Bay Area Alexander Technique Teachers

All teachers listed on this site have been qualified by AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique. They are listed here in alphabetical order.

David I. Anderson

Contact: dandersdanders@yahoo.com

Following a serious back injury that ended a promising rugby career, David Anderson set out to understand the workings of the human body. His recent graduation from the Alexander Educational Center in Berkeley in 2016 complements an academic career that has focused on the study of human movement for over 30 years. David is a Professor of Kinesiology at San Francisco State University but lives in Pleasanton, California. He has worked with athletes and sports teams in his native Australia and is dedicated to helping people achieve peak performance, whether in sports, the performing arts or activities of daily living.

South Bay

Larry Ball

Contact: www.telli.com/LarryBall | lawrencetball@gmail.com | (415) 377-0449

Larry Ball has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 1979, the year he graduated from Frank Ottiwell’s San Francisco school. From 1981 until the school’s closure in 2004 he was a member of the teaching faculty, assisting Frank Ottiwell. Larry worked for over 10 years with first generation teacher Marjorie Barstow; he also worked with Walter and Dilys Carrington and Patrick McDonald during their visits to the US. His mentors are Marjorie Barstow and Frank Ottiwell. Larry teaches in San Rafael, Marin County.  

North Bay

Jeanne Benioff graduated from NCCAT in 2012 and teaches in Redwood City, CA. She has been interested in movement, voice, and the relationship between mind and body for many years. Before becoming an Alexander Technique teacher, she worked as a computer programmer/analyst.

South Bay

Dana Ben-Yehuda came to Alexander Technique as an actress in 1984. She is a competitive ballroom dancer and musician. Graduate of Alexander Educational Center, AmSAT Certified, AmSAT Media Spokesperson, 2002-2009. BA /Theater, Classical Guitar at SF Conservatory.

In private practice for 17 years, her professional work includes Music at Menlo, Google, SJSU Departments of Music and Dance. Referral source: UCSF Movement Disorders and Stanford Pain Management clinics.

Dana specializes in helping competitive ballroom dancers increase fluidity and refine poise. She helps professionals improve posture and presence. She regularly works with Parkinson’s clients for better posture, freer movement, and quality of life.

South Bay

Simone Biase

Contact: bsimone@sbcglobal.net | (510) 524-4025

Simone Biase graduated from the Alexander Training Institute-SF (Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas) in 1982. She taught at the Institute from 1983 until the school closed in 2004. Simone has had a private practice for 34 years in Kensington, working with performers and others who wish to bring more awareness to their habitual patterns of unnecessary tension, resulting in more ease.

East Bay

 

Robert Britton graduated in 1978 from the Alexander Training Institute-SF (Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas). In addition to his private practice in San Francisco, he has taught the Alexander Technique to musicians at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1984. He served as the Chairman of the American Society for the Alexander Technique, and was a director of the 2011 International Congress of the Alexander Technique. He has helped train Alexander Technique teachers since 1989, and regularly gives workshops to Alexander teachers around the world.

San Francisco

Stephen Brown, PhD, has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 2002. His work with athletes is enriched by his professional experience playing and teaching golf, and since 2006 he has been helping ultra runners compete in the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Stephen is also a teacher of the Shaw Method Swimming, which applies Alexander principles to swimming. He helps students from all backgrounds improve mobility, performance, posture, and alertness.  

Outskirts

Certified in 1996, Barbara Coulson’s priorities are warmth, intuition and customization for each student. Special interests are walking; embodiment and anatomy of the foot, knee and hip; vocal anatomy; low back, neck, and shoulder issues; and understanding breathing. Barbara’s interest in Alexander Technique originated in her own healing experience, having recovered from a debilitating computer-related neck injury. Additional studies have included certification from Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in Embodied Anatomy and in Developmental Movement Patterns. Her personal interests are dance, yoga, painting, and playing the cello.

South Bay

Galen Cranz is Professor of the Graduate School in Architecture at University California-Berkeley, a Ph.D. sociologist, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. She defined and taught the field of Body Conscious Design for 30 years as well as social-cultural approaches to architecture and urbanism. Her Alexander practice focuses on teaching those with scoliosis--teens and their parents, adults, and seniors. She aims to teach small groups of those who live with this condition. First, we practice movement and alignment that are central to the Alexander Technique, and second, we explore the role of clothing, furniture, diet, exercise, rest, and sleep. 

East Bay

Greer Ellison

Contact: www.GreerEllison.com | greere@gmail.com

Greer Ellison received her Alexander Technique training with George Lister at the Northern California Center for the Alexander Technique in Redwood City, CA in 2010. She is a professional flutist and teaches flute in Palo Alto, UCSC and Stanford University. Greer enjoys teaching with the AT approach, having the skills to think and access her choices in directing her students. She teaches AT students at school and at home. She has been a member of the California Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra and the SF Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. She holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Michigan.

