When words spark words.

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Ripples

One of the unexpected joys of writing is discovering that someone has actually read what you wrote—and even more so when it inspires them to write something of their own. That happened recently when someone quoted one of my blog posts in their own thoughtful piece about the Alexander Technique and migraines.

It reminded me just how powerful shared stories can be. It also got me thinking more deeply about migraines and why I thought Alexander Technique could help.

What Causes Migraines? Even the Experts Don’t Fully Know

According to The Migraine Trust, the exact cause of migraines is still unknown. It’s understood to be a complex neurological condition, but what triggers an episode—and why it affects people so differently—is still being studied.

What we do know is that there are a wide range of common triggers, including:

  • Stress (and the “let-down” after stress)
  • Neck and shoulder tension
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Hormonal fluctuations
  • Changes in environment like light, noise, or weather
  • Dietary factors, dehydration, and irregular meals

The Migraine Trust also notes that many people start to notice patterns before an attack begins—such as muscle tightening, changes in breathing, or increased sensitivity to light or sound. These early signs often go unrecognised until we learn how to pay attention to them.

That’s where the Alexander Technique may be helpful—not as a cure, but as a way of building awareness and changing the way we respond to the warning signs.

How the Alexander Technique May Help

The Alexander Technique isn’t a medical treatment, but it offers something equally valuable: the ability to observe and influence how we respond to our internal and external conditions.

When it comes to migraines, this might include:

  • Becoming more aware of early physical patterns (tightening, breath holding, clenching)
  • Learning to pause and redirect tension before it builds into pain
  • Developing more efficient postural habits that reduce strain on the neck and shoulders
  • Managing day-to-day stress levels with greater clarity and calm
  • Supporting recovery from pain or fatigue with gentler movement and rest strategies
  • how hormonal changes may be affecting neuro/musculoskeletal body

It may not stop the migraine from happening—but it can help shift your relationship to triggers and symptoms, which is an important part of managing a chronic condition.

Why Blogs Matter (A Personal Note)

As I’ve mentioned before, I first discovered the Alexander Technique when I was searching online for relief from persistent back pain and neck pain, frustrated by how it was impacting my life and not finding the answers I needed elsewhere. One blog post—was enough to make me book a lesson.

That blog changed everything. It set me on a path that not only helped with the back pain, and my migraine headaches , but eventually became part of my work and creative life.

So when someone tells me they found value in something I’ve written—enough to quote it in their own writing—I feel a quiet ripple of joy. Because I know from experience that reading someone else’s words at the right time can truly make a difference.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

Have you ever lived with migraines? Have you noticed any patterns or triggers that relate to posture, tension, or stress? I’d love to hear your perspective.

Here’s the blog post that quoted mine: link
And here’s my original post: link

If it sparks something for you, I hope you’ll let me know—or even write your own.

Superagers, Transformation & the Alexander Technique

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July is often seen as a month of transformation—a natural time to take stock and gently shift our habits, attention, and way of being. This month, I watched Secrets of the Superagers with Michael Mosley, and I was struck by how many of the things that support healthy ageing and cognitive vitality are closely aligned with what we explore in the Alexander Technique (AT).

While AT isn’t a cure-all or a magic solution, it does offer a practical framework that supports many of the same benefits shown to help us stay engaged, resilient, and well as we age. Here are just a few resonances that stood out:

Oxygen Flow, Head Poise, and Neural Pathways

One segment of the programme focused on the importance of oxygen supply to the brain. Efficient oxygenation supports clarity, memory, and cognitive sharpness. In the Alexander Technique, we pay close attention to the relationship between the head, neck, and spine—a central coordination that influences posture, balance, and breathing.

When the head is poised lightly on top of the spine and the neck is free (not gripped or collapsed), the ribcage can move more easily and breathing becomes more spacious—bringing in oxygen without force or effort.

There’s also an interesting anatomical relationship here: this head-neck coordination likely influences both blood flow and nerve function, especially involving the phrenic and vagus nerves. These important nerves pass through the neck and upper chest, playing a role in breathing, heart rate, and the nervous system’s regulation of stress. While AT doesn’t target these nerves directly, creating more freedom and less compression in this area may support the healthy functioning of these systems.

Curiosity and Lifelong Learning

One of the strongest predictors of “superageing” was a willingness to keep learning—especially in ways similar to how a child learns and in ways that challenge the brain. I found this deeply affirming. In AT lessons, we are constantly engaging in a kind of gentle mental re-mapping approached through the filter of curiosity. Whether you’re learning how to stand up with less strain, sit with more ease, or walk with greater awareness, you’re using your attention in new, sometimes unfamiliar ways.

This encourages neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to change—because you’re not relying on autopilot. You’re staying curious. As an AT teacher, I often describe it as “learning how to learn again,” like a child experimenting with movement. There’s something joyful and liberating about that.

