JESSICA WOLF:  

THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE &

THE ART OF BREATHING

Jessica Wolf and Carl Stough

I had a twenty-year association with Carl Stough, and I use his principles of Breathing Coordination to inform my work as an Alexander Teacher.  Like Alexander, Stough’s attention was on promoting a long and relaxed exhale.

Carl encouraged his clients to fully extend their exhalation with silent counts, counting aloud, and singing sustained vowel sounds.  When I teach, I use both Alexander’s whispered ‘Ah’ and Stough’s breathing sequences to identify inefficient or harmful habits that interfere with ease and expansion of the body.

At the end of Carl’s life he identified eleven people whom he thought could teach the principles of his work.  I was among those eleven who were given permission.