I am a Teacher of the Alexander Technique and Tai Chi Chuan based in Lancashire. I teach private individual lessons in the Alexander Technique in Bacup in Lancashire and I also teach young musicians at Chethams School of music and acting students on the degree course at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester.
I also teach Tai Chi groups in Bacup, as well as in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.
Welcome to my website where you can read a little more about me, about the Alexander Technique and Tai Chi Chuan, as well as links to further information if you need it.
The Alexander Technique and Tai Chi Chuan both have similar and complementary principles.
The Alexander Technique helps you to identify your habits of tension and provides the means whereby you have the choice to use your whole self in a more balanced and healthy way.
Tai Chi Chuan also promotes pretty much the same principles by teaching a series of slow, graceful movements which allow you to notice your own areas of tension and to gradually release those tensions so that movement becomes relaxed, fluid and easy.
In both disciplines the body returns to a more natural state where appropriate levels of tension are used and the body moves in the way it was designed to.
If you think back to your childhood you may remember how easy and joyful movement was. Or if you have the opportunity to watch children at play, you may see how a healthy child’s body is relaxed and supple and their movement is free from over tension and tightening.
So what happens to us? Well life just isn’t a smooth, easy journey (unless you are very lucky!), and all those life experiences - both good and bad - get held in our bodies as muscular tension and habitual emotional and mental reactions.
The mind and body are not two separate things; we are a whole self and therefore our physical tensions affect our mental and emotional states, and vice versa. You may notice your posture not looking so good; you may suffer from neck and back pain; an inability to relax or let go of muscular tension; an increase in stress or other anxiety states; or a general sense of not having the freedom to move easily or enjoy sports, hobbies and interests like you want to or used to.
Anne Whitehead
Member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique & The Tai Chi Union of Great Britain
News & Features
Both the Alexander Technique and Tai Chi Chuan help you to identify your harmful habits and teach you how to regain a better sense of balance, alignment and freedom of movement in your daily living. You can also make more balanced responses and reactions to everything life throws at you.
When you are in balance and using appropriate levels of tension, you are healthier, happier and able to enjoy life more.
I never cease to be amazed at the potential for each and every one of us to gain a much better use of our whole selves, even as we get older - as long as we are prepared to put in the practice!
I very much look forward to helping you do so. Please get in touch if you would like to book a lesson or have any questions that are not answered on this website.
P.S. - Why the Crane?
The crane is free to move on earth, through water and in the air. Its long legs and upright poise firmly anchor it to the ground, yet it can also soar into the heavens. It is a wonderful symbol for what Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique are about.
The Journey
A little story to remind us not to rush and not to spend life trying too hard and being repeatedly disappointed. To be aware of the most precious, 'ourselves', and to remember that it is so much nicer to enjoy the many wonders of life if we can.
Read more about The Journey here>>
… It flows by itself.
Join me on Facebook for a collection of poetry readings with illustrations by my daughter.
Alexander Technique & Tai Chi Chuan
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ANNE WHITEHEAD MSTAT
