Change your Habits, Change your Life

Angelique Swallow


Organisation:
Alexander Technique
Region:
London
Notice Period:
Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Paid: 600.00
Category:
Life Skills
Updated:
10th December 2022

My talks will reveal how learning the #AlexanderTechnique will help you to build up physical and emotional resilience. To understand and recognise how every aspect of our lives, at work, rest, or play is governed by our habitual use of movement, thinking and behaviour can truly be empowering and changes the way you see yourself and the world around you.

During our development from childhood into adulthood, we all create helpful and harmful patterns of use and both are over time mainly performed unconsciously. It is for that reason, we only notice the harmful patterns when we start to stop feeling at ease, experience back or neck pain, headaches, migraines, or just a feeling of not being in control. Many of these common discomforts can gradually lead to poor motivation, low self-esteem, and even depression.

There is now an even greater need to teach adults and children how to prevent or change harmful use, which can affect not just our health, but also our emotional wellbeing.

If we are prepared to learn to recognise and change these undesirable habits, we can conquer many modern times challenges. Practicing the Alexander Technique also makes the most mundane daily tasks enjoyable again.

The Alexander Technique will teach you how to sit, stand, walk and talk with ease. It will help you to avoid unnecessary muscular tension and strains in all your daily activities. It will teach you how to free yourself from the undesirable reactions to the challenging stimuli in life, so that you can once again experience the freedom of movement and thinking nature intended.

The first part of my talk is theoretical and will explore Alexander’s scientific discoveries. He was truly one of the great modern pioneers who understood the importance of the psycho-physical unity. Treating the body & mind as a unit is key to understanding how we create harmful habits and the impact these have on our daily lives.

The second part is practical. We will explore how to learn to move to our best mechanical advantage, develop a better understanding of anatomy and experimenting with how to inhibit the unconscious habits that impedes our best functioning.

“Change involves carrying out an activity against the habit of life".

"You translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension." F. M. Alexander

I'm an Alexander Technique teacher who feels very passionately about sharing the knowledge and understanding of FM Alexander’s scientific discoveries. For that reason, I give regular talks both in the UK and abroad, to promote better awareness of the many benefits the Alexander Technique can provide, not only to the individual but also to society.

My talks are suitable for everybody who is genuine interested in understanding the use of the self. I also give talks to:

Small or large organisations with an interest in understanding how undesirable habits can affect the way we move, think and behave. Corporations to demonstrate how AT can help raise workplace moral, improve productivity and reduce absenteeism. Organisations who are involved in educating children and adults. Secondary Schools to Universities to demonstrate how good and harmful habits will affect their future development.

I like to think that my talks are not just informative, but also visual and entertaining.

Views: 1814 | Enquiries: 2

About Angelique Swallow

I was born and raised in St Anton am Arlberg / Austria, a ski resort where most Families, including mine, either run Hotels or B&Bs. Sharing my home with a constant stream of tourists that came from different countries, cultures or walks of life, gave me ample opportunities to study and observe the intricate behaviour of children and adults on their holidays. It also provided me with an every changing audience that I could either entertain or avoid.

As the only jobs available in my hometown involved working in the tourist industry, I decided in my early twenties to move to Paris to learn French. There, I never truly felt at home and after 18 months tried my luck in London, and I have been here ever since.

Prior to becoming a Teacher, I worked part-time for various Architects, including Michael Hopkins and the remainder of the day spent working in a Bronze Foundry run by the Artist ‘John Somerville’ casting my own and other people’s sculptures.

During this period, I also became a practitioner of the Alexander Technique, which considerably improved and changed my life, and for that reason, I always felt that one day, when my finances permitted, I intended to become a teacher.

During my three years training I discovered a real passion for storytelling and since graduation I have given regular talks both in the UK and Austria. I genuinely enjoy entertaining people at the same time as conveying the importance of FM Alexander’s scientific discoveries of just how our habitual use in movement, thinking and behaviour governs every aspect of our daily lives.

My experience & health benefits learning and practicing the Alexander Technique:

I had my first Alexander Lesson in my mid-twenties, because of experiencing constant aches and pains two years after a shoulder operation for reoccurring dislocations from a skiing accident. All my attempts at finding a solution, which included running and other sporty activities, only resulted in aggravating the situation and within a short time, I was also in pain during the night and at rest.

I was fortunate enough to catch the last 20 minutes of a Channel 4 Documentary about FM Alexander's scientific discoveries. I immediately realised that the cause of my pain was my habitual way of moving and how I held myself. I literally found a teacher the next day and have never looked back. Becoming pain free within a short time, made me a very dedicated student and eventually an extremely passionate teacher.

Experiencing no pain whilst performing all my daily activities, from heavy lifting to sitting for hours at a computer was truly life changing and very liberating. I started to experience not only a physical, but also a deep emotional well-being, that I lost during my development from childhood into adulthood. I still today feel very privileged to have found AT, as I now can enjoy ageing gracefully and without aches and pains.

I provide private lessons, run courses, and give regular public talks to share my knowledge and understanding of FM Alexander’s scientific discoveries. He was one of the great modern pioneers who discovered and understood the importance of psycho-physical unity and wellbeing. I also created and implemented an Alexander Technique curriculum for further Education training courses.


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