Articles

What is the Alexander Technique?  

Richard Brennan MSTAT

The Alexander Technique is not so much something you learn as something you unlearn. It is a method of releasing unwanted muscular tension throughout your body which has accumulated over many years of stressful living. This excess tension often starts in childhood and, if left unchecked, can give rise in later life to common ailments such as arthritis, neck and back pain, migraines, hypertension, sciatica, insomnia and even depression.       Read more

 

The Alexander Technique, Not Just for Christmas

Susanna Scouller

The Alexander Technique helps keep the festive period on the joyful side and keeps stress at bay.  Read more

 

The Alexander Technique: A Balm for Back Pain?

National Public Radio March 2011

If you ever saw the musicals “Wicked” in San Francisco or “Cats” on the road, you’ve probably heard Joe Rodriguez blasting on his trumpet. I met him recently at the musicians’ union hall in downtown San Francisco. But hitting those notes night after night in a cramped orchestra pit takes a toll on the musicians. “The fact of having your arms up and carrying the weight of this instrument and pushing the instrument toward you and so you have this stress, this wall you’re pushing against,” says Rodriguez. “And a well designed instrument will push back.” He’s been a working trumpet player for four decades, and all that back-arching and shoulder-pinching has left him with chronic pain in his lower back. Research suggests an alternative therapy called Alexander Technique may be an effective way to treat back pain. Read More

 

Perfect Poise Could Banish My Backache

Daily Express March 2011

An entirely mental discipline can have an impressive effect on chronic spinal pain. The second-best thing about learning the Alexander Technique with Noël Kingsley is that you get a lot of congratulations for tiny things. I am sitting in an ordinary chair in his consulting room in London’s West End and he is gently prodding the back of my neck and shoulders. He wants me to think “lead with the head”, just think it not do it, as he nudges me forward. I hinge at the hip and end up in a standing position. Read More

 

Bad Posture is a Pain in the Neck

Evening Standard March 2011

After hours of writing, I can set the clock by the pain at the top of my shoulders and around my neck. It goes if I avoid my desk but returns the minute I sit down again in front of the computer. Barring some kind of psychosomatic allergy to working, clearly my posture is to blame. Read More

 

How to walk tall and stay pain free like former James Bond Pierce Brosnan

Daily Mail February 2011

You might not think the act of standing would be fraught with problems given that we have two legs for the purpose, writes Noel Kingsley. Last week we told how the Alexander Technique helped posture and poise. Among its fans is former James Bond Pierce Brosnan. This week we look at how it can help standing without strain. Read More

 

Bad Back:  Bend like Beckham!

Independent February 2011

Most of us will suffer from a bad back at some time – whether it’s a slight twinge or a prolapsed disc that confines us to bed for weeks at a time. The underlying cause of the majority of all back pain is a bad posture, but there is a method that aims to increase our poise and reduce back complaints. The Alexander Technique is a self-help method that enables us to stop harmful patterns of movement and posture that interfere with the body working efficiently. Read more

 

Alexander Technique Helps Reduce Chronic Back Pain

Dallas Morning News  September 2010

Anna Zimmerman’s back pain consumed her to the point she could not lift her arm for a month, which worried the aspiring violinist. The 21-year-old University of North Texas student saw doctors who ran tests and prescribed medicine, but nothing relieved her suffering. Two years ago, she paid a visit to Phyllis Richmond, who offered a remedy called the Alexander technique, a century-old method used often by performers to improve their posture and coordination. Since then, Zimmerman’s pains have decreased and her movement has been restored. Read More

 

Are you sitting comfortably?

Knitting June 2009

It’s not just your yarn that can get knotted. Clare Kelly explores how the Alexander Technique can ease a painful knitting posture Picture your perfect afternoon – steaming cup of tea, a bar of – the smoothest chocolate, your favourite film and, of course, your current WIP (work in progress). Sounds idyllic doesn’t it? But imagine the scene a few hours in – achy shoulders, a complicated pattern and knots not only in your WIP but your back too. Most of us have experienced the aches and strains from working in front of a computer all day – you might have even had a bout of Repetitive Strain Injury, but did it ever cross your mind that the way you knit could also be a cause for concern? Read More

 

