Individual Private Lessons with Michael Parkinson and Theodora Kapellou-Parkinson
Michael Parkinson and Theodora Kapellou-Parkinson offer 45-minute private individual Alexander lessons in either English or German. It should be emphasized that the Alexander Technique is not a treatment or therapy. Alexander Technique lessons are intended to provide self-help to enable people to recognize, understand and avoid poor habits affecting posture tone and muscular coordination. In this sense the Alexander Technique is an “application technique”, and as such can only offer long-term benefit when the principals learned are integrated into one’s daily activities.
A clinical trial in the UK funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Health Service (Research and Development Fund)showed that Alexander Technique lessons can offer significant long-term benefit to chronic lower back pain sufferers. The results of this study were published in the August 2008 edition of the British Medical Journal – click here to view.
Photograph by Robert Britton
As a former professional musician Michael Parkinson has a special interest in working with performers, but has taught the Alexander Technique to people from all walks of life and all age groups in the UK, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and the USA.
For general or more specific information about the Alexander Technique, please visit: The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique
This is the most comprehensive resource for the Alexander Technique worldwide!
Recommended Reading
There have been many books written about the Alexander Technique. Here is a recommended shortlist of those which are currently available:
The Use of the Self – F. M. Alexander
Body Learning – Michael Gelb
The Alexander Technique – Wilfred Barlow
A Skill for Life – Pedro de Alcantara
For appointments, please contact us by email:
michaelcparkinson@gmail.com or call +43 (0)676 9414212
dkapellou@yahoo.com or call +43(0)69912305412
What the clients say…
I love the Alexander technique: from my very first lesson! 29 years old and working hard in the management of a multinational company in London, I suffered from continuous back pain and tension. I was looking for a method to help myself, which is why I finally chose the F.M. Alexander Technique.
Anything I had previously tried was a short-term fix with no long-term effect. I had to engage in a lot of time-consuming exercises with stupid tools and machines, which I could not apply to my daily life. With the Alexander Technique it’s all about me: dealing with my inner habits and the application of myself in the long-term, without an outer change of my routine.
Now 32 and back in Vienna, I see Michael regularly to maintain and intensify my body awareness, and it really pays off: during my pregnancy I had not a single day of back pain! My GP even asked my how I managed to have such ‘wonderful’ back muscles.
Alexander Technique is a long-term investment. It changes your whole attitude and posture from within yourself every day. I love sitting in a boring business meeting without anybody noticing that I am working on my own well being!
– Sophie Martinez, Vienna
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I started taking Alexander Technique lessons when I was a student at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. The Alexander Technique immediately had an extremely positive affect on my flute playing and performing. With my newly gained body awareness the Alexander Technique not only improved my posture but also helped to relax and optimise my breathing technique. Regular Alexander Technique lessons have accompanied me now for several years of performing and I always strongly advise all my students to start taking lessons.
– Ulrike Anton, concert flutist
Head of Instrumental Performance Workshop and Music Department Co-ordinator, IES Vienna, ulrikeanton.com
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I came to Vienna on an eight-week work trip and the prospective lessons with Michael were for me an even higher priority than my work obligations! I had stumbled upon the Alexander Technique through reading Aldous Huxley and I was so impressed by the description that I immediately read Alexander’s books. That made me search for a good teacher right away since I became extremely curious and excited about the possibility of having the actual experience. My time in Vienna allowed for 27 lessons with Michael, which I am very happy about.
As much as I thought I had understood the books, I find it extraordinary how new meaning keeps unfolding from the same sentences after only a few lessons. The words keep taking on a different quality -even deeper than before. I found the books extraordinary in the first place. Now with new sensory awareness and experience, they have become for me the most important books I have read so far.
After several lessons, Michael gave me a sense of direction which I think is key to experimenting with the Technique on my own and have a sense of independence. My posture is undoubtedly improved, but what impresses me the most is the fact that mundane activities have started to become very engaging and interesting.
It might be a bit early to say, but I believe that in only 2 months I can already see subtle indications of lifestyle changes. The Technique has allowed me to become much more aware of the source of some habits I didn’t know I had. Through the help of the Technique, I find attempting to substitute those habits with desirable ones much easier.
The only thing I am sorry about is that I didn’t find out about the Alexander Technique before. I am 32 and I strongly believe that this is by far the most important investment I have done in my life. Michael is a fantastic teacher. I am grateful for his help, his patience with me, the talks that we had and the many books that he recommended me to read.
– Lorik Jakupi