About Us
Who are we?
Borders Alexander Technique is Richard Greaves and Ticca Ogilvie. We are teachers of the Alexander Technique and offer lessons and workshops in the Technique to individuals and groups throughout the region stretching from Newcastle to Edinburgh.
Richard and Ticca teach both separately and together, giving students the advantage of experiencing more than one approach throughout a block of lessons and during workshops.
As associates of Alexander Technique North, Borders Alexander works together with other ITM teachers in the northern region of the UK to organise workshops, training sessions, and lectures for the public and educational and health-based organisations.
We are certified teachers of the Interactive Teaching Method for teaching the Alexander Technique. Fully insured, we work to a strict code of conduct.
How did we get interested in the Alexander Technique?
Many people discover the Alexander Technique through searching for a solution to back strain or for stress relief. Others become exposed to it as part of their training in music, theatre, or dance. We discovered it more or less by accident in 2001.
We had both heard of this thing called the Alexander Technique, but really had no clear idea what it was about, except maybe something to do with posture. We did know that people who had experienced it could be very enthusiastic about it.
At our first lesson, we became intrigued with how it seemed less about some form of proscriptive posture improvement, but rather about training our thinking so that we could regain the ability to direct our bodies in ways that were much less stressful, and much more effective in achieving what we wanted from them.
The experience of self-responsibility—that it was indeed something we were doing to ourselves that was restricting our ability to move more easily—was immensely empowering, as it came along with experiences of being able to change ourselves. And these experiences began right from the start. Within the first few lessons Richard noticed that he had lost his daily headache from working extended hours on a computer. Ticca found that the severe tendonitis in her knees was gone and she could return to the vigorous sports she’d thought would have to remain in her past. Furthermore, we both noticed that our thinking in general was more effective, and that we were able to make choices about how we would react to things that came up in everyday life. This was fun! Soon we were hooked on the enjoyment of discovery and demanding thinking contained in our lessons in the Alexander Technique.
In 2008 we enrolled on the four year training course in the Interactive Teaching Method (ITM) for teaching the Alexander Technique. We now teach the Alexander Technique to people of all ages and various interests, including musicians, riders, and sports people.
Alongside teaching the Alexander Technique, Richard continues to work as an IT consultant in Edinburgh, while Ticca heads up a team of object conservators at the National Museums Scotland. We find that our professions give us wider perspectives on how people think, what motivates them, and just how extensive is their ability to reach their potential.