This site is developed by Tim Cacciatore, Rajal Cohen, Patrick Johnson, and Andrew McCann. Together we have many decades of both scientific research experience and Alexander Technique teaching experience.
Tim Cacciatore, Ph.D., M.STAT, became interested in the Alexander Technique while pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He went on to a postdoc at Oregon Heath & Science University where he helped develop a method to measure postural muscle tone with Dr. Victor Gurfinkel and performed several research studies on the Alexander Technique. He later moved to London to train as an Alexander Technique teacher and continued his research with Dr. Brian Day at University College London. Tim has published studies on postural tone, movement control, and the Alexander Technique in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Cacciatore’s two decades of rigorous research and numerous peer-reviewed publications about the Alexander Technique makes him a leading expert on how the Alexander Technique works from a scientific perspective. He currently gives workshops and webinars with Dr. Patrick Johnson across the globe about the science of the Alexander Technique.
Articles by Tim Cacciatore:
Potential Mechanisms of the Alexander Technique: Toward a Comprehensive Neurophysiological Model
From Jones to Stevens to Cacciatore: What Can We Learn About AT From Sit-to-Stand?
Twister—Measuring How Alexander Technique Lessons Affect Postural Tone
How Posture Interferes with Movement—Evidence from Standing Up Slowly from a Chair
The Physics of Sit-to-Stand (with Patrick Johnson)
Rajal G. Cohen, Ph.D., M.AmSAT, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology & Communication Studies at the University of Idaho, affiliate faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences, and a member of the graduate faculty in the Human Factors graduate program. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed scientific articles and chapters on the role of cognitive factors in human movement and posture, which have collectively been cited over 1000 times in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Dr. Cohen’s research is dedicated to exploring the interconnectedness of thought, action, and posture. She trains M.S. and Ph.D. students in the Mind in Movement Lab.
Dr. Cohen completed her Alexander Technique training in 1997 at the Virginia School for Alexander Technique with Daria Okugawa. She received a B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology (with a minor in Kinesiology) from Penn State University. Her graduate work focused on motor learning and on ways that cognitive limitations cause us to move less optimally than popular theories of motor control propose. She completed a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University, where she collaborated with leading experts in neurology, physical therapy, and brain imaging on projects related to posture, gait initiation, inhibitory control, Parkinson’s disease, and the neural connections between brain areas associated with so-called “higher functions” and those associated with so-called “lower functions.” Her current research focuses on the costs and benefits of different types of postural training and biofeedback, in healthy adults as well as those with Parkinson’s disease or musculoskeletal pain. Since 2016, Dr. Cohen has been the Scientific Consultant for The Poise Project (thepoiseproject.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding innovative ways to bring Alexander Technique principles and tools to people who need it most. For more information on Dr. Cohen, including links to published articles, see www.RajalCohen.com.
Articles by Rajal Cohen:
Potential Mechanisms of the Alexander Technique: Toward a Comprehensive Neurophysiological Model
“Science Catches Up”: An Overview of Research on the Alexander Technique
Debauched Kinesthesia and Faulty Sensory Appreciation
Book Review: Postural Homeostasis—Papers and Letters on the Alexander Technique by Wilfred Barlow
Patrick Johnson, Ph.D., M.NeVLAT/STAT, was a full time experimental physicist from 1997 until 2014 during which time he authored and co-authored over 40 peer reviewed publications with over 2000 citations to date. He researched liquid crystals, optical scattering, and colloidal physics at the University of Minnesota, University of Amsterdam, University of Utrecht, and AMOLF institute, and Simmons College where he was an assistent professor of physics from 2004 to 2006.
Dr. Johnson began taking Alexander Technique lessons in 2002 due to chronic back pain. He trained as a teacher of the Alexander Technique from 2006-2010 at the Alexander Technique Center Amsterdam (ATCA) under the guidance of Paul Versteeg and Tessa Marwick. He also spent one year training at the Alexander Technique Center Cambridge with Tommy Thompson in 2005.
In 2010 he began teaching Alexander technique at Smartbody Studio in Amsterdam which he co-owns with his wife. See www.smartbody.nl/en/alexander-technique. He also teaches improvisational dance and running technique based on Alexander Technique principles. He taught anatomy and physiology for Alexander Technique teachers in training at ATCA from 2010 to 2013 and has taught anatomy and physiology for Pilates teachers in training from 2008 until the present. He currently presents workshop for Alexander Technique teachers on the Science of the Alexander Technique with Tim Cacciatore.
Articles by Patrick Johnson:
Potential Mechanisms of the Alexander Technique: Toward a Comprehensive Neurophysiological Model
The Science of Inhibition and End-gaining
The Physics of Sit-to-Stand (with Tim Cacciatore)
Andrew McCann, M.AmSAT, is an Alexander Technique teacher and violinist in Chicago. He became involved with Alexander Technique Science after writing popular posts summarizing scientific research for his blog, Alexander &. He has a long standing interest in Alexander Technique history. In 2015, he was part of an editorial team with Rose Bronec and Evelyn Shapiro that worked with Alexander Murray on the second edition of his history of the Alexander Technique, Alexander’s Way.
Andrew graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Bachelor of Arts in History, highest honors, from Oberlin College and Conservatory. His history thesis was awarded the Comfort Starr Prize in History, the George and Carrie Life Fund for Excellence in American History, and he was nominated into Phi Beta Kappa. Andrew received a Masters of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed his Alexander Technique training in 2003 at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique with Joan and Alex Murray.
Andrew has presented workshops on the Alexander Technique at Roosevelt University, Monmouth College, Wheaton College, the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Richmond University, Florida State University, and the Tainan National University of the Arts in Taiwan. He has taught the Alexander Technique at the Kendall Betts Horn Camp and the Music in the Mountains Summer Festival, and was assistant faculty at ATTiC, an AmSAT-approved training course in Chicago. As a violinist, he has been a member of the festival orchestra at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and has appeared as a guest artist with eighth blackbird, ensemble dal niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, and as a backup musician with Marco Antonio Solis, Jay-Z, Mary J Blige, and Susan Boyle on the Oprah Winfrey Show. His theater-credits included productions at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Writer’s Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Marriott Theater, and Broadway in Chicago. His principle violin teachers include Jorja Fleezanis, Sherban Lupu, Gregory Fulkerson, and Lee Snyder.
Articles by Andrew McCann:
The Beginning of Understanding: A New Scientific Model of the Alexander Technique
Lighten Up! Trying Hard to “Stand Up Straight” May Interfere with Balance
A Short History of the Alexander Technique
What We Do Before the Thing We’re Doing—Research on Anticipation, Inhibition, and Posture
“Lighten Up or Pull Up?” Alexander Technique-type Instruction and Parkinson’s Disease