A few words
about the Alexander Technique
Who was Alexander? - How does it work? - Who can use it?
Frederic M. Alexander was an Australian, up-and-coming/promising actor who at the beginning of his career started to encounter voice problems. As traditional methods of cure weren’t effective, Alexander decided to sort out the problem on his own. He noticed that the cause of his vocal problems was the WAY he recited. He spent several years observing himself with the help of mirrors. Quite soon he came to understand that the way he stood, moved and thought had a crucial effect on his voice and the quality of his movement. He wrote about his discoveries in several books and many articles. He helped many famous people to free up their movement, manage or alleviate pain issues and become more coordinated. Thanks to their support, the Alexander Technique became known worldwide and is taught at many Music and Drama Colleges and Universities.
At the base of the Alexander Technique lies the assumption that the way you think and feel has an effect on the way you move and vice versa. When you develop the skill of conscious observation of yourself, you can start to notice and discern mental and physical habits that impede your optimal functioning. Most of us move in a well balanced and graceful way when we were children. Somewhere on our way to becoming adults, we lost this flexibility of movement, along with some curiousity and creativity. During an Alexander Technique lesson you learn how to stop your harmful habits and change your thinking. Thanks to these changes you may be able to rediscover freer movement and an improved quality of life.
There has been scientific research carried out on the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique. In one of these projects the patients with chronic back pain where divided into four groups. One group did nothing, the second group attended aerobic classes, the third group had massage sessions and the last group undertook Alexander Technique lessons. It turned out that even a year after the trial, the group that went through the Alexander Technique learning process, had an average 3 days of pain per month compared with 21 days per month with usual GP care. The NHS recommends Alexander Technique for patients with chronic lower back pain, neck pain, Parkinson’s disease. link: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alexander-technique/Pages/Introduction.aspx