Reinaldo
Couto
Alexander Technique Ann Arbor, MI
How did I get involved with the Alexander Technique? After 25 years of a very intense career as an orchestral violinist, I became involved with the Technique by necessity because I was in constant pain. I was in my mid-forties and facing the real possibility that my body was not going to be able to maintain that kind of lifestyle for much longer. Pain was a constant presence and in the search for something that would help me to save my professional life, I got my hands on a book about the Alexander Technique, written by Dr. Wilfred Barlow, an English physician. Reading this book was a life-changing event.
The possibility stated in Dr. Barlow's book that I might have “created” my own ills by ignoring my natural body mechanics as I was trying to build my so-called violin technique made perfect sense to me. It was very encouraging to learn that, with the guidance of an Alexander Technique teacher, I could learn how to “uncreate” these same ills.
Due to the seriousness of my condition, I decided that the best action for me would be to immerse myself in Alexander Technique, and participate in the three-year, 1600-hour teacher training program.
In January of 1990, I started my training with Joan and Alex Murray at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique, (UCAT) in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. It was amazing. Beyond my own physicality, I could see my classmates becoming poised and balanced, expanding the range of their movements, and just looking better and even younger. I gradually noticed my own changes - my hunched back was gone and my pain and aches became history.
In December of 1992, I graduated from the training program and was certified as an Alexander Technique teacher by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AMSAT). By then, I was so involved with the technique that I decided to change my professional direction and start establishing myself as an Alexander teacher. In 1994, I came to Ann Arbor, and have since then been working with many people of different walks of life with a high rate of success.
To learn more about my journey from Professional Violinist to Alexander Technique Teacher, click here.