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Alexander TechniqueMost of us, when we are undertaking simple tasks, physical or mental, do so with undue levels of tension which limit our performance. The result may be a stiff neck, round shoulders, poor posture, lower back pain, or other problems that hamper us in some way. The Alexander Technique gives us the choice to change this -to change the way in which we hold ourselves, walk, sit, stand, or operate at work, so that movement becomes freer and we begin to regain our natural poise and balance. Through a gradual process of re-education we can become more self-aware, learn to recognize harmful habits we may have developed over many years, and work toward changing our approach. Over the last decade many people have become increasingly aware that mental, physical, and spiritual health are all connected. Alexander teachers work with the whole person, linking the way in which our thought processes, emotions, and feelings affect our bodies. People who may benefit from the Alexander Technique generally fall into three categories.
The Alexander Technique was developed by Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor and reciter, who was born in 1869. By inspired observation he discovered that the way in which the head was balanced upon the top of the spine, and the relationship between the head, neck, and back, had a profound effect on the efficient functioning of the whole person. In the early days of his acting career Alexander started to experience periods of hoarseness during his performances. His physicians diagnosed inflamed vocal cords and prescribed various treatments and rest, but his condition grew worse and the medical experts could not offer a long-term solution. Alexander concluded that something he was doing in using his voice was the cause of the trouble, and he resolved to find the root of the problem himself. Alexander's problems were not initially obvious during ordinary speech, but through the use of mirrors, he observed a distinct pattern when he was reciting. He discovered that he pulled back his head, depressed his larynx, and sucked in air through the mouth producing a gasping sound. He went on to observe that in pulling back his head he tightened his neck muscles, bringing his head back and down on to his neck, which made him shorter in stature. Over many years of careful self-observation, he developed an understanding of the way in which the mind and body work together, and in particular the relationship between the head and neck, and its effect on the functioning of the rest of the body. From this he formed the basis on which the Alexander Technique is taught. In 1904 he moved to England, where many prominent people of the time showed a great interest in his work. In 1932 he started a school to train teachers and continued to develop the Technique until his death in 1955. Alexander discovered that most people, to a greater or lesser degree, retract their head, and that this becomes even more evident when they make a movement. He wrote: "If you ask someone to sit down, you will observe, if you watch their actions closely, that there is an alteration in the position of the head, which is thrown back, whilst the neck is stiffened and shortened," This in turn puts pressure on the rest of the spine, causing distortion in its natural tensile quality, and has an effect on the rest of the body -there is less space for the internal organs to operate, the lungs are restricted, and the limbs are affected. When this pattern develops in the body, natural poise and balance are lost, and a variety of problems develop. The way we move when engaged in physical activity is influenced by our mood: we are talking about all that goes into influencing movement -the energy it takes for us to move. When working on himself in the initial stages, Alexander found that if he consciously tried to put his head in a different position he still created muscular tension, but if he "thought" about releasing the tension in his neck muscles, his head naturally went forward and up. If he then extended the thought process to the rest of his body, the tension overall was reduced. For the most part we pay little attention to our approach when performing activities. We may remember to be careful when lifting heavy objects, or think about how we might approach a particular movement in a game of sport, but often we give it little thought. Alexander described this lack of thought as "misuse," and recognized that only by bringing our approach into consciousness could we make changes. He noted: "I had to admit that I had never thought out how I directed the use of myself, but that I used myself habitually in the way that felt natural to me." Alexander found that habits were difficult to break. He had worked out that in order to make changes he needed to do things differently, but found that despite trying to do this, he failed. He realized that before, making changes he had to inhibit his old pattern, give directions for the neck to be free, the head to go forward and up, and the back to lengthen and widen, which then resulted in a freer head-neck balance. In his approach to change, Alexander also discovered that "feelings" are unreliable. We depend upon our feelings to inform us about how we are doing things -if it feels right it must be right -but it is through the force of our habits that we reach this conclusion. For the most part, we are totally unaware of habits that have developed, or that they may be unhelpful. If a person has developed the habit of raising one shoulder higher than the other, they are quite likely to be unaware of it, and for them it feels normal. When a teacher points this out and allows the shoulder to come back into balance, the pupil will initially experience this as being out of balance. The Alexander Technique retrains the way we use our bodies by teaching us how to recognize harmful habitual movement patterns and how to use the muscles of the body with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. Attention is given to such movements as getting in and out of a chair; sitting, standing, walking, and working at a variety of work surfaces. By correcting habitual bad posture, the Alexander technique alleviates health-threatening tensions and enables the muscles to work in a harmonious, more efficient way. The resulting good posture benefits the whole person and can change our perception of ourselves and how we are living our lives. Breathing is also improved, making the Alexander technique of particular benefit to asthma sufferers. Pain in the lower back and discomforts in the elderly-frequently due to habitual misuse-are also lessened. The Alexander Technique has been used to alleviate:
Why do we need the Alexander Technique?As a species, we changed from hunter-gatherers to farmers over a very short period of time. Then came the Industrial Revolution, the technological revolution, and now we have moved further and further away from daily physical activity in order to survive. As Alexander observed: "Man has been and still is unable to adapt himself quickly enough to the increasingly rapid changes involved in that plan of life which we call civilization." As young children we have grace and freedom of movement: bending, squatting, reaching, sitting with little effort. By the time children reach school, even in the first year, they already find it difficult to sit on the floor without slumping, many have started to develop round shoulders, and others are starting to hunch the shoulders upward toward their ears. With the onset of puberty other problems follow and the teenage slouch is developed, resulting in twists in the spine and tension in the neck. Many young people experience tremendous growing spurts in a short space of time and find it difficult to know quite what to do with this new body, so they will often try to minimize it by sinking down, pulling in the shoulders, and slumping into chairs. We now lead very sedentary lives, bent first over tables at school, then over office desks, computers, shop counters and production lines. We use our minds more than our bodies for most of the day, thus encouraging the separation of mind and the body. We have cars, supermarkets, telephones, new technology -many conveniences which allow us to expend very little physical energy in order to go about our daily activities. This modern lifestyle takes its toll on our mental, physical, and emotional health, and as a result we develop undesirable habits which limit our potential. Stress is a unique feature of our life, and it is very different from the stress experienced by our forebears. In the early days of mankind, the stress of finding food and surviving was matched by the enormous physical demands on the body -which counter-balanced the stress. Today we live in noisy, hectic environments, with enormously demanding tasks and deadlines, and an overload of information. When faced with a stressful situation, adrenaline is released from the brain, which in turn releases extra blood to the muscles and increases the heartbeat. If there is no release from the stress, harmful effects build up in our bodies. At the end of the day we tend to settle in front of the television, or sit down for a meal or a drink. Adrenaline levels remain high and our muscles can stay in a heightened state of tension. Many of us have lost the ability to let go of mental, physical, and emotional tensions. The Alexander Technique helps us to counteract the adverse effects of modern life and work on the relationship between what we do and how we do it. The approach to many of our physical activities is unconscious and can become harmful over time. With the Alexander Technique we learn how to let go of long-held tensions, both mental and physical, and allow ourselves to experience a greater ease and freedom in our movements.
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