a practice of noticing, to rebalance, to reconnect.
What is the Alexander Technique?
Our bodies are dynamic systems of tension. Without tension, we would fall over. This work expands our awareness of which tensions are supportive of how and who we want to be. The Alexander Technique (AT) is a re-education of how to move from choice, rather than habit. As we move through our day, we tend to do things the way we’ve always done them, often resulting in the same outcomes. Maybe your back always hurts when you do the dishes or you’re having that same argument with your partner every evening. Whatever it may be, we often find ourselves in the same patterns, time and time again. The Alexander Technique helps people navigate the places in their lives that feel stuck. This work can support people navigating chronic or acute pain, injury prevention and recovery, skill building, life transitions, and general desire for ease in the body and mind. Through the exploration of our habitual movement and thought patterns, this work reveals new choices, new relationships with ourselves, and new outcomes.
AT teachers use a series of principles that reference the findings of F.M. Alexander (1869-1955), an Australian actor who began experiencing chronic laryngitis whenever he performed. He began to notice that certain movement patterns and tensions he associated with the act of performing were causing his problem. As he found new ways to move, he found greater ease in his performances and an improvement in his overall health. Over the course of Alexander’s life, he and his brother, A.R. Alexander, taught these principles of movement and a method of verbal and hands-on work that continues to grow and evolve with the experiential practice of Alexander Technique across the world.
“Be patient, stick to principle, and it will all open up like a great cauliflower” A.R. Alexander
About Hannah
I studied the Alexander Technique at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, learning from teachers Debi Adams, Bob Lada, and Jamee Culbertson, receiving my teaching certification in 2026. I found the Alexander Technique in 2014 during my time at Ithaca College while studying music education and classical flute. I entered this work initially to relieve acute pain and support my strained breathing. What I found is a framework for moving through the parts of life that feel reactive and disconnected. Rather than relying on my old habitual patterns to dictate my story, I feel freedom to make new choices based on who and how I want to be.
I have spent the last decade teaching music to kids in Boston and Maine, playing flute with local chamber orchestras, facilitating a somatic dance practice called Biodanza, and building my house on a family compound in midcoast Maine. Best of all, I get to spend time as a mother and partner to my wonderful family.
My teaching ideology
I am a student as much as I am a teacher. My intention is to grow alongside my students, curiously and responsively. This work has brought such levity, joy, and agency to my life; my wish is to teach and learn from that space. I believe that none of us are doomed to repeat patterns that no longer serve us. The power of this work is in the mundane parts of life regaining their meaning, whether that means less pain in your body or more rest in your thoughts. Because I don’t live in your body, I don’t have any of your answers. But, this work is a collaborative practice of exploration and discovery about how you choose to move through the world.
I completed this teacher training with an intention to work with low-income people in my community. If you can support others receiving this work for free or a reduced price, consider donating to my scholarship program. This allows me to offer local group workshops for free and individual lessons at a reduced rate. Reach out with any questions about these offerings.
What lessons look like
In lessons, we work sitting in a chair, standing, walking, and lying on a bodywork table. We use activities that show up in our everyday lives to help us explore our habitual movement and thought patterns. An activity can be anything from looking at your phone to playing an instrument to making a hard decision to putting your kids to bed. Often people use activities that they want to get better at or that tend to cause them pain. But, nothing is off limits and everything is transferable. We will explore these principles verbally and experientially, with an option for consensual and gentle touch.
Lessons are one hour. I offer private lessons and group lessons. For teens under the age of 18, I offer lessons with the accompaniment of a guardian. For new students, I recommend starting with 6 lessons to give yourself space to learn the principles and experiment with a felt sense of the work. After that, lessons can be used either as a weekly tool or to support an acute circumstance.
I teach from my home office in Brooks, Maine and on zoom.
How is AT different than massage, PT, yoga, chiropractic, and other bodywork?
What AT is
- a practice of noticing habitual thought and movement patterns
- expanding general awareness through experiential play, using principles that are entirely transferable and applicable beyond lessons
- use of hands serves as a reference point for you to notice more about yourself
- bringing awareness to the ways we are supported by and connected to our ever-changing environment
- an exploration of wholeness
What AT isn’t
- a diagnostic tool, therapy, or treatment
- medical advice or solutions to cure pain, injury, or discomfort
- use of hands to manipulate soft tissues or muscles
- a series of exercises or poses to learn and replicate
Resources
F.M. Alexander’s Books
- Man’s Supreme Inheritance: Conscious Guidance and Control in Relation to Human Evolution in Civilization (1918)
- Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (1923)
- The Use of the Self (1932)
- The Universal Constant in Living (1941)
- Articles and Lectures (1995)
Other Important Works
- Body Awareness in Action by Frank Pierce Jones
- Touching Presence by Tommy Thompson with Rachel Prabhakar
- Looking at Ourselves: Exploring and Evolving in the Alexander Technique by David Gorman
- Library of Articles written by David Gorman
- Library of Articles written by Tommy Thompson
“All that you touch you change, all that you change changes you, the only lasting truth is change…” Octavia Butler
Policies and Pricing
Pricing, Scholarship Program, Offerings
1 hour lesson – $80
1 hour lesson + scholarship program contribution – $100
*1 hour lesson with scholarship – $20
2 hour public workshops – sliding scale $0-$20 (check out my instagram for upcoming offerings)
2 hour private workshop for organizations – $200
*This work is for everyone with a body! If you have privilege in your identities, you own property, have a comfortable salary, and/or wealth in assets, please consider paying fully so that I can continue offering this work to everyone. If lessons wouldn’t be accessible to you otherwise, please ask me about it! It’s here to be used!
Cancellation Policy
I have a 48-hour cancellation policy. If a lesson is cancelled by the student within this time period, the lesson will be charged in full. Cancellations due to last-minute illness or weather will be credited. Any cancellations by me will be credited and/or rescheduled.
Ways to pay
Before each lesson, you can use cash, check, or Venmo @HannahRMorris
Testimonials
“It’s easy for me to fragment myself into sections; the part of me that works and the part that has fun, my left and right halves, my brain and my body. Hannah helped me to integrate and expand my understanding of these sometimes disparate parts of me, opening both my mind and body. She was happy to indulge me in a variety of topics – from learning about horseback riding, to playing guitar, to moving through moments of stress. Hannah is a kind and loving soul, and a wonderful teacher!”
“I’ve been so grateful to have been able to work with Hannah. She is an incredibly generous and empathetic teacher and it’s obvious that she clearly cares very deeply about her students. Our lessons always felt warm and welcoming and I really appreciated the comfortable and safe space that Hannah created. I truly can’t recommend working with her highly enough. Before our lessons, I didn’t realize how helpful AT could be.”
Ready to schedule a lesson?
email me at [email protected]