Alexander Technique helps re-educate body

Missy Barnes, a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, demonstrates how the technique offers a way to re-educate a person in how the body moves. Barnes just opened a studio on Council Street. Matt Patrick is a senior musical theater major at Catawba College where Barnes is a professor of Theater Arts. Photo by Shavonne Potts, Salisbury Post

Missy Barnes, a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, demonstrates how the technique offers a way to re-educate a person in how the body moves. Barnes just opened a studio on Council Street. Matt Patrick is a senior musical theater major at Catawba College where Barnes is a professor of Theater Arts. Photo by Shavonne Potts, Salisbury Post

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

When Catawba College theater arts professor Missy Barnes' students come to her office they ask her to "fix" them.

The fix they are seeking is found in the Alexander Technique, which is a way to re-educate the body in how to move more efficiently.

Essentially, it's not fixing at all, Barnes said.

"Your movement and thinking are all tied together. It's a tight interplay in thinking and how we move our bodies," she said.

When Barnes teaches performance classes at Catawba she incorporates components of Alexander Technique to help students think more about the effort it takes to move their bodies.

She wanted to be able to teach others outside of a college campus and has recently opened up shop at the corner of Lee and Council streets.

Barnes has a studio at 120 E. Council St., suite 400, where she offers consultations and lessons on Alexander Technique.

The technique was developed by F.M. Alexander, an Australian actor who suffered from vocal problems. Through a long process of self-observation and experiment, he created a way to restore his voice by looking at the relationship between the head, neck and spine.

The techniques help people who experience recurring pain after an accident or injury or from the strain of repetitive use. It can also help with poor posture, chronic emotional stress, back pain and recurring tension in the head, neck and shoulders. There are hands-on components, but the techniques aren't like massage therapy.

Barnes is a certified member and teacher with Alexander Technique International. She has had at least three years and 1,500 hours of training.

She was introduced to the technique in 1995 and completed her teacher training with the Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies program. She is also a certified yoga instructor and a certified Somatic Movement Educator, which involved attending the School for Body-Mind Centering in Amherst, Mass., for training. Barnes has completed the first in a series of three training modules at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colo. She's worked for years as an actor, singer and dancer.

Barnes danced for years and eventually succumbed to what many dancers do — chronic pain. Her knees began to swell. A doctor told her she'd need surgery by the age of 30. She soon stopped dancing regularly.

Through the Alexander Technique, Barnes eventually learned she was holding her thigh muscles up, which caused her pain. After learning to rethink her way of moving, she no longer has constant pain.

The techniques help students detect physical habits and patterns of thinking that are not productive. Some students say the techniques help them feel longer, looser and lighter.

"You don't have to work hard," Barnes said.

Senior musical theater major Matt Patrick has learned many of the techniques, just as many of Barnes' other students have.

"You have so much more ease," Patrick said.

When he's performing, Patrick said he purposely thinks about whether he's tense or rigid. The techniques allow him to not overwork his body.

"You feel taller, lighter. There's so much more flow to things. You feel even and fluid," Patrick said.

Barnes said when she first heard of Alexander Technique, she didn't understand. But she was encouraged in graduate school to seek alternative opportunities to help her train.

One 30-minute lesson with Barnes costs $30. The first 30-minute lesson costs $15. A 60-minute lesson costs $50.

For more information about a consultation or a lesson on the Alexander Technique, contact Barnes at 704-638-6493 or visit www.feelbetterwithat.vpweb.com.