The Alexander Way…learning is a joyous adventure…

A very well done video where students tell their experiences and impressions of lessons they have had.

Experience Speaks for the Alexander Technique from Thomas Glen Cook on Vimeo.

March 25, 2010 (PhysOrg.com)

A researcher from the University of the West of England is looking into the use of the Alexander Technique (AT) as a teaching method to help people with chronic back pain and to explore the role of a specific service in an NHS pain clinic.

UWE researcher Dr Stuart McClean will be working in collaboration with Dr Lesley Wye from the University of Bristol, health practitioners at St Michaels Hospital and STAT Alexander Technique teachers. Stuart explains that “The Alexander Technique uses hands-on to achieve greater ease and poise by removing unhelpful habits that get in the way of simple activities such as sitting, standing and walking. It is all about self management and awareness.”

He said, “Alexander Technique teaches people first to pause and to realise that there are conscious choices in everyday activities such as raising a hand, talking, using a computer, or playing a musical instrument.

“Alexander Technique requires significant effort on the part of the patient, which the AT teacher calls the ’student’. For this reason the long term impact can be very positive. Once the technique is learned the ’student’ can use and practice the technique themselves, emphasising self management so that the effects may last after any formal treatment.

The University of Bristol and University of Southampton carried out a randomised controlled trial, published in the BMJ, and found AT was both clinically and cost effective for the treatment of back pain in primary care. This research builds on that study, as the researchers are looking at what happens when AT is introduced into a hospital pain clinic.

A participant in the trial, Ann Downton, 67, said, “I suffered from arthritis in the spine. I began to feel the benefits after four or five lessons. If you want something other than tablets to help back pain it can be expensive. Alexander Technique should be available on the NHS.”

Dr Peter Brook, the lead consultant at St. Michael’s Pain Clinic in Bristol, said, “I was very interested to read the BMJ study on back pain. The results are very encouraging and something that should be further evaluated to ascertain its value in chronic back pain. The general ethos of the Pain Management Service at University Hospitals Bristol is to encourage a self management approach to long term conditions. If lessons in the Alexander Technique can contribute to this it will be a useful addition to our range of treatment options.”

If the study demonstrates that the AT service is feasible, acceptable, cost-neutral and beneficial to service users the AT teachers will seek longer term funding to extend the service. The findings will also be disseminated widely within the local Primary Care Trust and nationally at conferences. Stuart McClean concludes, “This is a scoping study but it could have a significant impact if AT is seen to demonstrate clear benefits to the service users as well as the NHS. The results will be widely published and used to inform future decisions surrounding pain management.”

Provided by University of the West of England

The British Medical Journal study shows 85% reduction in back pain through lessons in the Alexander Technique.  Dr Paul Little led the investigation in a major back pain study with results released in the late summer of 2008.

The study determined that back pain can be reduced by the Alexander Technique’s practical method of self-care taught in individualized lessons.

Exciting Results:
579 patients were involved in this multi-center clinical trial, which is one of the few major studies to show significant long-term benefits for patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain. BMJ, 2008

One year after the trial started and following 24 Alexander Technique lessons the number of days in pain fell by 85% compared with the control group. The average number of activities limited by back pain had fallen by 42%.??In real numbers:
*   After 6 lessons = 3 days in pain per month
*   After 24 lessons plus exercise = 11 days of pain per month

To find an Alexander Technique Teacher near you go to:

Alexander Technique International

Alexander Technique . com

By Christie Johnson
Over 80% of women report back pain in pregnancy. Trying to balance the added weight of the growing baby can take its toll both physically in sitting, squatting and even climbing stairs, as well as emotionally as hormones shift. During delivery there is the challenge of maintaining calm amidst contractions. Then, after delivery there is the awkwardness of carrying baby, the car seat, the diaper bag and possibly groceries all in one load. How does one maintain balance and prevent injury through all of this? The Alexander Technique(AT) has been a valuable resource for mitigating these challenges.

A century old method, AT teaches movement efficiency. Pregnant women have found it extremely helpful in learning how to reduce stress and impact on the body. As the baby grows, there is a tendency for many women to accommodate the extra forward weight by leaning back. This can create lower back pain and sciatica. AT teaches Mom how to make the best use of the internal torso space to provide for better breathing, improve digestion and thus increase her energy.

