Who Learns the Alexander Technique?

Marian and the Alexander Technique have done for me what a slew of physicians and other health care professionals could not. They have liberated my neck from a cage of stiffness and pain that compromised my daily activities and sucked the joy out of living. In the process of learning the technique I have gained greater poise, balance and--most important to me--freedom to move. Life is good again.

Ellen Carl, MPH
writer

I love to ice skate but problems with my left knee made the more difficult moves virtually impossible. I suspected it was an alignment problem but didn't have much hope (or know how) to solve it. Within several weeks of Alexander lessons with Marian, I could do a range of movements never before possible for me. My experience with Marian and the Technique has opened up a whole new range of motion and significantly improved my ice dancing.

Elaine Evans

An ignorant body can be a painful body. Marian Goldberg's Alexander lessons solved my problems with an extremely painful back and neck, and numbness in my arm and leg. The increased strength and flexibility allow me to pursue my interests in comfort.

Recently, several women about my age, 90 or so, said, "Your back is so straight! How do you keep it so straight?" I said, "I don't do it. I was taught by my teacher of the Alexander Technique to leave my body alone so that it could function the way it was made to do."

A few weeks ago, when my doctor stopped listening to my heart, he said, "Your back is so straight. How have you managed to keep your back so erect?" I replied, "I was taught to let my back keep doing what it was meant to do and to stop interfering." I like to go to an Alexander Technique lesson every week, just to remind myself to stop interfering.

Sylvia K. Shugrue
Past President
National Science Teachers Association

Working with Marian in the Alexander Technique helped me to alleviate vocal technique problems that had not been solved by years of working with master voice teachers. I experienced a significant increase in natural support, ease in breathing, and ease of production.

Susan Dash
Voice Teacher/Singer

The repetitive-motion strain I suffered as a professional pianist had put my career in jeopardy. Through Marian's expertise in the Alexander Technique, I've learned more efficient and natural ways to use myself. Not only can I maintain a full playing schedule, my entire technique has been transformed.

Laurie Vivona Bunn
Pianist

My wife had gotten benefit from Marian's lessons and she suggested I try them out. As a registered nurse working for many years in an intensive care unit, my work involves a lot of bending, stooping, and lifting. I lift patients up in bed or transfer them from bed to chair and back. Marian has made a real difference in how I carry myself and how I do the physical aspect of my work. My posture is also a lot better and I am not as fatigued after a 12-hour shift as I used to be

John L. Howell, RN

I have been playing the violin for nearly thirty years. After only two months of lessons with Marian, I am finding an ease and comfort with my instrument I never thought possible. I wish I had come twenty years ago!

Elizabeth Field
Violinist
Founder and Director: The Vivaldi Project

Marian Goldberg maintains a private teaching practice in the Washington area and is the Director of the Alexander Technique Center's Teacher-Training Program in Northern Virginia. Marian began studying the Alexander Technique in 1978. After a working with a variety of interpretations of the Alexander Technique from 1978 to 1980, she went on to study with Joan and Alexander Murray at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique in 1981. Marian is a fully-qualified teacher of the Alexander Technique, having completed a full-time (daily), three-year teacher training and two years of advanced training with the Murrays. She has been teaching the Technique since 1983 and is certified by both the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT), UK, and the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). Marian has also studied with teachers trained by F. Matthias Alexander. She has taught classes and workshops in the Technique for colleges and universities and for a number of organizations, including the United States Marine Band, the Green Festival and the Why Me? Foundation. Her articles have appeared in several publications, including The Alternative Health Sourcebook and Natural Awakenings magazine. Marian has developed several web sites: "The Insider's Guide to the Alexander Technique," "John Dewey and the Alexander Technique" and "The Alexander Technique for Musicians." She is the editor of Beginning from the Beginning: A Conversation with Joan and Alexander Murray. Marian has also been certified as a Feldenkrais® Practitioner and has trained in Cranio-Sacral Therapy.

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