About Maria
Hi, I'm Maria McGivern, owner of The Mindful Body.
I help clients to overcome challenges and relieve diverse types of difficulty, stress, and pain. I use a mind–body mindfulness and re-educational method called the Alexander technique to help my clients retrain harmful unconscious habits and responses to stimuli and to encourage growth and development in positive and meaningful ways. I want to help my clients lead the most healthy, happy, and aware lives possible.
How I came to the Alexander technique
I personally came across the Alexander technique after suffering from hypervigilance, muscle tension, and insomnia related to post-traumatic stress for several years. During this time, I tried a number of approaches, including exercise, medication, and talk therapies, and nothing really seemed to work. My core problem was essentially an overly activated nervous system. (This is something that can also be common in highly sensitive or neurodivergent people.) In desperation, I went to see a sleep therapist who recommended I try Alexander technique.
I initially went to a group workshop on the Alexander technique and that night I slept through the night for the first time in over 2 years. I then started going for individual lessons (this is where the meaningful change really happens in the Alexander technique). It took me a while to fully solve my insomnia and hypervigilance, but in the meantime, I grew over 2 cm in height as I lost significant amounts of muscle tension in my body. As I lost muscular tension and my nervous system quietened, my body language and my reactions were also changing. The overall use of my whole psychophysical self improved and I noticed that others were responding to me differently. My relationships with other people improved as a result. I can truly say that lessons in the Alexander technique changed my life. I could also see how learning to retrain harmful habits and responses to stimuli could help others.
Training
It was as a result of these Alexander lessons, their impact on my life, and my wish to help others that I moved to Australia to train to be an Alexander technique teacher. I underwent 3 years of full-time teacher training at the Alexander Technique Institute and Teacher Training School in Sydney. There I trained with Diana Devitt-Dawson, a teacher trained by first-generation teacher Patrick Macdonald and influenced by other first-generation teachers including Marjory and Wilfred Barlow, Margaret Goldie, Erika Whittaker, and Elisabeth Walker. I graduated as a teacher of the Alexander technique in April 2012.
I am an accredited member of both the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AUSTAT) and the Alexander Technique Teachers’ Society of New Zealand (ATTSNZ).
I am dedicated to continuing professional development. I have attended post-graduate workshops and lessons with senior teachers Nili Bassan, Pedro de Alcantara, Caren Bayer, John Nicholls, Grant Dillon, Bruce Fertman, and Terry Fitzgerald amongst others. I continue to work with, and learn from, other Alexander teachers to increase my understanding of the Alexander technique.
Interested in booking a lesson or a free 15-minute consult?