Reducing Stress Through Awareness

The programme also looked at practices like meditation, movement (like Kung Fu), and stress reduction as keys to healthy ageing. The Alexander Technique introduces a form of active mindfulness or meditation in action. You learn to pause, notice your habits, and make more conscious choices—whether you’re sitting at your desk, out for a walk, or dealing with something challenging.

This practice can shift your stress response over time. Many students report feeling calmer, more centred, and more resilient—not because they’re avoiding stress, but because they’re approaching it with more awareness and less habitual tension.

HIIT and Moving Well

Superagers also explored the powerful benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for maintaining cognitive and physical health. Now, AT is not a form of exercise—it won’t raise your heart rate or build endurance—but it can support your journey if you’re thinking of starting something like HIIT or returning to more vigorous movement.

Learning how to move with less strain, better alignment, and more awareness makes a real difference. Many people find that after working with the Alexander Technique, they move more freely and with less fear of injury—making it easier to take on new forms of exercise with confidence and coordination.

A Gentle Invitation

So while Alexander Technique isn’t designed specifically for ageing, cognition, or stress, it naturally touches all these areas by helping you live with more ease, presence, and choice. In a month dedicated to transformation, it’s worth asking:

What small, curious change could I invite into my day?

It might be pausing before rushing into something. Noticing how you sit at the table. Or simply giving your neck permission to soften. These are small steps—but transformation doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes, it starts with the way you think about standing up.

Hidden Struggles, Gentle Support — What June Awareness Reminds Us

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June is full of important awareness days: PTSD, Men’s Health, and Migraine & Headache Awareness Month. At first glance, these may seem unrelated — but they all touch on areas of health that are often unseen, unspoken, and deeply felt.

As someone who teaches the Alexander Technique, I see how everyday pressures, long-held tension, and survival habits show up in people’s bodies. These awareness days offer an invitation: to pause, listen, and learn how we can support ourselves — and others — with more compassion. I chose these particular “topics” because I thought they were areas that I could assist in.

PTSD Awareness – June 27

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) doesn’t always look like what we see in movies. It can result from life-threatening illness, accidents, violence, grief, or chronic stress. The nervous system becomes stuck in survival mode — often long after the event.

The Alexander Technique offers a gentle, non-invasive way to explore how trauma might be held in the body. It supports regulation, safety, and presence by helping people become aware of unconscious patterns — like holding the breath, tensing the jaw, or bracing the spine — and giving them tools to soften and release.

“When the body feels safe, the mind begins to follow. That’s where healing can begin.”

Men’s Health Week – June 10–16

Men are often conditioned to “push through,” stay strong, and avoid vulnerability. But health isn’t just physical — it includes emotional resilience, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness.

When I first trained in the Alexander Technique, I expected my client base would be mostly women. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised — many of my clients are men. It’s become clear that this approach to health and wellbeing resonates strongly with them.

The Alexander Technique encourages a different kind of strength: one rooted in ease, adaptability, and conscious response. It’s particularly helpful for men who are experiencing:

  • Chronic back, neck, or joint pain
  • Work stress or burnout
  • Difficulty switching off

Learning to pause, to notice, and to choose a different response can be life-changing — not just physically, but emotionally and relationally.

Migraine & Headache Awareness Month

Chronic headaches and migraines are more than just “bad headaches.” They can be debilitating, isolating, and deeply misunderstood.

The Alexander Technique doesn’t offer a medical cure — but many people experience fewer headaches, reduced intensity, and better recovery when they learn to:

  • Ease neck and jaw tension
  • Unhook from habitual tightening
  • Improve breathing and postural support
  • Calm an over-alert nervous system

It also helps with the stress-migraine loop — where tension triggers pain, and pain creates more tension. The Technique breaks this cycle gently, with awareness and choice.

What These Awareness Days Have in Common

Whether it’s PTSD, men’s health, or migraines — there’s often a common thread:
Invisible struggle. Internal pressure. A longing for relief.

The Alexander Technique doesn’t “fix” these things, but it gives people a powerful way to relate to their own bodies with curiosity instead of control, and ease instead of effort.

It’s about learning to be with yourself — even in discomfort — and finding space, breath, and choice where it once felt impossible.

Closing Reflection

These awareness days are reminders to listen. To soften. To not assume we know what someone else is carrying. And to offer ourselves the same kindness we wish for others.

If you’re curious how the Alexander Technique could support you or someone you care about, I offer 1:1 sessions both online and in person. Get in touch — it starts with a conversation.

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May’s Reflections: Awareness, Sunlight, and Sensitivity

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May’s Reflections: Awareness, Sunlight, and Sensitivity

Awareness has been a thread running through my whole working life — from my early days as a nurse and health visitor, to my years as a lecturer encouraging people to tune into their own health and wellbeing. But it wasn’t until I trained as an Alexander Technique teacher that I truly began to understand what awareness really means — not just as a concept, but as a lived, embodied experience.

