Our Work

Our work highlights the research and insights of our community. Share your contributions by collaborating with ASO here. Subscribe to our free newsletter here.

Alexander Studies Online 6/6/23 Alexander Studies Online 6/6/23

Soma in the City: How does listening and responding to a ‘somatic podcast’ drawing on the Alexander Technique, affect one’s relationship with urban space?

This month we present a summary of research by Korina Biggs undertaken as part of her M.A. in Dance and Somatic Well-Being at the University of Central Lancashire. The study drew on the Alexander Technique and aimed to connect somatic perceptual/movement practice with challenging urban environments, exploring the potential of digital technology to deepen the connection to one's psychophysical self and surroundings.

Alexander Studies Online 5/2/23 Alexander Studies Online 5/2/23

Why have a curriculum for an experiential practice?

This month we release an article by Judith Kleinman that explores how a curriculum can act as a flexible tool to support Alexander Technique teaching, foster professional development and communication with other fields, and enrich the learning journey of the student.

Alexander Studies Online 4/4/23 Alexander Studies Online 4/4/23

Lighten Up! A conversation with Rajal Cohen - Part II

Following up on last month’s research on the effects of postural instructions on people living with Parkinson’s and on healthy older and younger adults. This month, we share a two-part conversation with Rajal, where she discusses the research and introduces a new project, Posture Underground.

Alexander Studies Online 3/7/23 Alexander Studies Online 3/7/23

Lighten Up! A conversation with Rajal Cohen - Part I

This month shares the background research to an upcoming conversation with Rajal Cohen, M.AmSAT, Ph.D., about a series of three papers she and colleagues published on the effects of postural instructions on people living with Parkinson’s and on healthy older and younger adults.

Alexander Studies Online 2/7/23 Alexander Studies Online 2/7/23

Embodied practices, the Alexander Technique, and self-compassion: An interview with Lisa Harris

“Can embodied practices, on their own, affect self-compassion?” This month we release an interview with Lisa Harris MSc, MSTAT about her unique MSc thesis which is entitled "An Exploration of Embodied Movement Practices as a Route to Self-Compassion”.

Alexander Studies Online 1/3/23 Alexander Studies Online 1/3/23

‘What on earth do we do with this data?’ Two experiences of writing up research for publication

This post introduces two new research articles based on the same data set but which adopted quite different approaches to writing up for publication. The papers are titled: Extending understanding of ‘care’ as an embodied phenomenon: Alexander Technique teacher perspectives on restoring carers to themselves, and ‘I am teaching them and they are teaching me’: Experiences of teaching Alexander Technique to people with dementia.

Alexander Studies Online 11/1/22 Alexander Studies Online 11/1/22

Alexander Technique group lessons in an exercise program for women following treatment for breast cancer: An Interview with Alazne Larrinaga

This month we release an interview with Alazne Larrinaga, an Alexander Technique teacher based in Galway, Ireland. Alazne talks about her MSc research project where she introduced Alexander Technique group lessons into an exercise program for women following treatment for breast cancer.

Alexander Studies Online 10/4/22 Alexander Studies Online 10/4/22

A New Alexander Technique Publication in the British Medical Journal on Low Back Pain: An Interview with Carolyn Nicholls

This month we release a talk with Carolyn Nicholls about a helpful and first-of-its-kind research project for the Alexander world that achieved publication in the prestigious British Medical Journal in 2021.
Led by Joseph Little, this research paper helps us understand the effects of a combination of Alexander Technique private lessons and group teaching on low back pain and demonstrated significant positive results.

Alexander Studies Online 9/6/22 Alexander Studies Online 9/6/22

The Healthy Young Musician Project: Alexander Technique Research at the Royal Academy of Music

This month we release a discussion about the Healthy Young Musicians research project carried out at the Junior Royal Academy of Music in the UK. This innovative project involved a series of Alexander Technique group lessons for young musicians at the Academy and included a research study running alongside to assess student change and progress in terms of mindset, health, and well-being. The collaborative approach taken by presenters helps pave the way for greater health in young musicians and demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration as a modern and positively impactful way to better understand and share the Alexander Technique.

Alexander Studies Online 8/2/22 Alexander Studies Online 8/2/22

Violin, Science, and the Alexander Technique: An Interview with Researcher Alison Loram and Special Guests

This edition releases a fascinating conversation that lies at the intersection between science, music, and the Alexander Technique. Centered around Alison Loram’s research with violinists titled ‘Proactive Selective Inhibition Targeted at the Neck Muscles: This Proximal Constraint Facilitates Learning and Regulates Global Control’ Gabriella Minnes Brandes leads a discussion that spans personal reflection, technical insight, and rigorous research with three professional musicians: Alison Loram, Joan Blackman, and Domagoj Ivanovic.

