“Since playing music was always one of my favorite activities growing up, I decided to go to college for violin performance. In my third and fourth years of my bachelors degree my practice time tripled. Every free moment I had I spent in a practice room playing through articulate passages of music. With the demands and pressure of performances my concentration and energy were completely focused on perfecting each piece of music. Before long my back would hurt after just 5 minutes of playing. I told myself “No pain, no gain,” and tried to carry on. But my back pain became so unbearable, I feared that I had wasted years on a degree I wouldn’t be able to use. After this horrible realization I began my search for solutions to stopping my back pain. After chiropractor appointments, massages, yoga, and physical therapy my back pain persisted. I started to research what solutions other musicians had found. That is when I read three words that completely changed my life: The Alexander Technique (AT). 

I walked into my first AT lesson with no clue how it worked. I assumed it was the violin that was causing my back pain so perhaps the teacher would help me hold it differently. What I found out quite quickly was that my back pain wasn’t the violin’s fault at all. My back pain existed because of my patterns of posture. I was unaware that some of my patterns were pushing my hips forward, locking my knees, tightening my neck, and collapsing in my torso. These habits were so strong and automatic that I did them all the time though they were exaggerated when I played the violin. In my first AT lesson I learned so many useful tools to relieve my back pain that I knew I wanted to be an AT teacher so I could help others the same way I was helped. After graduating with my violin performance degree I trained to be an AT teacher. 

One of my favorite things about the technique is that it’s something anyone can learn and use anytime, anywhere, for anything. AT is a tool I apply to every part of my life. I use the technique to help me with my walking, cleaning, cooking, hiking, running, speaking, breathing, performing, slacklining, rock climbing, biking, driving, anxiety, texting, writing, etc. It gives me energy, grace, poise, and freedom in my mind and body helping me live a healthy and happy life. As an AT teacher, my ambition is to give students the tools they need to achieve ease and comfort while working toward their personal and professional goals. I do not believe in the saying “No Pain, No Gain.” There can be gain without the pain and I can help people experience that.”