When I was home educating my son, I often turned to national awareness days, weeks and months for inspiration — they were a great way to explore different themes and access free resources. I’ve started doing the same again now, using awareness campaigns to shape some of my blog posts and social media content, especially where they overlap with the principles of Alexander Technique.

This month’s post is a little more personal, though.

May includes two awareness themes that are particularly close to my heart: Coeliac Awareness and Melanoma Awareness.

In 2019, I was diagnosed with melanoma. What began as a mole on the sole of my foot — one I’d had since childhood — had started to change. It was removed through a narrow excision, followed by a wide excision and a sentinel lymph node biopsy, which showed the cancer had already spread. Further scans revealed melanoma in lymph nodes deep in my pelvis, and I was reclassified as Stage 3.

By then we were in lockdown, so further surgery wasn’t possible. Instead, I began drug treatment — nine months of strong medication with difficult side effects. But it worked. The cancer retreated. I was classed as cancer-free.

A year later, still feeling unwell, I pushed for more tests. That’s when I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease.

So now, in 2025, I continue to attend regular full-body and skin checks every 6 months (sometimes more frequently). Just this week, another lesion was removed from my back, and I’ll get the biopsy results in a few weeks’ time.

I share this not for sympathy, but to highlight the importance of paying attention.

Melanoma Awareness
In the UK, UV levels are high enough to damage the skin from April to October, even when it’s cloudy. Please take a moment to check your skin — especially any new moles, or changes to old ones. My melanoma was on a part of my body that doesn’t even see the sun — a reminder that skin checks are important everywhere.

Coeliac Awareness
Did you know Coeliac disease can develop at any age, and the average time to diagnosis is 13 years? That’s partly because it can affect many systems in the body, not just the gut — fatigue, skin issues, mood, joints, and more. You do need a genetic predisposition to develop it, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you or someone you know has long-term, unexplained symptoms.

Noticing That You Need to Notice
That’s the first step of awareness.

The Alexander Technique has helped me understand awareness in a whole new way — not just noticing our symptoms or stories, but how we move through life. It helps us tune into our inner and outer worlds, moment by moment, breath by breath, and find more ease in daily activity.

With warmth,
Phil x

It’s Not the Chair—It’s You

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Welcome to my very first blog post!

I’ve had this website for quite a while, but like many things, the blog section kept getting pushed down the list. That changes today.

This blog will be a place to share practical tips, stories, and thoughts about the Alexander Technique—a method that’s not just about posture (though it helps with that!), but about how we move through life. Literally.

But first, I want to share how I got here.

The Day Everything Changed

It was the summer of 1988. I was on my way to an early hospital shift in Manchester, a passenger in a friend’s car. We were driving along a main road when a car shot out of a side street and ploughed into us.

Our car spun, flipped, rolled—and landed upside down.

We managed to crawl out through the broken driver’s window, dazed but alive. But that crash was the start of something that would stay with me for decades: chronic neck and back pain.

At the time, I was in my third year of a nursing degree. I took only a few days off—despite severe pain and headaches—because I had to complete a key placement. My “treatment” was a neck brace, later joined by a back corset. I got through the year by sheer grit. But the pain never really left.

Living with a “Bad Back”

Once I qualified, I carefully chose jobs I thought I could manage with my “bad back.” (I’d already labelled myself.) I saw osteopaths and chiropractors. I learned to cope. I kept going—working as a nurse, then a health visitor, then a university lecturer. But the pain followed me everywhere.

By 2010, things had got worse. Much worse. Constant headaches, jaw pain, neck and back pain. I was getting osteopathic treatment twice a week just to stay afloat. Sitting at the computer—something my job demanded—became almost unbearable.

So I did what many of us do. I googled ergonomic chairs.

And that’s when I came across one sentence that stopped me in my tracks:

“It’s not the chair. It’s how you’re sitting on it.”

Boom. That was it. The penny dropped. It wasn’t just the chair, or the desk, or the setup—it was me.

That sentence led me to the Alexander Technique, and the rest is history.

The Turning Point

I started lessons and immediately felt something shift—not just physically, but mentally. I realised I wasn’t broken. I just needed a better way of using myself.

And I could learn it.

The Alexander Technique gave me back a sense of ease I hadn’t felt in years. It reduced my pain, improved my movement, and changed the way I related to my body—and to life.

So much so that I decided to train as a teacher. I qualified in 2016 and now I share this work with others.

Because if it changed my life, maybe it could change yours too.

What’s Next?

This blog is where I’ll be sharing bite-sized ideas, real-life tips, and gentle questions to help you tune into how you move and live.

We all carry tension—usually without even realising. But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

What if there was something you could do about it?

Thanks for reading. I’m so glad you’re here.