Why Alexander truly is Great

Financial Times 15 November 2008

One of the best things I’ve found to do recently has been to lie on the floor in my study with four Chicago paperback translations of Greek tragedies under my head. The virtue of this exercise has had nothing whatever to do either with Chicago or with Greek tragedy (no references to hubris and nemesis in this column). It is a practice recommended by F Matthias Alexander, the Australian actor and reciter who originated the Alexander Technique. Read More

 

The Knowledge: How to Improve Your Posture

The Telegraph 11 July 2008

Standing too straight is just as bad as slouching, says Brita Forsstrom, an expert in the Alexander Technique. Make it Easy. ‘Good’ posture is surprisingly effortless – we only need actively to use 14 out of 640-odd muscles for standing up. And although ‘bad’ posture is most often identified as slouching, standing up straight like a sergeant major, poking the chest out and tilting the head back is actually just as unhealthy. You should also watch out for leaning down on to one hip, and pulling the shoulders back, too. Read More

 

Alexander Technique and RSI

Prima June 2008

Fran Giaquinto, 51, from Tulla, County Clare, Ireland, feared the pain in her hands could stop her from working. “I’m a laboratory researcher, which involves fine movements with my hands and fingers. Eight years ago, this suddenly became extremely painful. The pain was shooting up my hands into my forearms and shoulders and, after a few weeks, it was so excruciating that after 15 minutes of any type of work involving my arms – washing up, driving, writing, working on the computer – I was in tears with the sickening, deadly aching pain. My doctor referred me to a physiotherapist, who said mine was the most severe and extensive case of repetitive strain injury (RSI) that she had ever seen. She warned me that I was unlikely ever to recover fully – and I began to wonder if I’d ever work again. I spent thousands of pounds visiting osteopaths, chiropractors and massage therapists, and although they all provided some relief, it never lasted. Then a colleague recommended an Alexander Technique teacher. I went for my first appointment with her in September 2000. I was in too much pain to do any kind of exercise, so all I did was to lie on the couch while she took me systematically around my body, encouraging me to tense each muscle and then relax it. I went for a total of ten sessions over the next two weeks and, by the end, the pain started to disappear. I went for further lessons once a week and after four months, my life was totally unaffected by RSI. I’m staggered by the results!”

 

The Alexander Technique as a Treatment for Mental Illness

The Times 18 April 2008

In our culture today the connection between physical and emotional problems is gaining currency. Surprisingly, the best answer to coping with the stresses of life is by using a hands-on approach that straightens the body. This technique can help in balancing moods, changing behavioural patterns and managing life’s challenges. To most people, the Alexander Technique is a method of improving posture or relieving backache. However, the emotional and psychological benefits have convinced many to continue lessons long after their aches and pains have disappeared. Read More

Postures New

Guardian 2 October 2007

Once, the phrase “good posture” brought to mind either a violently perpendicular, ramrod-backed sergeant major stance, or a deportment class full of debutantes balancing books on their heads. Nowadays, the definition of good posture cleaves to a far more natural ideal….The most popular ways of doing this are currently yoga, pilates and the Alexander Technique….. The Alexander Technique is a more fundamental approach than either pilates or yoga. It aims to teach people to regain the natural poise we all had as children. “It’s about unlearning bad habits and giving you a gentle awareness, at the back of your mind all the time, about the right, loose, free natural way we all used to do things at one point in our lives,” says Noel Kingsley, Alexander teacher. Read more

 

Back to Basics

Guardian 13 July 2004

Are you a slumper? Ashley Seager was, but cured his bad posture – and his chronic back pain – with the Alexander Technique.

Many people will have heard of the Alexander technique but have only a vague idea what it is about. Until earlier this year, I didn’t have the faintest idea about it. But, hunched over a computer screen one day, I noticed that the neck- and backache I regularly suffered were more painful than usual. Read More

The Power of Posture by Michael Bloch

Evening Standard 18 May 2004

As a studious boy, I used to walk to school carrying a heavy bag of books. As a result, I reached adulthood with my right shoulder almost an inch lower than the left. I imagined this to be a permanent deformity, was rather self-conscious about it and had my jackets specially made to hide the discrepancy. Read More

 

Letter in “Your Health” about experience of the Alexander Technique

Families South West December 2003

I used to suffer from terrible back and neck pain and headaches and started having Alexander Technique lessons to look into this. What I liked about it immediately is that it is a way of learning to look after myself in day to day life, rather than feeling dependent on someone to “fix” me during a treatment session. Read More