing individuals - Robyn Avalon, Bruce Fertman, Midori Shinkai, Sakiko Ishitsubo, and Margarete Tushaus, themselves trained to teach this work by or in the lineage of the revered and adored teacher, Marjorie Barstow, one F. M. Alexander’s first graduates.

We trace our Contemporary lineage to Marjorie Barstow who contributed to the evolution of the field of Alexander Technique in part by pioneering working with groups and working inside of activities, and to Bruce Fertman and Robyn Avalon who continue their contributions by exploring situational work, body mapping, and the application of Alexander Technique to our belief systems, life patterns, emotional lives, and cultural norms.

We celebrate our lineage as one led primarily by women and queer teachers. We also recognize the racism, white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, classism, ableism, and homophobia that exist in the work’s founder (F.M. Alexander), history, culture, pedagogy, and organizations past and present.