During delivery AT promotes better balance, breath, coordination and support. Women learn how the pelvic floor is designed to release. Most importantly, they learn to focus on their body’s natural rhythms during the birthing process and find more resources within each moment versus thinking of just the end result of the birth.

Parents have found tremendous comfort in learning how to move more naturally with less tension using AT. Parents also learn to respond in an easier way to stimuli. This is especially useful in dealing with late night feedings, bathing, dressing, carrying and playing with babies.

Pregnancy and parenting require an immense amount of energy. The Alexander Technique helps redirect excess efforts into more resourceful energy allowing for better balance for all.

Article Courtesy of Healthy Times Newspaper Archives

Happiness is defined as doing well something that interests you. It can be seen at its clearest in a healthy child at play whose pleasure resides in the satisfaction… F.M. quote from Frank Jones ‘Freedom to Change’

Posted from Luke Ford

Alexander Technique as a treatment for mental illness

re-printed from Times Online UK,   written by Naomi Shragai

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. Hilary, a 38-year-old barrister from North London, gained enormous psychological benefits from having lessons in the technique.

Her psychiatrist had referred her to me after a two-week admission at The Priory Hospital for a psychotic, manic episode. Therapy and medication had had minimal impact on her subsequent depression, and both she and her psychiatrist were willing to try anything that might help. When I first met Hilary, who is married with a four-year-old son, her depression was so severe that she could not even engage in a 50-minute therapy session. Instead, I suggested three Alexander Technique lessons a week until her mood stabilised.

Hilary says she was suffering extreme depression at the time. “I was completely non-functional,” she recalls. “My son, Peter, was three months old and I had to leave him with a full-time nanny to look after him. I wasn’t doing anything except trying not to kill myself.”

The effects of the technique in balancing her mood and helping her to think rationally were powerful. “Before, I had ten years of antidepressants and therapy to some effect, bringing some stability. Using the Alexander Technique helped me to achieve a degree of healing that wasn’t possible with just talk therapy and pills. For me, the technique became a lifeline. I felt calmer from the first lesson.”

The Alexander technique is a way of re-educating the body towards balance and alignment. In individual lessons, a qualified teacher helps the student to recognise faulty muscular use and poor posture through gentle touch and guidance (see panel, facing page). There is an emphasis on lengthening and widening the back, and freeing the spine to achieve a more co-ordinated movement.

With the aid of the teacher’s hands, the student learns to release and lengthen muscles that have been shortened over time because of stress and misuse. But how can stopping unnecessary muscular tension heal emotional wounds? Unconscious experiences, such as unhealed traumas, unexpressed feelings and painful memories can be pushed into the body where they are not free to be dealt with in the mind. These tensions might turn into physical symptoms and ailments, but can also lead to mental illness, such as depression and anxiety.

Frederick Alexander, the founder of the technique, taught that how we use our bodies has an extraordinary effect on our ability to accurately perceive the world around us, as well as our emotional and physical health.

“I had been holding fear in my muscles” Hilary says the technique helped her to cope with emotional scars from her childhood. “One experience I had is that I would just let the fear out of my body. I would lie on the treatment table and I would just let it flow out. I had been holding it in my muscles. So, with lessons over time, the world seemed like a less scary place. I had less fear. I look back now and realise that this fear made me perceive anything anyone did to me as a threat. As a result, I was basically confrontational all the time, with everyone.

“Of course, at the time I couldn’t see it. As my balance improved, my perceptions softened and with less fear came less confrontation. I was better able to connect with reality.

“With balance in your body, you feel less vulnerable, more able to cope. A good example of that is my son’s crying. When I started Alexander lessons, Peter’s crying was the sound of m failure as a mother. It was heartbreaking to me. Obviously, a child’s crying is not that, but I had made it all about me, using it to condemn myself. With the Alexander Technique I was able to reassess the situation – it’s just the sound of a baby’s crying. It didn’t pierce my heart. A feeling of stability replaced the fear and self-loathing.”

