The Alexander Technique is a method of self-management that gives us the self-knowledge we need in order to implement our good intentions of using our bodies well. This simple technique is now used all over the world. It provides ground rules for reducing the risk of injury or stress-related problems and optimising the way that a person performs.
About 100 years ago, Frederick Alexander introduced the idea that the way you use yourself affects the way that you function. He demonstrated that there are basically two ways of using yourself: a person's tendency over time is either to contract, shorten and tighten, or to release and expand. People have occasional glimpses of the latter as when, for example, everything goes right on the tennis court, or in the 'perfect' interview.
Many people are more familiar with the weight, effort and discomfort of the 'contracting' tendency. In sitting, for example, we all know the daily yo-yo between slouching and 'sitting up straight'. Our attempts to get the posture 'right' are endless because they do not change the underlying conditions. Our coordination—our personal norm— is in place whatever we do; driving a car, using a computer or even relaxing, whether slouching or 'holding ourselves up'. It is what we use to support ourselves against gravity.
If you were told to practice tightening your neck and shoulders 200 times a day, you would think such advice misguided. Yet this is what often happens—albeit unconsciously. The role of an Alexander teacher is to make a person aware of—and then correct—the often subtle habits of compression and distortion whose effects, multiplied by days and months and years, predispose the body to a host of musculo-skeletal ailments. These habits also 'pre-stress' the body. The margins for coping with the day-to-day external stresses become narrower. These 'holding patterns' are almost always implicated in any sort of overuse injury.
A desk-bound worker is highly likely to be placing demands on their arms and shoulders. But how much are they tightening elsewhere at the same time? Are they, for example, tightening their legs in such a way that their lower back is obliged to clench, thus affecting support and strength for the arms and shoulders? Might they be tightening around the ribcage, constricting the breathing and similarly unintentionally withdrawing support and strength from the shoulders and arms? Are they holding their head off-balance and then requiring compensatory tension elsewhere, or even using some muscles to pull the head down whilst trying to 'sit up straight'? These physical habits are a tremendous waste of effort and virtually guarantee injury.
The Alexander Technique pays attention to small but significant things which can be influenced immediately. Learning greater control of the inner, muscular environment provides an on-going tool for life. Improving a person's use of themselves, raising the standard of their 'norm', their own pattern of muscular pulls, can allow injuries a chance to heal and prevent their recurrence.
The Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique is a method of re-learning good habits about how we use the body. It takes its name from Australian actor Frederick Alexander who developed the technique at the turn of the century. His conclusion was that modern society – and how we use the body – leads individuals into grossly misusing the human system of locomotion. This in turn causes dysfunction in other systems of the body. Alexander work seeks to improve the overall standard of use in the locomotive system, resulting in improvements in other systems of the body.
The Alexander Technique is becoming better known for preventative as well as restorative treatments. Several insurance companies such as GIO, NRMA, Switzerland Insurance and MMI now authorise workers compensation and accident rehabilitation payments for Alexander Technique lessons.
According to its practitioners, the technique is "a simple and practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement, balance, support and co-ordination. The technique teaches the use of the appropriate amount of effort for a particular activity, giving you more energy for all your activities. It is not a series of treatments or exercises, but rather a re-education of the mind and body. The Alexander Technique is a method which helps a person discover a new balance in the body by releasing unnecessary tension."
Michael Stenning
Copyright: Michael Stenning. All rights reserved
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