John Nicholls trained as an Alexander teacher from 1973 to 1976 with Walter and Dilys Carrington and was invited to stay on as an assistant teacher, remaining for a further eleven years assisting the Carringtons daily on their teacher training course. He has subsequently directed Alexander teacher training programs for almost twenty five years, first in Melbourne, Australia, then in Brighton, England, and now in New York. His book, The Alexander Technique: In Conversation with John Nicholls and Sean Carey, was published in 1991. He has been Chair of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) in the UK, has been the invited Alexander Memorial Lecturer for both the British and American Alexander Teachers professional organizations (STAT in 1986, AmSAT in 2005), and was a continuous learning presenter at the international congresses in 2004 and 2008. During the last twenty five years John has also run postgraduate classes for teachers and seminars for the public in many different countries.

At the beginning of 2003 John moved to New York where he now offers private lessons, “hands-on” supervision groups for teachers and trainees, a teacher certification program (ATNYC), structured postgraduate courses for teachers, and weekend courses in different US cities. Since opening in 2006 with Nanette Walsh as co-director, ATNYC has become the largest AmSAT approved training in the USA.