Alexander Technique
Rhode Island

Mara Sokolsky

Contact Mara
for further information

(401) 751-9357
mara.sokolsky@gmail.com

Providence, Rhode Island

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Alexander Technique Rhode Island

Mara Sokolsky

I began experiencing chronic back trouble as an adolescent. After chiropractors and movement therapists provided only temporary relief, my mother heard about the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Manhattan. She and I started having lessons there in the mid-sixties.

I was so impressed with the Alexander principles that I decided, after graduating as a dance and theater major from the University of Wisconsin, to pursue Alexander work as my career goal. In 1977, I went to London to do a three-year training program at the School for Alexander Studies. My back trouble disappeared, but I also found that the Alexander principles were helpful in other parts of my life: parenting, spiritual direction, dealing with anxiety and knowing my purpose.

After active practices in Brookline, MA and St. Paul, MN, I moved with my family to Providence, Rhode Island in 1994. I’ve taught group classes or workshops at the New England Conservatory of Music, Wellesley College, Brown Learning Community and Providence College. For the past several years I’ve taught an Alexander Technique class through the Music Department of Rhode Island College.

As a result of my interest in the link between the Technique and the medical community, I have lectured on the Technique at a variety of medical settings such as Massachusetts General Hospital, New England Rehabilitation Hospital, Tufts Dental School and the Miriam Hospital. My private practice is on the East Side of Providence, close to Brown University.
 

Who Can Benefit

• Those who are physically uncomfortable due to stress, postural habits, muscular pain, movement problems or injuries
• Singers, actors, dancers, and musicians
• Those who are involved in physically demanding work such as nurses, mothers, and sports enthusiasts
• Therapists, computer programmers and others who sit for long periods of time
• Those interested in self-discovery and self-care

Notable Quotes About The Benefits Of The Alexander Technique

John H.M. Austin, MD
Professor of Radiology, Columbia Presbyterian Center, New York, NY: "Lessons in the Alexander Technique taught me how to sit in a state of lumbosacral poise, and my chronic low back pain gradually became cured.  The Technique is true education.  Compared to surgery, (e.g. for low back pain), a course of instruction is inexpensive."

Kevin Kline, Actor:
"The Technique's many benefits for actors include minimized tension, centeredness, vocal relaxation, and responsiveness, mind/body connection and about an inch and a half of additional height."

Nobel Prize Laureate Nikolas Tinbergen,
discussing the Alexander Technique in his acceptance speech for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine:"Between the three of us (Tinbergen, wife, daughter) we already notice with growing amusement, very striking improvements in such diverse things as high blood pressure, depth of sleep, overall cheerfulness and mental alertness, resilience against outside pressures, and also in such a refined skill as playing a stringed instrument."