Welcome to the web page of Mike & Chie Cross, teachers of the FM Alexander Technique

We moved to Aylesbury in 1995 in order to train as teachers at the Alexander Re-education Centre, an Alexander teacher training course directed by the late Ray Evans and Ron Colyer. Since qualifying, as well as teaching private pupils at our home in Stone near Aylesbury, we have worked regularly as assistant teachers on the teacher training course, which is now run by Ron Colyer in Hurley. We have two teenage sons, the elder one a university student, the younger one studying at Aylesbury Grammar School.

About Mike

I was born in Birmingham in 1959, and graduated from the economics department of Sheffield University in 1981. Interest in Zen & the martial arts took me to Japan in 1982, where I met Chie in 1989. My first experience of Alexander work, in Tokyo in 1994, was a revelation -- the Alexander teacher guided me into a sitting posture that seemed incredibly easy and effortless. It felt very unfamiliar but at the same time like coming home. I decided almost at once to come back to England to train as an Alexander teacher. After qualifying in 1998 I continued to have lessons with two very experienced Alexander teachers: the late Marjory Barlow (FM Alexander's niece), and the concert pianist Nelly Ben-Or. Also I have followed the lead of Ray Evans in training as a neuro-developmental therapist, so as to gain a better understanding of how immature primitive reflexes cause faults in a person's all-important sense of balance.

About Chie

I was born in Tokyo in 1961, and began competitive long-distance swimming while a student at Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education, where I completed a bachelor of education degree in 1984. I then taught swimming first as a PE teacher at a Japanese high school and later as an instructor at a private sports club. A full teaching member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique since 2001, I am a regular visiting teacher at STAT teacher training schools in Maidenhead and Oxford. I became aware of the Shaw Method of swimming through Mike's brother Ian. While working for Ian's business, Swimming Without Stress, I have been gradually developing my own approach to applying the principles of the Alexander Technique in the water. My other great interest is in how Alexander work can help women through pregnancy and childbirth.