Emily Faulkner

A Practical Approach to Transformation: I came up with this tagline because I love the confluence of neurophysiology with the magic of holistic movement therapy.  I’ve been a certified teacher of the AT for over 25 years, and I work with people of all ages and abilities, from high level athletes and dancers to Parkinson’s patients, people with Cerebral Palsy, and anyone in between who wants to improve their functioning.  I am employed in the pain management department of the Veterans Administration where I teach AT to veterans of all ages and ability with chronic pain.  I’m on the faculty of Movement Research, a world renown experimental dance institution where I teach Alexander Technique and improvisation, and I have an MA in Motor Control and Learning from Columbia University, where I conducted research on the effect of AT on people with Cerebral Palsy. I combine my experience as a dancer with a scientific understanding of the neuromotor processes that underlie how we move and learn to move. 

I came to the technique as a dancer, wanting two things: to get my aches and pains under control so that I could do the thing I loved, dance, and to dance more beautifully – to be more fluid, better balanced, and to just have that magic thing that makes someone a beautiful mover.  The AT enabled both of these goals and also ignited in me a desire to understand what was happening and why.  What makes it magical?  What makes it reduce pain?  What makes you feel light and effortless after a lesson?  So, I trained to be an AT teacher, I explored movement and choreography and improvisation, and eventually I got an MA in Motor Control – the neurophysiology of movement and learning. 

The AT is practical and simple.  It is a protocol that  you employ to change your posture and movement to something more efficient and healthier.  I have helped dozens and dozens of people get back to the things they love, learn an entirely new approach to movement re-education, and on the way learn an entirely new and lovely way of experiencing themselves.  I look forward to sharing this with you!