The Alexander Technique was discovered by Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955), an actor who began his career as a Shakespearean orator and developed chronic laryngitis while performing. He became obsessed to get his voice back. He started observing himself while speaking and observed that undue muscular tension he had a vocal problem. He sought a way to eliminate that restriction. Over time, he discovered and articulated a principle that profoundly influences health and well being: When neck tension is reduced, the head no longer compresses the spine and the spine is free to lengthen.
Alexander restored his own natural capacity for ease of movement by changing the way he thought while initiating an action. From this work on him and others, he evolved a teaching method that encourages all the body’s processes to work more efficiently — as an integrated and vibrant whole.
How the Alexander Technique is Taught?
The Alexander Technique is an educational method and teachers use a combination of verbal instruction with guiding touch to convey their message to the students. There are certified teachers to teach this technique. Few teachers have also trained on an apprenticeship basis and have learnt the craft informally.
Benefits of the Alexander Technique:
It has been recognized that excess tension in your body can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms and it can interfere with your ability to perform activities well. Most persons who seek this therapy come for the relief of backaches, sore necks, shoulders and rarely for carpal tunnel syndrome. It is very useful to help dancers, actors and singers to improve their stage performance. Sir Paul McCartney the famous musician and singer is known to practice the Alexander technique to help him perform better on stage.
Alexander technique can help overcome fears of falling:
Studies show that 30 to 50 percent of elderly people fear falling. Elderly persons are afraid of falling and often this fear imposes a certain degree of immobility that they impose on themselves. As they do less physical activity, their physical condition deteriorates and makes them more prone to falls. More falls make them more afraid and a vicious cycle is induced.
The Alexander Technique teaches head, neck, eye and inner ear co-ordination and the excessive tension in the body is released and the elderly are made to feel more confident and less prone to falls.
It can even help athletes who have frequent sports injuries. This technique even helps musicians who have bad posture, which results in severe pain, fatigue and decrease in the quality of their performance. Besides helping the elderly and the stressed out persons. Alexander is a safe, effective non-pharmacological therapy, which can help a wide variety of individuals from various walks of life.