“Studying the Alexander Technique with Steve is one of my favorite things each week. He’s a body whisperer who coaxes diminishing habits away and introduces the body to a better way. As an athlete I am less sore, as a singer I have more resonance, and as a lawyer I am more in command.”
What is the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique (AT) exists at the intersection of health, creativity, and mindfulness. It uses movement as a vehicle to become aware of how things are so that we can make choices. The message being that with practice, we are able to take back some control of how our energies are directed. And so the AT is a practical method to embody mindfulness, solve problems, and improve health.
My teacher Luc Vanier and I working through a lateral spiral.
I also work with Framework for Integration, a movement analysis system anchored in the way babies move which provides a wonderful map/lens to understand what the organization of the body looks like and moves like.
How does the AT contribute to Good Health?
Good health means participation.
Taking responsibility for how your energies are directed.
Being alert, open-minded, energized.
Free from pain and being able to cope constructively when pain is present
And to some degree, control over your reaction to stress.
Is AT about posture?
Kind of. But posture isn’t very well defined. I think we’d do better to study relationships.
The very first shape of the human spine is one long curve. In the womb you’re in flexion, or primary. Gradually, you become upright by adding opposing, secondary curves to the mix. First the cervical and later the lumbar curve, and moving forward you are a literal balance of curves. Look up and the whole spine moves toward extension, look down a little and it moves toward flexion.
Add to the mix an understanding how your head and pelvis are in counterbalance, and we’re getting somewhere.
Good posture is a series of curves that are in balance. Both in activity and rest. Poor posture often occurs when the balance is interfered with.
We all have strategies for balancing our curves and organizing our hinges. Often those strategies are a bit miscalibrated.
So things are a certain way and it may be good to get to know how they are so you have choices. Which relationships to encourage and which ones you’d like to prevent.
In that sense, yes, the Alexander Technique is about posture.
Will it help my _______? (back pain, migraines, tension, etc.)
Maybe…there’s a good chance… I would direct you to what others have experienced.
“…I get monthly migraines. I usually take a cocktail of pain meds to manage them, but my day is always ruined. Last week was intense for me, and I should have gotten a migraine. Instead, I kept noticing again and again the moments when I was holding tension in my head and neck and shoulders and I just gently let them release. And that migraine never happened. I’m wary of declaring victory over my migraines, or saying the Alexander Technique can cure something that’s plagued me my whole life, but these ways of being aware and gentle with my body are life changing.”