Hello, I'm Rachel Kevern and I’ve been a teacher of the Alexander Technique since 2014 and teach in Worcester. I am a fully qualified teaching member of ATI (Alexander Technique International).

 

I first came into contact with the Alexander Technique in 1985, following a road traffic accident in which I severely injured my right foot. As a result of the injury I was told that I would always walk with a limp and that I would need to wear orthopaedic shoes. I had weekly lessons in the Technique for about a year and I lost the limp I had developed. I never needed to wear orthopaedic shoes.

 

I was only about 20 years old at the time; time passed and the memory of my Alexander lessons faded. However, fifteen years later I had reason to remember them. I was a busy mother of two and a PhD student, working long hours at the computer. I had developed RSI in my right arm and shoulder, couldn’t turn my head from side to side and had constant pain in my lower back. My neck occasionally went into severe spasm which left me literally unable to lift my head (I have developed a great appreciation of just how heavy the head is as a result!). I thought I was going to have to quit my PhD research and I feared for my future.

 

I started having Alexander Technique lessons again in 2002 in the hope they might help. Over time I experienced gradual but profound improvements in what, in Alexander terms we call 'Use' – how the way we use our bodies affects our function. The list of improvements is very long - too long to go into here - but as a result I was not only able to continue my research but I grew so interested in the Technique and what it could offer that I decided to train to be an Alexander Technique teacher. I completed a three-year training course with John Anthony Foxton and am a fully insured teaching member of ATI (Alexander Technique International).

 

As well as teaching the Technique, I also continued work as an academic researcher and I am currently a Research Fellow at The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham. Much of my academic work is computer based, and it’s fair to say that it would be impossible for me to work at the computer as much as I do if it had not been for the Alexander Technique!