March 2026 – Sound Being: music, movement and well-being – a talk for CFUW
Heather Walker is a professional musician, a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, and a group fitness instructor for seniors 60+. She will be giving a talk for the Canadian Federation of University Women in Nanaimo on Monday March 23rd, 2026.
Heather will talk about the following connections between her three careers: She is a professional French Horn player in multiple symphony orchestras. She also teaches fitness classes for seniors and is a Certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. The Alexander Technique is used to build awareness of tension, stress, and habitual movement patterns and to slowly improve our habits until our movements and posture become easy and efficient. We don’t change through more effort, but through a better understanding of the natural design of the body and how we can move with fluidity and ease.
Heather believes all three careers are linked: she could have never been a professional musician without the Alexander Technique, and she would have never taught fitness without specializing in awareness of movement patterns. Learning and teaching how we use “our entire self” in all moments has informed everything she does and filters through her fitness classes to encourage the joy of movement.
The CFUW talk is open to the public. It will be held at St. Andrews CHURCH HALL,
4235 Departure Bay Road, Nanaimo, BC. It takes place on Monday, March 23rd, 2026, at 7:00 PM.
Feb./March 2026 – 5 week Introductory Group Alexander Technique class
Heather Walker will be teaching a five-week introductory Alexander Technique group course through the City of Nanaimo, Parks and Recreation department. The course happens on Wednesday afternoons, February 18th – March 18th, 2026, from 3:30 – 5:00 PM at the Bowen Senior’s centre. The course is limited to 12 participants. Registration is getting full, phone 250-755-7501 for more information. Also, look for another 5 week course in May/June 2026!
Here is the course description: Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce stress, change habits and expand your awareness. This is a hands-on class where we explore the body’s naturally efficient design for movement, and understand how we interfere with it through ingrained habits. We will use practical experiments to learn how to notice tightening, release muscle tension, re-establish better balance and move with ease. Anyone can learn to recuperate from stress and prevent undue wear & tear by using less effort in daily activities. Instructors will use visual, verbal, and kinaesthetic (hands-on) cues to teach better movement. Participants should be able to do gentle movements of walking, sitting, and lying on a mat.
February 2026 – Alexander Technique workshop for AVIVA Choir in Nanaimo
Heather Walker is pleased to offer an introductory Alexander Technique workshop to the Aviva choir in Nanaimo in February 2026. Group workshops are a way to explore basic ideas about our natural movement design and how we can move and live with more ease and balance. We often interfere with these natural movements through bad habits, tension, and lack of awareness about what we’re doing with ourselves.
In a group choir workshop we explore basic principals about support, balance, tension & ease, and our interference with our head, neck and back relationship, to name a few. We also relate this to our use of voice and singing, how we stand, and how we “re-set” or recuperate after an activity. We include a lying-down activity on mats to learn relaxation and how to allow lengthening of the torso and neck.
Workshops for all different focus groups are a great introduction to the Alexander Technique. Ideally workshops are limited to smaller groups, so that individuals have the opportunity to participate in activities, ask questions and get feedback. Alexander Technique workshops include movement activities, visual learning, kinesthetic feedback, and sharing of observations. Workshops can be formulated according to the specific situation and venue. Please contact Heather for more information.
November 2025 – Introductory 5 week Alexander Technique class
Heather Walker will be teaching a five-week introductory Alexander Technique group course through the City of Nanaimo, Parks and Recreation department. The course happens on Thursday afternoons, November 6th – December 4th, 2025, from 3:30 – 5:00 PM at the Bowen Senior’s centre. The course is limited to 12 participants. Registration is currently full, but look for another 5 week course in February/March 2026!
Here is the course description: Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce stress, change habits and expand your awareness. This is a hands-on class where we explore the body’s naturally efficient design for movement, and understand how we interfere with it through ingrained habits. We will use practical experiments to learn how to notice tightening, release muscle tension, re-establish better balance and move with ease. Anyone can learn to recuperate from stress and prevent undue wear & tear by using less effort in daily activities. Instructors will use visual, verbal, and kinaesthetic (hands-on) cues to teach better movement. Participants should be able to do gentle movements of walking, sitting, and lying on a mat.
October 2025 – Alexander Technique workshop, Nanaimo Conservatory of Music
August 2025 – Alexander Technique: Private versus Group learning?
I have been teaching the Alexander Technique for 20 years now, and I enjoy teaching in many different formats. I primarily teach individual private sessions, small group classes, and introductory workshops that have either a general or specific focus. Each format is different and has pluses and minuses, to be discussed here.
If you are interested in learning the technique, keep in mind that it is like learning an instrument. It is much less about “understanding it” one time, than it is about practicing, exploring, and integrating it moment by moment and day by day. If I explained how my French Horn is played, and you understood the explanation….how good would you be at playing it immediately? Not very good at all! If I gave you one lesson (with you trying it out, copying examples, and being corrected), then how good a French horn player would you be? However, if I gave you a series of lessons over ten weeks, and you took it home and practiced every day….exploring the sensation of how play the horn, making mistakes, figuring out how to make the best sounds possible with the most efficiency…then how much would you have improved? The Alexander technique is also learning an instrument…it’s just that the instrument is your complete self (body & mind)…and it takes practice to become skilled at using it!
