MPH, AmSAT and STAT certified teacher
Chicago
(773) 728-3235
ed@edbouchard.com

Services

Describe your services:
Alexander Technique instruction offers a way to become aware of and manage movement habits that are usually out of our awareness. Movement habits are part and parcel of everything we do, including sit, stand, walk, breathe, speak, as well as how we work and play. There are also movement-habit aspects to how we see, hear, read, think, and interact with others. Most habits serve us well, otherwise we would not survive. For the ones that cause problems, Alexander lessons offer an effective means of change.

How does your healing modality work?
An Alexander Technique “lesson” is education, which is different from therapy. The terms “teacher” and “student” apply rather than “therapist” and “patient.” The aim is not to treat a specific condition but to bring into action principles that enhance the whole person. As an Alexander Technique teacher, I employ a synthesis of movement physiology, hands-on directions, and experiential learning methods

Alexander Technique lessons are best known for the effective way they facilitate optimal coordination of trunk, back and postural support muscles. The lessons in bodily awareness, ease, comfort, and effortlessness apply to everyday acts; for instance, helping to prevent back/neck injuries when sitting at a computer. These principles are healthy and feel good and also apply to refined skills like supporting and bowing a violin, directing balance during a ballet step, or hitting a golf ball. Indeed, Alexander Technique lessons have for decades been a successful part of the training curriculum for actors, dancers, and musicians at leading conservatories.

How do you see your services evolving over the next three years?
What happens during an Alexander Technique has been notoriously difficult to explain. Better ways to explain how Alexander Technique lessons work are on the horizon. This will make it easier for people to learn the process more quickly – and to further develop the science and practice of somatic motor habit management.
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Benefits

What are the benefits/results people see?
My students often report that an AT lesson results in a deep release of core balance muscles, which can feel profoundly comfortable, “deeper,” they say, than they experience with other modalities. AT lessons facilitate optimal somatic motor functioning; this usually leads to greater ease of movement, improved artistic and athletic performance, improved vocal quality, as well as helping with pain management and pain reduction, Since the somatic motor system is involved in just about everything we do, AT lessons have wide application: from basic activities (like standing, walking, sitting, breathing, even hearing and seeing) to skilled tasks (like working at a computer, playing violin, acting, singing, golfing, running a marathon, modern dance, ballet, weight lifting).

Why do people come to see you?
There are two main reasons why people seek Alexander Technique lessons – pain relief and to enhance expression of creative and athletic capabilities. Often they overlap. When someone has an injury related to how they use their body, learning better self-use can usually help. For this kind of application, a short period of three to eight lessons can be sufficient.

Some individuals continue this work at intervals throughout their lives. Alexander Technique instruction has long been incorporated as part of the curriculum of at leading performing arts conservatories — as a basis for voice and movement training and to facilitate natural expressiveness. In this case, the instruction becomes part of a life-long discipline. Any excess tension gets in the way of artistic performance. Excess tension shows up in our motor habits, how we sit, stand, breath. Learning to manage these habits helps free us of excessive tension and allow a more natural and free expressiveness.

Who is an ideal client?
There is no “ideal.” And everyone is ideal in themselves. Honesty with one’s self and openness to explore new ways usually makes the process go better.

What makes you different/good at what you do?
Thoughtful, sensitive, diligent study of what is involved in teaching the Alexander Technique principles — and a commitment to adapting the work to the needs of each student.
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Philosophy/Approach

Describe your healing philosophy:
We part of, not separate from nature. Gaining a better understanding of ourselves in motion helps to better navigate the universe in which we live.

Describe your style or approach:
Informal, exploratory, but scientific too. An Alexander Technique lesson is about learning ease; we might as well take it easy and enjoy the lesson.

Why do you do what you do?
In the mid 1970s, I was involved in a motor vehicle accident and suffered a whiplash injury. At the time of the accident, for two hours nearly every evening and for six hours on weekends, I had been teaching classes in movement for the actor and helping Hubert Lui teach Tai Chi classes for actors and dancers at the Columbia College Dance Center . Being in good shape no doubt helped me avoid an even more severe injury. Still, I felt a considerable discomfort and neck pain for a long time after the accident.

My piano teacher recommended I take an Alexander Technique lesson. I had never heard of it but found a teacher. Walking down the street after that first lesson, my neck certainly felt better. There was more than that. A profound sense of comfort washed over in my body — and I was seeing passersby differently than I ever had before. It seemed as if the change of movement habits affected how I related to other people.

A year later, I decided to join the Chicago Center for Alexander Technique training course for teachers. One reason I joined was to ensure that I gain enough control of my habits of movement to prevent chronic neck pain resulting from the accident. I also wanted to teach others the work that had helped me.

Over the years, I have found that I love working with my students. This gentle approach can be profoundly transformative. It is wonderfully gratifying way of working with people.
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Education/Background

Education/Training:
In 1976, I began my Alexander Technique training course at the Chicago Center for the Alexander Technique, under the direction of Goddard Binkley. It was a 3-year course that met five days a week for about 3 hours a day. Goddard was in the last training course led by F. M. Alexander. Because of Goddard’s relationship with Alexander, qualifying members of his course also received certification from the London Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique.

I also have a Masters of Public Heath in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

Since completing my AT training, I have continued to periodically take Alexander Technique lessons, work with colleagues, attend Alexander Technique workshops, and study related disciplines — acting, dance, voice, medical problems of performing artists at Northwestern Music School, and questionnaire design/measurement at the University of Chicago. Additionally, I have taken course work in psychotherapy and studied muscle resistance training. Before I taught the Alexander Technique, I taught classes in Tai Chi and Movement for the Actor at the Dance and Theater Centers of Columbia College in Chicago .

Years Professionally Practicing:
I have been teaching the Alexander Technique since receiving certification in 1979.

Contributions/Publications:
I have contributed several articles to various Alexander Technique and movement journals like Somatics. In the 1990s, I wrote Kinesthetic Ventures , a book on the Alexander Technique — my co-authors were measurement theoretician Ben Wright (one of my AT students) and Michael Protzel (an AT teacher colleague). published in 1997 by MESA Press at the University of Chicago . I frequently give talks and workshops on the Alexander Technique, including a 1998 presentation in Boston at the American Psychological Association annual meeting.

Before completing my AT teaching certification, I was a medical and science writer. In that capacity, I have contributed to publications on the health effects of airborne pollutants, educational testing, and a scientific review of cognitive science studies of reading comprehension strategies. Currently, I am editing a biography of F. Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) that explores the emergence of the Alexander Technique in the context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century developments in medicine and performing arts pedagogy. This work informs my teaching practice.
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What to expect

Describe a typical session:
A lesson is a very gentle experience. A lesson may involve sitting in a chair, moving from sitting to standing, lying down. Sometimes the lessons will vary a great deal. Other times, they may seem very much the same over a period of weeks.

How long is a typical session?
Fifty to sixty minutes.

Describe your office or treatment room:
Spacious, warm, comfortable room in a residential neighborhood with plentiful parking.

How should someone prepare for a session?
Dress in loose fitting clothing.
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Logistics

Office hours/days of the week:
Week days from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Saturdays, from 9:00 to 5:00

Fee Range
$100.00 per lesson. I will slide the scale for low income students and out of work performing artists.

Take Insurance?
No.

Cancellation Policy?
24 hour notice of cancellation
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Closing comments

What else might someone want to know about you?
I play Bach on the accordion. I’m a ham, love performing arts of all kinds.
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