Navigation
|
|
Topics
 What is the
Alexander Technique?
What did
Alexander Discover?
How does it
help?
Why have
Alexander Technique lessons?
What
happens in an Alexander Technique lesson?
What about
existing injuries?
How many
lessons are appropriate?
The
Alexander Technique, developed in Australia by Frederick Matthias
Alexander, has been enthusiastically received the world over and is
incorporated into the training of groups as diverse as musicians, masseurs
and fighter pilots. Surprisingly, although it is widely accepted
throughout the UK, US and Europe, the Alexander Technique is only now
making waves here in the land of its developer.
The
Alexander Technique is a practical educational method that can be learnt
and put into practice in everyday life. It can be used to help us
understand how we move, think and feel.
A
pupil learns, through increased self-awareness and conscious control, to
interrupt his or her habitual response to a stimulus and then to
substitute a different, more appropriate response if desired.
The
catalyst for Alexander's investigations was the desire to overcome his
chronic voice-loss. He found that how he had been using himself created
the problem. To restore his voice he had to consider his complete pattern
of use.
Return to
top...
FM
Alexander discovered several important principles of human functioning
when he was looking to cure himself through observation and
experimentation. These discoveries helped him to help himself and also to
help other people.
- Mind and body cannot be separated: each has a constant interaction
with and influence on the other that makes it essential to talk always
in terms of the whole person.
- To understand why some part of a person is malfunctioning, it is
necessary to look at the total pattern of use of that person.
- It is as important to look at what we should not do as it is to look
at what we should do. "Everyone is always teaching one what to do,
leaving us still doing the things we shouldn't do." (Alexander)
- Each person is born with a 'primary control' that organises and
integrates movement. This primary control operates as the head, neck and
back connect with each other. If it is disrupted then messages to and
from all the parts of the body are disturbed, movements become more
awkward, and unnecessary effort is needed to keep a person functioning.
Return to
top...
By
learning to step aside from the patterns of years, and allow freedom and
expansion throughout the whole being, a student opens new possibilities
for:
- The release of tension,
- Healing,
- Self-awareness and understanding,
- Self expression.
Return to
top...
The
Alexander Technique can help to:
- Improve performance in skilled activities such as dance, music,
acting or sport
- Relieve and prevent back, neck and limb pain, headaches and other
musculo-skeletal problems
- Reduce tension in activities that are repetitive and/or strenuous
such as bending, lifting, or typing
- Manage stress, improve wellbeing and self-understanding
- Restore freedom of movement after an accident or chronic illness
Return to
top...
"You are not here to do exercises or to learn to do something right, but
to get able to meet a stimulus that always puts you wrong and to learn to
deal with it."
FM Alexander
Lessons in the Alexander Technique help a person take a fresh look at the
way activities are performed. A pupil learns to appreciate the practical
implications of thought and its effect on muscle activity. A teacher's
hands encourage a specific quality of muscle tone. This, together with
words of instruction, helps to release inappropriate tension and allows
the pupil to become better aligned and balanced.
A
pupil learns, through increased self-awareness and conscious control, to
interrupt his or her habitual response to a stimulus and then to
substitute a different, more appropriate response if desired.
Return to
top...
The
Alexander Technique works to help re-establish balance within the natural
systems of the body. As condidions change, pupils often experience relief
from chronic problems. However, the thrust of the work is educational, not
therapeutic. You are learning about yourself and how you can change your
use of yourself. With that knowledge, you can learn to stop actions that
exacerbate your condition, and to manage all movements more easily.
Please alert us if you have an existing medical condition, so
that we can tailor our work to your situation.
Return to
top...
This is up to the pupil, and depends on the level of expertise they want
to attain in the Technique. As with learning any skill, this level is
proportional to the commitment. You can start using what you learn from
the first lesson. For adults, we suggest a course of 20-30 lessons over a
period of 3-5 months as a rough guide to the number of lessons that will
give a pupil enough knowledge and experience of practising the Technique
to use it confidently in daily life.
The needs of your child should be discussed with the teacher both
before and after a first visit. Usually children can be helped in fewer
lessons, as their habit patterns are not strongly ingrained, and they are
closer to the better functioning we all experienced in infanthood.
Return to
top... |