South Bay

Pete Estabrook trained at the Northern California Center for the Alexander Technique and became an AmSAT certified teacher in 2011. During his training, he visited the Constructive Teaching Centre in London. Pete has had private lessons with a variety of teachers and continues to study with the training director at NCCAT, George Lister.

Pete is a freelance trumpet player and teacher. He has served on the faculty at Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa Junior College, Pacific Union College, and Napa Valley College. He received a Bachelor of Professional Music Degree from Berklee College and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the California Institute of the Arts.

Outskirts

Josephine Gray

Contact: www.jograyalextech.com | jo.gray@usa.net

Josephine Gray started studying the Alexander Technique in 1983 to rescue her career as a professional violinist from a debilitating repetitive strain injury. She has since been able to resume her professional career. She certified with Frank Ottiwell in 1998.

Josephine has taught the Technique at the American Conservatory Theater Summer Congress, and at the Opera Academy of California, Chevron/Texaco (IT division employees) and the Performing Arts and Social Justice Department of the University of San Francisco, where she joined the faculty as Alexander Technique instructor in 2010.

Josephine is certified to teach Jessica Wolf's Art of Breathing and Steven Shaw's Art of Swimming.

San Francisco

Lena Hart is currently the resident Alexander Technique teacher at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has a private practice in San Francisco and Walnut Creek, CA. She specializes in helping performers, but has helped people from numerous professions (techies, athletes, retirees) and various ages (11 years to 75 years) improve their abilities and decrease pain.  

Lena has been practicing the technique since 2001 and graduated from The Alexander Educational Center of Berkeley. She is AmSAT certified. She received her M.F.A from the University of Tennessee and her BA from Washington University in St. Louis.

East Bay | San Francisco

Evelyn Hess

Contact: www.evelynhess.com | hessevelyn@yahoo.com

Evelyn Hess qualified as an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher from ATI-LA in 2004. She has worked with singers and musicians to help them optimize their performance, as well as helped people in their every day lives to experience less pain and more ease and enjoyment throughout their day. Evelyn specializes in working with presenters and performers who want to improve their voice and physical presentation skills, whether they are performing on stage, speaking to large audiences, or leading a team of colleagues.

East Bay

Kay Hogan M.Ed. graduated from The Alexander Educational Center in Berkeley California in 1996 and from 1999 to 2003 she studied natural vision work with Peter Grunwald. Until recently Kay has studied The Dart Procedures with Marie Stroud. She has a two Master’s Degree in Education one of them in counseling. More recently, while still a bodyworker practicing Hellerwork, she teaches The Alexander Technique full-time linking movement and structure with the brain and the senses, the most important being vision. She has a private practice in The Contra Costa County area and works with seniors, adults and children. 

East Bay

Trained by the esteemed Walter Carrington, Dominique Jacques has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 1976. Having worked also as a psychotherapist, she is renowned internationally for her integration of physical and emotional approaches. She specializes in high-performance individuals, working with not only senior executives, engineers, academics, and VCs, but also athletes, singers, and actors who see a strong tie between their performances and how they are in their bodies. Dominique is uniquely able to tackle a range of (often connected) challenges, including vocal and breathing limitations, back pain, blockages, and difficulty projecting self-confidence and “executive presence.”

South Bay

Laura Klein received her AmSAT and STAT certifications from Ed and Linda Avak in 1987. Since then, she has maintained a busy private practice in Berkeley, trained Alexander teachers, and given workshops and lectures at universities, workplaces, and for organizations. Laura is a professional jazz pianist and works extensively with musicians, both privately and as an Associate Professor of the Alexander Technique at the California Jazz Conservatory. Laura’s students include teachers, scientists, software professionals, writers, doctors, artists and therapists, and range from middle-schoolers to seniors. Laura is committed to helping students successfully overcome problems that interfere with their everyday life and well being. 

East Bay

David Levitt came to the Alexander Technique after 10 years searching many modalities and, with lessons and teacher training, was able to resolve a range of painful injuries to the neck, back, arms and knees.

David has successfully worked with people from software and technology, marketing, performing arts, sports, medicine, law and more. He has helped students to improve performance and endurance while recovering from pain or injury.

During lessons, David utilizes simple movements like walking, sitting and standing, breathing (and even swimming) to release pain and attain a healthy poise and posture.

South Bay

Amy Likar

Contact: www.amylikar.com | amy@amylikar.com

Amy Likar, performing and teaching artist, is a member of the Oakland Symphony and is frequent freelance performer throughout the Bay Area.

