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• Tension/Stress
• Emotional Issues
• Aging Gracefully
• Breathing
• Pregnancy
• Birth Defects
• Trauma
• Parkinson's Disease
Although a tension-related problem may take years to develop,
most people take little interest in its cause and only want
relief. In response, many stress reduction techniques based on
“relaxation” and/or “mind control” have evolved which are easy
and do provide relief from the effects of stress. Such
relief is fleeting, as these methods do not address the cause.
In the Alexander view, stress is a stimulus, to which a common,
habitual response is strain. The principles of the Alexander
Technique teach and empower us to overcome
unconscious, habitual response to stimuli, regardless of source
or form. We are set free to choose a response other than strain. Tension and stress are not addressed directly, but
where they exist, they are mitigated as an indirect
consequence of practicing the Technique.
The
Alexander Technique is a system based on the premise of
psychophysical unity. "Mind" and "body" are really points of view of the
same indivisible psychophysical self. So, emotional struggles are
evident in our postural behavior, and harmful postural habits in
turn generate poor emotional functioning. Muscular distortions can
act as a mask over psychological pain and distress. During Alexander
sessions, pupils become aware of mind/body oneness and become able
to remove this mask. This process includes emotional insight, and
can lead to psychological growth and healing.
However, the Alexander Technique is not a replacement for
psychotherapy. Under certain conditions, it may be appropriate to
engage in psychotherapy. Many pupils have found it particularly
valuable and supportive to have pyschotherapy at the same time as
Alexander sessions.
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Being upright is a natural condition,
not reserved for the young |
“Much of what we call 'aging' is a function of yielding to
gravity.” - (Dana Ben-Yehuda; teacher, San Francisco)
The consequences are far reaching: Stooped posture, collapsed
chest, and rounded back which also reduce lung capacity and
compress vital organs.
Alexander concluded, and his physicians agreed, that his
seemingly ‘incurable’ physical problems were the result of
something he was doing to himself, i.e., uncoordinated movements
caused by how he directed himself in activity. He observed that
his self-direction was ruled by habitual feelings which were
untrustworthy. The good news is that he also reasoned “Surely if
it is possible for feeling to become untrustworthy as a means of
direction, it should be possible to make it trustworthy again.”
The technique Alexander developed in response to this overcomes
many aches we unnecessarily accept as consequences of aging.
Balance is a great concern of the elderly, who have less
latitude for error and misuse than the young, and for whom the
consequences of falling are more severe. Fear of falling can
lead to reluctance to going out and about, which can limit
social life. When the Alexander Technique restores our Primary
Control (dynamic balance of head, neck and torso) the body
acquires a natural balance and flexibility which reduce the risk
of falling. Agility and self confidence return. It’s no surprise
to me that my oldest student (Audrey, age 80) has been one of my
most lively.
A report on reach and balance among older women:
http://biomed.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/54/1/M8
A helpful general article on aging:
www.alexandertechnique.com/articles/aging/
“The act of breathing is not a primary, or even
secondary, part of the process…Given the perfect coordination of
parts as required by my system, breathing is a subordinate
operation which will perform itself.” - FM Alexander
I restore coordination with methods that have allowed me to
permanently discontinue my own asthma medication.
How will
the Alexander Technique help me with respiration?
By having
generally better "use" - that is to say, carrying less unnecessary
tension and having the proper support in the body - the respiratory
system will not have to work so hard to move air in and out of the
body. Secondly, by learning how to leave your breathing mechanisms
alone, you will not be interfering with what Nature does very well.
What are the mechanisms involved in breathing?
Briefly, the brain receives information about carbon dioxide levels
in the blood. When they are too high it responds by sending a
message directly to the diaphragm which in turn contracts downwards
and outwards from its dome-shaped resting position while the ribs
move side-ways and upwards. This brings about a considerable
increase in the volume of the thorax. The internal air pressure is
thereby reduced and atmospheric pressure pushes air into the
lungs. The diaphragm then begins to relax and come back up
inside the rib-cage, which closes around it, into a dome-shape,
aided by the internal organs and abdominal wall which - having been
pushed down during inspiration - are exerting pressure. The
resultant decrease in the volume of the thorax puts the air in the
lungs under
increased pressure (higher than atmospheric pressure) and it
therefore passes out through the wind-pipe (i.e. is exhaled).
The most important fact to take from this is that the movement of
air in and out of the lungs, when not interfered with, is a passive
consequence of work done primarily by the diaphragm – a muscle not
under voluntary control. Things go wrong when we:
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interfere with the voluntary muscles (either consciously or
unconsciously), or
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are
more or less permanently in a state of either rigidity or
collapse
Therefore, any effort made to control the flow of air into or out of
the lungs is counter-productive. To learn to breathe well is to
learn how to get out of the way. Alexander work is a very effective
way to bring this about.
" I see at last
that if I don't breathe, I breathe..." - a student, to FM Alexander
Also see:
Research Abstract
 The
Alexander Technique develops skills that are very helpful
throughout pregnancy. Harmful habits of posture are overcome,
and balance and coordination improve. As the baby’s growth
shifts the center of balance to the front, you learn not to
counterbalance by arching the spine back from the waist. The
sacrum and lumbar spine are decompressed, eliminating a cause of
lower back pain. As the baby’s growth takes more space, organs
are compressed, causing shortness of breath and digestive
problems. The Alexander Technique reduces unconscious muscle
tension, allowing the torso to expand and creating more internal
space for everyone. The Technique enhances breathing and
strengthens pelvic muscles, especially helpful during delivery.
People with skeletal malformations often experience additional
painful symptoms that need not occur.
This happens to all people when the response to a condition
includes another unnecessary misuse of the body. For example, to
avoid the pain of an ankle sprain, we might adopt an unnatural
gait that soon causes pain elsewhere.
Hoping to avoid injury and pain in my own malformed lower
limbs, I allowed unnatural use of my head, neck, and spine to
become a habit. I did not escape further injury. To the
contrary, my misuse added chronic lower back pain to my life.
The Alexander Technique does not change the physical defect.
Rather, it taught me to see my condition as simply another form
of stimulus, to which I could consciously choose a better
response, i.e., a natural relationship of the head, neck and
spine (Alexander’s “Primary Control”). Activities became less
painful, even pain-free. The assorted physical therapies I had
used for decades became things of the past.
For years after a near fatal accident, I unconsciously held an
arm in an unnatural position, a physical and emotional response
to the time spent in casts. Because it was a habit, I was
unaware of the muscular tension this holding caused in my arm
and back. Conscious attempts to keep my arm in a natural
position were fruitless for 35 years. After becoming a student
of the technique, restoration of my Primary Control –
Alexander’s term for the natural relationship of head, neck, and
spine – led to conscious, natural use of my self, and as an
indirect consequence, much to my surprise, the unnatural holding of my arm
stopped.
“The right thing does itself.” F.M. Alexander
In university studies in London, people with Parkinson’s
disease have been shown to benefit from lessons in the Alexander
Technique. As opposed to therapies, such as massage, the
Alexander Technique imparts thinking skills, which the patients
were still employing six months after completion of the course.
Patients reported that application of these skills improved the
both the execution of everyday activities and the quality of
social life. (Read the studies
here)
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