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Alexander Technique
The Alexander technique is a somatic (movement-focused) method for improving physical and mental functioning. Excessive tension, which Frederick Alexander, the originator, recognized as both physical and mental, restricts movement and creates pressure in the joints, the spine, the breathing mechanism, and other organs. The goal of the technique is to restore freedom and expression to the body and clear thinking to the mind.
Conditions Treated
for general health and overall functioning, also addictions, angine, anxiety, asthma, back problems, depression, digestive problems, eating disorders, headache, menstrual problems, migraine, musculoskeletal problems, pregnancy problems, peptic ulcer, repetitive strain injury, respiratory problems, sciatica, stress
Because the Alexander technique helps students improve overall functioning, both mental and physical, it offers a wide range of benefits. Nikolaas Tinbergen, in his 1973 Nobel lecture, hailed the “striking improvements in such diverse things as high blood pressure, breathing, depth of sleep, overall cheerfulness and mental alertness, resilience against outside pressures, and the refined skill of playing a musical instrument.” He went on to quote a list of other conditions helped by the Alexander technique: “rheumatism, including various forms of arthritis, then respiratory troubles, and even potentially lethal asthma; following in their wake, circulation defects, which may lead to high blood pressure and also to some dangerous heart conditions; gastrointestinal disorders of many types, various gynecological conditions, sexual failures, migraines and depressive states.”
Literature in the 1980s and 1990s went on to include improvements in back pain, chronic pain, postural problems, repetitive strain injury, benefits during pregnancy and childbirth, help in applying physical therapy and rehabilitative exercises, improvements in strain caused by computer use, improvements in the posture and performance of school children, and improvements in vocal and dramatic performance among the benefits offered by the technique.
Since F.M. Alexander first developed his Technique in the late 19th century, in an attempt to retain the vocal powers that were vital to his success as an actor, his methods have gained a worldwide following and reputation. The Alexander Technique is now firmly established as a beneficial and safe adjunct to treatment of a range of musculoskeletal problems, as well as an effective reducer of stress. As Alexander himself said, “Every man, woman, and child holds the possibility of physical perfection, it rests with each of us to attain it by personal understanding and effort.”
The Alexander Technique is named after its founder Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor. Alexander was born on a farm in Tasmania and suffered from various respiratory disorders, including asthma to such an extent that he was kept away from school. During the evenings he was tutored, hut during the day he worked with his father’s horses on tile farm later he was to say that this work had given him his sensitivity of touch.
As a young man, however, Alexander traveled to Melbourne, on the Australian mainland, to train as a actor. He became so successful, especially at reciting Shakespeare’s plays, that within a short time he had set up his own theatrical company. Unfortunately, the nightly recitals began to take their toll and Alexander’s voice became hoarse and croaky. And, to his horror, he found that he sometimes lost his voice in the middle of a show. His doctor prescribed remedy after remedy, hut none of them seemed to help and after a while Alexander realized that he would have to find a way of curing himself.
Observation and Cure
First, Alexander had to establish the source of the problem. He spent several months watching himself talk and perform by means of a series of strategically placed mirrors, and realized that when he recited he pulled his head hack and down which constricted his larynx (the area of the neck containing the vocal cords). He also realized that this action had become an ingrained habit, and that he had to do two things to rectify the problem: first, to stop holding his head hack and down, and second, to pull the crown of the head rip and slightly forward, and so lengthen his spine.
It took some considerable persistence, hut eventually Alexander managed to cure himself and his hoarseness did not recur. This success led him to realize that many common musculoskeletal and other problems could well he caused by what he called our “poor use” of the body.
Poor Use to Good Use
On hearing of Alexander’s cure, other actors and reciters started to ask him for advice. Experimenting on colleagues, Alexander found that with the gentle guidance of his hands he could alter habitual poor patterns of movement that were causing the problem, to those of what he called “good use.” Alexander continued his career in tile theater, but his skill at resolving a variety of problems became more widely known and he was increasingly in demand. As a result, he set up a practice and, joined by his younger brother Albert Redden Alexander, started to study sequences of movement and work out ways to combat poor use and re-educate clients into the proper rise of their bodies.
