Pádraig Ó Fátharta ATI, ISATT, STAT

Pádraig's Profile:

Padraig is a Catholic priest who spent forty years working in colleges and parishes at home and abroad, most recently in his native Irish-speaking Connemara. He came to the Alexander Technique because of stresses associated with public office, more especially public speaking. Although he always appeared to others to be 'laid back' on those occasions, in later years the hidden stress began to take a heavy toll on him in the form of digestive problems and heart-attack-like symptoms after each performance. He had tried a lot of remedies and approaches over the years, but to no avail. Until he tried the Alexander Technique. The Technique enabled him to become aware of his panic attacks as they were happening, it showed him how he was causing them and how to stop. Padraig also suffered from severe back pain for several years, and the Technique did away with that too! He is much more confident and happier in himself these days, something that has not gone unnoticed by his friends and parishioners.

Padraig has now retired from parish work, except for helping out at weekends. He teaches the Alexander Technique the rest of the week, having graduated in 2007 from the Alexander Teacher Training Centre in Galway. He is convinced that in our society there is an anti-body bias, among churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. Despite our consumerist preoccupation with food and drink, diets, sex, dress style and cosmetics, as well as health and fitness, we tend to be generally unaware of our bodily sensations and feelings. In many approaches to personal healing, too, the body is not seen as a significant player. The thinking seems to be that my body is something separate from me, something I have, a tool to serve 'me' and to help me further my agenda, be that agenda consumerist or spiritual. The truth, however, is that I am my body. For Padraig, therefore, the Alexander Technique is a voice for sanity and an instrument for healing on many levels.