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The Alexander Technique
Taking the Pressure Off Your Body
Robert Rickover
"Stand up straight!" "Pull your shoulders back!" As children,
we were told to have good posture. Yet we were seldom taught
effective ways to accomplish this. Indeed, we were often not
even told just what "good posture" is.
The consequences of this information gap can be seen all around
us: stiff necks, shoulders hunched forward or pulled tightly
back, restricted breathing, and tightness in the thighs, legs
and ankles. Backaches, headaches, and other painful symptoms
are often the unfortunate result.
By the time we've spent a year of two in school, sitting for
hours on chairs and at desks chosen primarily for their economy
and for the convenience of the custodial staff, we have learned
tension patterns that interfere with our natural easiness,
balance, support, and freedom of movement.. These tension
patterns - slumping or stiff "good posture" patterns - become
so habitual that they start to feel normal despite the fact
that they seriously restrict our breathing and freedom of
movement.
The Alexander Technique is a time-tested method of teaching
ways to restore our natural balance, flexibility and ease
of movement. It teaches the use of the appropriate amount
of effort for a particular activity, releasing more energy
for all our activities. It is not a series of treatments or
exercises, but rather a reeducation of the mind and body that
helps you discover a new balance in your body by releasing
unnecessary tension. It can be applied to all of your daily
activities.
The Alexander Technique places a great deal of emphasis on
the relationship between your head and neck. The way we manage
that relationship has huge implications for the way the rest
of our body is organized. If, as is so often the case, we
compress our heads down into our spines, a whole series of
compensatory tensions is created. If, on the other hand, we
can learn to allow our head to balance lightly on top of our
spine as nature intended, our built in "anti-gravity" reflex
is activated and our body is encouraged to release previously
held restrictions.
How the Alexander Technique is taught
The Alexander Technique is above all an educational method.
Alexander Teachers use a combination of verbal instruction
and a light, guiding, touch to convey information to their
students. Alexander Technique teaching is done in private
lessons and in group classes. Private lessons are usually
between 1/2 and 1 hour in length.
Teacher training
Most certified Alexander Technique teachers have completed
a three-year full time training course recognized by one of
several major professional societies. Typically, the training
courses have a student teacher ratio of 5:1 or less, and provide
a great deal of individual attention for each trainee.
A few teachers have trained more informally on an apprenticeship
basis and some of them have become members of professional
societies through a rigorous review process. Not all Alexander
Technique teachers are certified and not all teachers eligible
for certification are members of a professional society.
Choosing a teacher
All of the major professional Alexander Technique societies
publish a teachers' list as well as on-line listings. Recommendations
from friends and colleagues can be useful in choosing a teacher,
but you will have to judge for yourself if a particular teacher
is right for you.
Ask about his or her training and be prepared to take a few
lessons before deciding whether to continue with a course
of lessons. If you live in a community with several teachers,
have a lesson or two with several before making a final decision.
The basic ideas of the Alexander Technique are not in any
way complex or mystical, but they do represent a new way of
thinking about the functioning of your body and may take a
little getting used to at first.
Benefits
Excess tension in your body can cause a variety of unpleasant
symptoms and it can interfere with your ability to perform
activities well. Therefore it is not surprising that most
people come to the Alexander Technique because they are in
pain (backaches, sore necks and shoulders, carpal tunnel syndrome
etc.) and/or because they are performers who want to improve
the quality of their singing, playing, acting or dancing.
People of all ages and occupations have benefited from Alexander
Technique lessons. The Technique also has its share of famous
people who have publicly endorsed it - including two Nobel
Prize winners and a great many celebrities like Paul Newman,
John Cleese, William Hurt, Sting, James Galway and Yehudi
Menuhun.
Robert Rickover is an Alexander Technique teacher
living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also teaches regularly in
Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Fitness Without
Stress - A Guide to the Alexander Technique and is
the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique
website at http://www.alexandertechnique.com
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