When I reached forty I realised how unfit I was becoming and that I needed to start exercising if I wanted to enjoy my old age. It was 1995 and I joined a gym, and began to do fitness circuits and classes. I noticed how difficult it was to balance and coordinate some of the exercises, compared to in my teens and twenties when I had last been active. I asked a physiotherapist friend if they had any exercises I could do to improve my balance and performance, and they suggested I try the Alexander Technique.
I had vaguely heard of this, but did not really know what it entailed, and it was 1997 before I found a teacher and went to try a few sessions. I was fascinated. Gradually my balance improved, the sciatica I occasionally suffered disappeared, and I felt better in myself although it was hard to say exactly how. The Alexander Technique is like that. It sort of quietly creeps up on you, and suddenly you find yourself able to do something you could not previously do, or found difficult to do.
Eventually, I decided I wanted to study Alexander Technique full time, and to do that I had to enroll in one of the three year training courses that leads to STAT (Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique) membership.
I trained as an Alexander Technique Teacher in Leeds (NETCAT) and then York (YATS), after three years training I qualified and was accepted as a member of STAT (the Society of Alexander Technique Teachers). I also decided I wanted to share the Alexander Technique with others and began teaching in Cottingham in January 2004.
In January 2004 I also began to learn to swim. I found this much easier with my Alexander Technique knowledge. In the past I had never been able to overcome my fear of the water, but this time, with the help of a Halliwick and Shaw Method Swimming Teacher, I succeeded.
I have since trained as a Shaw Method Swimming teacher myself, and offer swimming lesson at the Marina Hotel, Hull. Further information about Shaw Method Swimming can be found on Alexander Technique Teacher Steven Shaw's website www.theartofswimming.com. I have a particular interest in teaching swimming to adults who are frightened of the water, or who have disabilities such as dyspraxia, stroke or Parkinson's Disease.