Alexander practiced in Melbourne and Sydney before sailing to London, England, to set up a practice in 1904. He soon became very popular in London and treated many of the rich and famous. At the onset of the first world war, Alexander went to America and established his technique there.
Into Orthodoxy
As Alexander’s reputation grew, his methods began to win the respect of the medical profession. In fact, a group of British doctors wrote to a prestigious Medical Journal in 1939, requesting that the Technique should be incorporated into medical students’ training.
Their plea was unsuccessful, but since then numerous doctors and educationalists have endorsed the Technique — one of the most newsworthy being Professor Nikolaas Tinbergen, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1973 and praised the Alexander Technique during his acceptance oration. One reason why the Technique enjoys such respect is that it makes no excessive claims: it does not claim to treat or diagnose specific problems, but aims to teach students of the Technique to be aware of how their body moves and how to relearn the posture and freedom that they experienced in childhood.
Alexander died in 1955, but by then he had set up a training course to teach others how to use his Technique. And since his death, the Alexander Technique has flourished, with courses being available in most countries and the technique enjoying widespread popularity. The Technique is taught in many schools of music and acting, including the Royal School of Music and the Royal Academy of Performing Arts, London; the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australia; and the Juilliard School and the American Conservatory in America. Studies in these institutions have shown that, as a result of learning the Technique, pupils’ posture improved, they suffered less from repetitive strain injuries, and they were more relaxed during performances.
THE THEORY
The Alexander Technique aims to undo bad habits and replace them with the correct, natural movement of early childhood. Young children move with case and poise, hut adults often lose the ability to do this as a result of prolonged sitting ,poor posture, stress, and anxiety. These bad habits known to Alexander Technique teachers as “patterns of misuse” become normal over time, and the loss of flexibility and odd aches and are accepted as part of the aging process.
CONSULTING A PRACTITIONER
Generally lessons are conducted on a one-to-one basis, though some teachers offer group lessons. A typical lesson lasts about 45 minutes to an hour and it is usually recommended that you have two lessons a week. The duration of your course of lessons depends partly on the nature of your problem and partly on how quickly you learn the ability to inhibit existing had habits and to relearn good ones, but a first course usually lasts for three months.
You should wear loose, comfortable clothes that do not obstruct the teacher’s view of the curvatures of your spine. On your first visit, the teacher will ask you to stand, sit, and move around naturally, so that your posture, balance and fluidity of movement can he assessed. The teacher will also be watching for any unnecessary tension in the muscles and any signs that pain is inhibiting movement. In short, the teacher will check for any ingrained bad habits, which you may well not be aware of.
After the assessment, you will be asked to lie, sit or stand while the teacher moves you gently into the correct position. You will he asked whether this new position feels strange and told what you need to stop doing (inhibit) and what you need to do to maintain the correct position. You will also he asked to perform everyday movements, such as standing from a sitting position or walking from a standing start. The teacher will guide you into correct use of your body by means of light touch and simple verbal instructions. As you progress through the lessons, other activities that are particularly applicable to your lifestyle will be checked — be it singing, playing an instrument, swinging a golf club, ironing, or even doing such mundane things as turning a doorknob or shaking hands. The idea is that you are taught to he aware of the detail of the way in which you perform these actions, and learn how you can apply the Alexander Technique to almost any activity.
Thinking it Through
Alexander’s instructions may seem relatively simple, but it can take considerable time and practice before they become second nature. To make things easier, Alexander teachers emphasize that you need to “think” any instruction. For example, instead of making a positive movement to take your head up and forward, picture the movement in your mind. This is because a positive movement is likely to increase the tension in your muscles but if you visualize the movement, your neck muscles are likely to lengthen and relax, and the force of gravity will make it occur without any direct command having been sent to the muscles. The other instructions given by your teacher, during different sequences of movement, will all emphasize this need to “think”: to picture the relevant part of your body relaxing, lengthening and moving freely.
Resources
Professional Organizations
American Society for the Alexander Technique The largest professional organization of Alexander Technique teachers in the United States
Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique The oldest and largest professional organisation of Alexander Technique Teachers with members in the UK and worldwide
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