Alexander Studies Online 5/3/22 Alexander Studies Online 5/3/22

Psychological and other ‘non-physical’ changes following Alexander Technique lessons

Many AT teachers will tell you that learning and applying the AT is helpful for stress, anxiety, and wellbeing, however until now the research evidence for these types of outcomes has never been put together and highlighted. In this 19th edition, Debbie Kinsey (PhD, ClinPsyD) and Lesley Glover (PhD, MSTAT) help summarise their recently published realist review on psychological and other ‘non-physical’ changes following Alexander Technique lessons.

Alexander Studies Online 4/5/22 Alexander Studies Online 4/5/22

Finale - Working With Musicians: Application of The Alexander Technique to Music Making Part III

This 18th newsletter is the finale of a series on the Alexander Technique and music making. It includes the final two video interviews between Dr Gabriella Minnes Brandes (CANSTAT, STAT, AMSAT, ATI) and Lorna McGhee, principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, adjunct music professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Alexander Technique student.

Alexander Studies Online 3/1/22 Alexander Studies Online 3/1/22

Working With Musicians - Application of The Alexander Technique to Music Making Part II

This 17th newsletter continues a fascinating series on the Alexander Technique and music making. It includes the first two video interviews of a four part series between Dr Gabriella Minnes Brandes (CANSTAT, STAT, AMSAT, ATI) and Lorna McGhee, a professional musician, adjunct music professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Alexander Technique student.

Alexander Studies Online 2/1/22 Alexander Studies Online 2/1/22

Working With Musicians - The Application of The Alexander Technique to Music Making Part I

This 16th edition of the Alexander Studies Online (ASO) newsletter is the first of a series of blogs that focuses on the Alexander Technique and music making. This month begins with an introductory video, and a paper by Dr Gabriella Minnes Brandes (CANSTAT, STAT, AMSAT, ATI) that includes three video interviews between Gabriella and Jennifer Condie, a musician and Alexander Technique pupil of Gabriella’s.

Alexander Studies Online 12/7/21 Alexander Studies Online 12/7/21

How Women Use The Alexander Technique In The First Year After Birth Part III

In the third and final interview of this three part series, Nicola Hanefeld, PhD, overseas MSTAT, talks with Lesley Glover, PhD, MSTAT, about conclusions from her PhD studies at the University of Hull which Lesley supervised. The subject of the studies was womens’ experiences of using the AT in the postpartum. This is the 14th edition of the ASO newsletter

Alexander Studies Online 11/2/21 Alexander Studies Online 11/2/21

How Women Use The Alexander Technique In The First Year After Birth Part II

In this 13th edition of the ASO newsletter Nicola Hanefeld, PhD, overseas MSTAT, talks with Lesley Glover, PhD, MSTAT, about the second study of her PhD at the University of Hull in which women without previous experience of the Alexander Technique were given access to a postpartum online self-care package. This mixed-methods study produced some surprising data; the online approach was forced by the pandemic.

Alexander Studies Online 10/5/21 Alexander Studies Online 10/5/21

How Women Use The Alexander Technique In The First Year After Birth

In this 12th edition of the Alexander Studies Online (ASO) newsletter the Researcher Interview Series returns to explore new research into how women use the Alexander Technique in the potentially challenging postpartum phase of life. This month we release the first of three interviews that focus on the research of Nicola Hanefeld, PhD, overseas MSTAT, which took place at the University of Hull, UK, from 2017-2021.

Alexander Studies Online 6/1/21 Alexander Studies Online 6/1/21

Potential Mechanisms of the Alexander Technique: Toward a Comprehensive Neurophysiological Model

In this edition of the ASO blog series we hear from Tim Cacciatore PhD MSTAT and Rajal Cohen PhD M.AmSAT, two of the three authors of a recent paper published in the Kinesiology Review Journal. The paper, “Potential Mechanisms of the Alexander Technique: Toward a Comprehensive Neurophysiological Model” is an intriguing first step to help answer the question of why the Alexander Technique seems to have such wide-ranging benefits.

Alexander Studies Online 1/27/21 Alexander Studies Online 1/27/21

Pt. II of Supporting People with Dementia: a Role for Alexander Technique Teachers?

Part II of the ASO researcher interview series includes all five videos released during the period of December 2020 to early January 2021. These videos explore the process and results of a survey of Alexander Technique teachers about teaching people with dementia, provide an update on the ASO dementia theme, and finish with a live Q&A that took place on January 19th, 2021.