Category Archives: Alexander Technique

Poise – Why do we lose it?

Poise and Posture

When we are children, most people have a beautiful easy poise, as is illustrated in this photo of a little girl sitting on a giant snow seat on Newington Green. Despite the obvious cold, the child is sitting easily and in a relaxed manner, whilst many adults would be bent over and tensed up against the cold!

There are many influences in our lives that get us interfering with our natural poise. Our attitudes and emotional experiences are reflected in the way we use our bodies and our minds gradually tend to become rather set so that our view of the world – and our physical responses to it – become rather fixed and habitual. Stress, peer group pressures, accidents and illnesses all play their part in moulding our habitual body use and many of us end up crumpling our bodies down into ourselves – whilst others over-extend and arch their backs in an attempt to ‘stand up straight’ – both of which pull us off our balance and poise.

Fortunately, F M Alexander realised that we are able to reduce some of these effects if we are willing to let go of habits of thought and behaviour that interfere with our natural use. During Alexander Technique lessons, we can learn how to do this and in so doing, regain much of the fluid, free and poised way of being and moving that we had as children and feeling more comfortable in ourselves.

Shivery Weather

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Free Up Your Movements in the Cold

Frosted berries 20-11-2005.jpg

The recent cold spell that we have been having looks very beautiful in the bright morning sun but it has brought some rather cold, tense and shivery pupils into their Alexander lessons!

It is hard not to tighten our muscles up when the temperature dips but it is so much more helpful to us, our bank balance and to the environment, if we put on another layer of clothing to keep us warm, rather than getting tense and turning the heaters up without thinking.

With wintry frost and ice around, with snow possibly on its way, it’s time to take care on pavements. If you are afraid of falling, it is tempting to tense up all over and in particular around your hips and thighs. When they tighten up, this also impacts on our lower backs and tension there may well result in back pain building up.

It may help you to remember that you’ll have more sense of your balance and more control over your movements, if you refuse to tighten but walk in an alert, poised and free manner. Now is a very good time to apply all you have learned in your Alexander lessons and to think about your body use in your daily activities, in order to avoid problems such as back pain from developing.

The Alexander Technique challenges our habits

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Have you made some New Year Resolutions?

It can be very hard sticking to our New Year’s resolutions as most of them challenge an aspect of our behaviour – and we just want to go straight back into our usual habits.

Many resolutions are promises to ourselves to modify our behaviour and to let go of old habits that we want to change and we can help ourselves by using the Alexander Technique – yes, the AT, which is about far more than just looking after our backs or improving our posture!

When we learn the Alexander Technique we develop our self-awareness and learn to say ‘no’ to habits that do not serve us, so that we can have the chance to consciously choose how we want to move and act. This is directly applied in AT lessons to activities such as choosing to let go of habits of tension that interfere with the way we stand up or sit down for instance. Once we have stopped our old habit, we can then choose to stand up in a new way that allows us to move more freely and in a more coordinated manner. This often leads to improvements in our posture and a reduction in aches and pains but these are the outcomes of changing our habits.

If we hold onto our habits, we can’t change.

The same process can be used when we see some mince pies and want to have yet another one. We know that we ‘shouldn’t’ have one but often do it anyway without much thought. However, if we stop and say ‘no’ to reacting to that urge by immediately picking the pie up, we give ourselves a chance to reflect and make a conscious choice about whether or not to eat it.

This makes it much easier to continue to say ‘no’ to habits such as over-eating and can help us to keep to our resolutions and to let go of old habits.

The Alexander Technique challenges our habits.

‘We can throw away the habits of a lifetime in a few minutes, if we use our brains’

F M Alexander

Start the New Year afresh – Try it out for yourself!

Taster Workshop 28th January. Full

Intro Workshop for Women – 10 March

Further info Phone Hilary: 020 7254 9206

Introductory AT lessons are available on a regular basis.

Is the Alexander Technique about posture?

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The Alexander Technique’s about posture isn’t it?

Well, not really!

It’s true that changes in posture do come about as a result of using the Technique and this photo of fellow Alexander teacher Refia Sacks, out and about in South Africa, illustrates that a nice easy poise is one of the benefits of learning to use use our bodies more freely and effectively in our everyday activities. However, the aim of Alexander Technique lessons is not about improving posture.

Refia Sacks – sitting with casual poise

In AT lessons, we learn how to move around and use our bodies in a coordinated way without tension and it is the quality of our body-use that is all important. As we allow our bodies to work the way they are designed to, our posture does tend to improve. But that is an outcome, not the aim.

Some people manage to retain their good body use into adulthood, without ever having an Alexander Technique lesson. However, most adults lose the free and often graceful movements that we had as children and often end up rather ‘crumpled’, with a variety of aches and pains. One of the joys of having Alexander lessons is that we can often regain – or find – some of the co-ordination and freedom of movement that is more natural to our bodies.

Natural, easy poise whilst working

I watched this woman in Mexico as she sat quietly working away at her knitting and she demonstrates that adults can indeed sit and work in a relaxed manner, with a lengthened spine and good posture. As she sits in the café, she has a lovely strong back and quiet poise, which allows her arms to move freely as she concentrates and works on her task. Too many people drop their neck and head forwards to do knitting, computing and similar tasks, The result is that they get neck and back pain from their mis-use and from the weight of the head dragging down towards their hands. Such poor posture and body-use can contribute to developing RSI, particularly if there is lots of habitual muscle tension.

I doubt this woman has had AT lessons and there is no knowing how much attention she has paid to thinking about how she uses her body. This woman appears to be comfortable in her body. How many people do you see sitting at desks, pianos and computers, who have a similar free and easy poise and balance in their body as they work?