Amy has studied the Alexander Technique for over 20 years and received her teaching certification and training from the Alexander Training Institute of San Francisco in 2002, studying with Frank Ottiwell, Robert Britton, Larry Ball, Rome Earle, Simone Biase and John Coffin. She has also studied the Alexander Technique and Body Mapping over the past 20 years with Barbara Conable.

Amy maintains an active studio and coaches young students to professionals.

East Bay

George Lister began his study of the Alexander Technique in 1986 to help relieve serious back and shoulder pain. He was certified as a teacher by AmSAT in July 1994, and teaches in San Francisco and Redwood City, California. He is the founder and director of the Northern California Center for the Alexander Technique, a teacher training course leading to certification by AmSAT. He works with singers and instrumentalists to support and enhance performance; and as an avid swimmer, hiker and backpacker, uses his experience with these activities to help students increase endurance and reduce stress and pain.

South Bay | San Francisco

Barbara Maloney

Contact: barbaramaloney.com | barbara@kinecht.com | (408) 356-0234

Barbara Maloney graduated from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York City in 1987. Before moving to San Jose in 2000 she lived in Paris and then Cambridge, England. During her time abroad she taught private lessons and classes for Centre National de Musique et de la Danse and University of Cambridge departments and colleges. Barbara has been invited to give workshops for a broad spectrum of applications including public speaking, choral singing, dance and yoga. Her experience teaching Silicon Valley students with their diverse needs, interests, and backgrounds continues to be deeply rewarding.

South Bay

Stella Moon

Contact: stellamoon954@gmail.com | (707) 337-7600

Stella Moon graduated from the Alexander Training Institute of San Francisco in 1992. In addition to teaching the Alexander Technique, she is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant working in the specialty of Hand Therapy. In 2001, Stella completed a two-year teaching course at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. Her years of experience in the world of work, ranging from long-haul trucking to the perils of middle management, have provided a wealth of knowledge in applying the Technique to life as we know it. She is happy to live in rural Sonoma with sheep and cats.

North Bay

Sally Porter Munro

Contact: www.alexvoce.com | smmezzo@aol.com | (415) 317-1770

It was through singing that Sally Porter Munro began her studies of the Alexander Technique, first in London and then in New York. She trained to become a teacher with Frank Ottiwell in San Francisco and was certified by AmSAT in 1996.

She is a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus and concertizes here and abroad. Sally has an extensive teaching practice specializing in the use of the voice, including vocal rehabilitation and breathing. She works with all ages, levels and styles. Sally has found that combining the Alexander Technique with singing brings about much freedom, joy, and healing.

San Francisco

Bill Olson first encountered the Alexander Technique in 1990 as a performer at Williams College. He knew immediately that he would be involved with it for the rest of his life. Bill eventually trained at the Center for the Alexander Technique and began teaching in 2001. Since then he has been teaching and performing in the Bay Area.

South Bay

Susan Overton began studying the Alexander Technique when she suffered from chronic neck pain. Understanding how her habits of movement interfered with her natural coordination allowed Susan to become completely pain-free, avoiding neck surgery, while improving her coordination, balance, poise, and posture.

After completing a 3-year AmSAT-approved training course, Susan broadened her understanding by studying with a variety of teachers and attending national and international conferences. She served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the American Society for the Alexander Technique.

In 2010, Susan co-founded the Well-Balanced Center in downtown Lafayette and currently teaches in her Berkeley studio, designed for Alexander Technique instruction.

East Bay

Kari Prindl

Contact: alexandertechnique-sf.com | kari@prindl.net

Kari Prindl has had a private Alexander Technique teaching practice in the Mission and in Downtown San Francisco since 1992. Half her practice is made up of actors and musicians; the other half runs the gamut from tech executives to hospital workers. Kari has helped people in severe pain, as well as those who simply wish to  move more comfortably in the world. Each one of Kari’s lessons is tailored to the person who is in front of her. For the past 8 years, she has been on the faculty of the American Conservatory Theater's prestigious MFA program.

San Francisco

After a degree in mathematics and post-graduate music training on the harpsichord, Jonathan Salzedo chanced happily on the Alexander Technique. He played the harpsichord well but not easily, and greatly admired musicians who had a more natural way with their instruments. Alexander Technique helped him to find what he needed, a different way of going about not only playing but everything he was engaged in. Jonathan took lessons for many years before training as a teacher of the technique. His life today combines freelance music, teaching and software development, and Alexander Technique is an important basis for all those activities.

South Bay

Elyse Shafarman

Contact: www.bodyproject.us | elyse@bodyproject.us | (415) 342-6255

Elyse Shafarman holds a Master’s Degree in Physiological Psychology and Alexander Technique Teacher Certification from Frank Ottiwell (2003). Elyse is on the faculty of American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program and Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. She maintains a private practice in San Francisco and Berkeley. Her background as a modern dancer and professional training in psychology, yoga, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction influence her work.

East Bay | San Francisco