Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique is a method of neuromuscular reeducation, through which people can learn how to consciously create more ease in their body in any activity or situation. F.M. Alexander, an actor from Australia , discovered more than a hundred years ago that the way we coordinate our heads, necks, and backs can create either ease or malfunction in the whole body. The method he developed to help himself and others improve their functioning engages not only the body but equally the mind.
The far-reaching nature of Alexander's work soon became evident, as his students found
many physical ailments (from breathing problems to the effects of polio) were improved
after a series of lessons with him. Leading figures of the time, such as George Bernard
Shaw, Aldous Huxley, and John Dewey wrote about and supported Alexander's work, and
doctors commonly referred students to him for private lessons. Ten years after he
began working on his method, he opened his first training course to train others as
teachers. Gradually the technique has spread, and there are now schools worldwide
to train teachers. These training programs are very rigorous: an teacher certified
by the American Society for the Alexander Technique has completed a three-year, 1600-hour
training program under the direction of teachers of at least 10 years of teaching
experience.
Musicians study the Technique for many reasons: to prevent and recover from injury,
to alleviate the effects of nervousness in performance, to increase breath capacity,
to prevent the debilitating tension that can be accumulated during long hours of practice,
to improve their technique and ease in playing, or to create a bigger, richer sound.
Alexander Technique group classes are taught at many leading schools for the performing
arts, including The Juilliard School. I have the pleasure of teaching 15 students
per quarter at Lamont School of Music, one of a very small number of schools who give
their students the opportunity to take private lessons.
How does the Technique work? People can make changes only if they can learn to stop
reacting automatically and become more conscious of what they are doing. Most of us
respond automatically to stressful situations by tightening our necks, compressing
our spines, and not allowing our ribs to move (holding our breath). This way of being
becomes so familiar to us that we tend to take it into normal, everyday activities,
like walking, bending, brushing our teeth, playing a musical instrument, singing,
speaking, sitting at a computer...the list is endless. Alexander teachers use sophisticated
observational skills to diagnose faulty patterns of movement and posture. By using
their hands gently, they help people stop their habitual compression. Next, they show
them how to take this new use of the body into movement and activity. Most importantly,
they help people learn to inhibit their own faulty, automatic patterns, so they can
create this ease for themselves.
In my experience working with musicians in pain, the Alexander Technique has been
helpful with undiagnosed hand, wrist, arm and shoulder pain, thoracic outlet syndrome,
tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar nerve problems, jaw tension and pain, and
TMJ. In the general population, the Alexander Technique has been found to significantly
increase range of motion, reduce pain, enhance breathing coordination and improve
overall functional strength and mobility for people with the following diagnoses *:
Repetitive stress injuries
Typical stress/strain injuries of musicians, dancers, singers, industrial workers,
aerobic and resistance training exercisers
Pain management
Lyme Disease
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lupus
Fibromyalgia
Traumatic Injury
Orthopedic auto, sports, work injuries
Back, neck and hip dysfunction
Spasm
Disc herniation
Post-laminectomy
Stenosis
Sciatica
Scoliosis
Dorsum rotundum
Scheuermann's Disease
Osteoporosis
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Neck and low back syndrome
Neurological dysfunction
Parkinson's Disease
Dystonia
Multiple Sclerosis
Stroke
Respiratory dysfunction
Asthma
Paradoxical breathing
Shallow breathing
Posture/Balance disorders
Parkinson's Disease
Vertigo
Traumatic brain injury
Brain tumor
Cerebellar dysfunction
*excerpted from "The Alexander Technique: Application to Medical Rehabilitation", copyright 1997, The North American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique.