If you want to re-find your natural poise and freedom of movement and would like to prevent having pain whilst you work, come and try some 1:1 Alexander Technique lessons.

Marilyn Monroe and the Alexander Technique

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Marilyn Monroe may well have learned the Alexander Technique!

She certainly owned and read a good part of at least one of F M Alexander’s books,

‘Man’s Supreme Inheritance‘. Marilyn must have been quite serious about reading it, as she made notes in the margins of many of the pages.

It is always good to hear of well-known people that have learned the Technique, particularly when it is one of the world’s most easily recognised, glamorous icons such as Marilyn Monroe. She was always so poised, even in her stilettos and learning the Technique may well have helped her cope with the problems wearing such shoes can cause.

This photo shows her relaxing, bright eyed, alert and happy.

Marilyn left a bookmark in page 157 of Man’s Supreme Inheritance, indicating that other aspects of the Technique were also of interest to her. One section that was marked is where F M Alexander discusses how our ability to be able to allow changes in our point of view is important if we want to bring about changes in ourselves :

“…in both instances all depends on the point of view, we cannot be surprised that the mere promise to reform is usually futile, and we must furthermore realize that a changed point of view is the royal road to reformation.”

Change involves deeper aspects of ourselves that we often wish not to acknowledge. It is interesting that Marilyn was exploring such issues.

Care to follow in her footsteps? Why not try the Technique out?

Yoga Aids Back Pain – but not as much as 24 Alexander Lessons

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University of York Research Finds Yoga Aids Chronic Back Pain

More good news for back pain sufferers and for complementary therapists! Another interesting research trial at the University of York, funded by Arthritis Research UK, has found that yoga helped people with back pain more than conventional GP treatment.

These results were then compared with the findings of the ATEAM Trial into treatments for chronic back pain (in which the Alexander Technique was found to be more effective than either massage and GP treatment) and it was found that:

‘The results suggested that the 12-week yoga group programme may improve back function more than exercise and manipulation, cognitive-behaviour treatment and six sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique, but not as much as 24 sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique’.

Interestingly, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique Scientific Research Committee have pointed out that the ATEAM Trial also found significant reductions in pain experienced by the subjects having Alexander lessons, whereas the Yoga Trial did not report a significant level of pain reduction.

It is good that a body of research into the Alexander Technique and other disciplines is growing and that the findings are very encouraging and support our work as Alexander teachers.

As the comment below describes, people who just rely on drugs become habituated to them and then the drug don’t work. Learning techniques such as yoga and the Alexander Technique gives people tools that they can use throughout their lives to improve their body use and to lesson problems such as back pain.

High Heels are Damaging Women

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‘A Modern Torture’ is how Polly Vernon describes the wearing and ‘Invasion of the Killer Heels’ in The Times Magazine on 22.10.11. It’s a excellent article to read, with graphic illustrations of famous women falling off their high heels in public.

You can see an X Ray photo of a foot coping with being in a stiletto here.

As an Alexander Teacher, I have worked with several women who have back pain and problematic feet because of distortions in their posture which have mainly been created by wearing high heels continually.

The good news is, it is possible to undo a great deal of the damage, if women are willing to give up wearing high heels all the time and learn to use their bodies differently, by having Alexander Technique lessons.

You can read more in my article on Back Pain and High Heels

More Research Into the Alexander Technique

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Fascinating Research Trial into Standing

Recently, I was delighted to be a research subject at the prestigious UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square London.

The research study, which is run by Prof. Brian Day’s Whole Body Sensorimotor Lab is investigating whole-body actions and the neural processes that control them. Dr Tim Cacciatore is looking at the way Alexander Technique Teachers use our bodies when we move, compared with the way matched members of the public, who have never had any Alexander lessons.

For the research, I was all wired up with infrared body markers on my arms, legs, spine and skull and signals from these were picked up by sensors as I moved. I also sat and stood on some force plates, that measured my force levels as I moved.

Gradually an outline of my skeleton appeared on the computer and I could observe the way I had been moving. Dr Cacciatore has already published some findings related to this type of research and it was fascinating to be involved. I shall be very interested to find out the results of this study when it is published. Watch this space for further info about this research trial.

This type of research not only increases our understanding of the Alexander Technique but its findings may eventually be used to help people who suffer from disorders resulting from damage to the central nervous system.

Information about a previous study by this research team may be found here.

Alexander Technique Research to Help Neck Pain

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Research to Help Chronic Neck Pain

Another major research trial into the Alexander Technique has just started at York University, funded by Arthritis Research UK.

The 3 year randomised controlled trial will compare the Alexander Technique, Acupuncture and regular GP care in the treatment of 450 people with chronic neck pain. Once the results of the trial are available, it is hoped that this will enable recommendations to be made about the most suitable treatment/s for neck pain to be used within the NHS.

It is already known that both lessons in the Alexander Technique, or having some Acupuncture treatments can be effective in reducing problems such as neck pain but this has not been backed up by clinical research, so this is a very welcome study.

Further info here.

Degas and Movement

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Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement

For anyone who is interested in movement, the use of the body and in dance, there is a fascinating Degas exhibition on at the Royal Academy of Arts.

This exploration of Degas’ work looks deeper than the merely chocolate box images of ballet dancers with which he has tended to be associated in recent years. Early film and photographs such as the movement studies by Edweard Muybridge, which Degas may well have known, are also included in the exhibition.

On until 11 December

Venue: Royal Academy of Arts