One aspect of the Alexander Technique is that it is often taught with “hands-on” kinaesthetic feedback, meaning the teacher is using her hands to gently guide the student through movement and also giving feedback to each student on how to “listen” to their own kinaesthetic quality (tension, fluidity, fixing, lightness, etc.) In large workshop situations, there is very little opportunity for “hands-on” work. In smaller group classes there is a bit more time for it. But by far, the private sessions is where each student gets an incredible amount of time with kinaesthetic feedback specific to their own movement and habitual patterns.
My introductory workshops are just that…an introduction to the basic principles and ideas of the technique, with small little experiments to get people moving, thinking, and learning how to use these ideas. With some of the most basic information in mind, we play with gentle movement patterns (standing, walking, bending, sitting, lying down), to see how those ideas can be integrated into your life moment by moment. With focused-based workshops (specifically for musicians, athletes, seniors, or any other group), we explore how these ideas relate to their specific interest or issue.
The group classes are often smaller (maximum 12 people), with classes over a series of weeks. Currently I offer three group classes per year, each one is a 1.5 hour class for 5 weeks. In the group class we explore the same principles, ideas, and movement patterns, but we have time to revisit the previous ideas each week and to hone the interpretation and practice of them. The group classes are interesting because students can also watch and learn from each other, and understand how some of their patterns might be the same or different from others. In the group class there is a little more time for kinaesthetic “hands-on” feedback, but even then it is extremely limited compared to private lessons.
Most of my private sessions are 1 hour each and are focussed completely on the individual student’s particular interests, issues, injuries, and habits of movement. There is significantly more hands-on work with the teacher guiding the movement patterns, as well as visual and verbal guidance (posters, skeletons, and verbal direction to help with practice). Each student also spends 15-20 minutes doing the “lying-down” work…but in this case on a massage table with the teacher giving kinaesthetic feedback and adjustments. It is very subtle and gentle work, and can be used even with some fairly extreme injuries or limitations. The private sessions are absolutely the best way towards ongoing change and transformation of your particular patterns, and are important for anyone with very specific injuries that I cannot address in a group setting.
Of course, workshops and group lessons are less expensive than private sessions, but also less effective at long-term change. Many of my students start in a group setting to see what the Alexander Technique is “all about”, but then proceed to private lessons once they realize how life-changing the technique can be. One of my recent students said “This is the best thing I have done for my health in years. I am no longer using all the other supports, massage, chiropractor, physio and acupuncture. I started in a group class, moved to private lessons, and I am now doing one follow-up session a month. It is different from anything you have been taught. It is based on how our bodies are built to move.”
Please come try out the Alexander Technique, in whatever format works for you! Call me for more information: 250-716-3464. Sincerely, Heather Walker
May/June 2025 – Introduction to Alexander Technique, 5 week course
Heather Walker will be teaching a five-week introductory Alexander Technique group course through the City of Nanaimo, Parks and Recreation department. The course happens on Tuesday afternoons, May 27th – June 24th, from 3:45 – 5:15 PM at the Bowen Senior’s centre. The course is limited to 12 participants. Registration is currently full, but look for another 5 week course in November 2025!
Here is the course description: Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce stress, change habits and expand your awareness. This is a hands-on class where we explore the body’s naturally efficient design for movement, and understand how we interfere with it through ingrained habits. We will use practical experiments to learn how to notice tightening, release muscle tension, re-establish better balance and move with ease. Anyone can learn to recuperate from stress and prevent undue wear & tear by using less effort in daily activities. Instructors will use visual, verbal, and kinaesthetic (hands-on) cues to teach better movement. Participants should be able to do gentle movements of walking, sitting, and lying on a mat.
April/May 2025 – National teacher listing and intro A.T. courses in Nanaimo
I often have questions from current Alexander Technique students about referring the technique to their friends and family, and how to find a teacher in another area. There is a worldwide Alexander Technique teacher training standard of qualification with national Alexander Technique associations in many countries. Here in Canada the website is AlexanderTechniqueCanada.ca, where there is a lot of information about the technique and our professional standards. There is also a national teacher directory by area where you can search for other A.T. teachers.
Here in Nanaimo, there are 2 certified teachers of the Alexander Technique, myself, Heather Walker, and another teacher named Heike Walker (same last name just for confusion!). We are colleagues and highly recommend each other’s private teaching, group classes and workshops. Heike occasionally teaches introductory workshops for the City of Nanaimo, and the next workshop of hers will be on two Mondays, May 5 & 12, from 3:30-5 PM. This workshop is called “Reduce Stress & Pain with the Alexander Technique.” For more information, contact the City of Nanaimo at recreation.nanaimo.ca or call 250-755-7501.