For Hilary, the physical space gained in lessons in lengthening and widening the body translates to a mental space available for thinking and reflecting.

Another Alexander Technique student, Sally, a 50-year-old mother of two and a theatrical agent from Central London, initially came to see me for psychotherapy for family problems. Further into the therapy we agreed that it might be beneficial to use the technique. Sally says: “Whatever is thrown at me now, my spine supports me. I feel that I can hold myself physically and emotionally. I no longer see my brain in my head, I see my mind and body completely co-ordinated. I’m much more balanced, more selective in what I say.

“I used to rescue everybody. That was my role in life. That was the norm. I’d get up in the morning and I’d rescue people. The armour was on and I went into battle because that was the only thing I knew. It’s very different now. I’m looking after myself, I think I’ve come out of it much more selfish. What I didn’t know was that if you look after yourself, you’re going to be so much better with other people.”

Anne, 39, a single woman from North London, had attended psychotherapy sessions for nearly seven years for depression. Although the insight she gained was essential for her to make sense of her life, she felt frustrated when her depression recurred at stressful times.

“For me, the Alexander Technique was more helpful for depression than therapy,” she says. “With good posture and balance you are more able to withstand the physical and emotional knocks that life throws at you. A feeling of a lightness and ease in standing and sitting replaces the sense of being held together by tension and fragmented body parts. With lessons, my body started to feel less fragmented, more cohesive, and with that cohesion came a new clarity of thought.”

These three women had psychotherapy sessions alongside the technique, but all benefited from their improved body use. It helped them to translate the insights gained in psychotherapy into changed behaviour.

Another student, Tim, 52, a single professional man from South London, who also suffered depression, says the technique even helped him to contain suicidal thoughts. He describes how lessons left him with a heightened sensitivity to feelings, as well as a greater capacity to hold and think about these rather than being overwhelmed by them. He says: “You feel yourself getting into gear, but you don’t actually end up driving.” Making the neurological connection Missy Vineyard, who runs a training course for Alexander Technique teachers in Massachusetts and is the author of the book How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, describes the lessons as learning how to consciously stop unwanted behaviour at a neurological level. She believes that the technique teaches conscious inhibition by activating the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for impulse control.

Lucy Brown is a professor of neurology and neuroscience at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a student of the Alexander Technique. She is committed to understanding the technique’s neurological and psychological links.

According to Professor Brown, studies suggest that the technique activates those parts of the brain involved with cognition, learning and emotions. She says: “It is reasonable to speculate that areas of the pre-frontal cortex would be activated under the circumstances of a lesson and long-term learning from the technique.” While further research is needed to establish exactly how the technique produces these benefits, people’s experiences speak for themselves.

Students of the Alexander Technique will confirm that the mind is not just located in the brain, but in the muscles, cells and organs throughout the body. The writer and novelist Aldous Huxley, a student of Frederick Alexander’s, knew these truths all too well. In writing about Alexander’s work, he said: “If you teach an individual first to be aware of his physical organism and then to use it as it was meant to be used, you can often change his entire attitude to life and cure his neurotic tendencies.”

(The names of the students have been changed.)

THE LOWDOWN

What is it? The Alexander Technique was developed by the actor Frederick Mathias Alexander around 1900. He believed that correct alignment of the head, neck and spine would alleviate back pain, breathing disorders and stress-related conditions. He claimed the technique frees the neck of muscular tension. It also allows the head to move forward so that it balances lightly at the top of the spine, which encourages the back to lengthen and widen, giving the body freer movement.

Suitable for Treating neck and back pain, poor posture, migraines and arthritis. It is increasingly accepted as useful for treating chronic problems such as arthritis, Parkinson’s disease. What little good-quality research there is suggests that there could be some merit for these claims.

author: Naomi Shragai is a psychotherapist and teacher of the Alexander Technique in North London. She is a member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, the Association of Family Therapy and the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

Tags: alexander technique, boston, boston healing tao, chi kung, consciousness, posture, USA

Jamee Culbertson

Healing Tao and Alexander Technique Instructor

Winter 2010 Schedule:

Hello friends,

The following is my Winter 2010 schedule offering Alexander Technique lessons and workshops:

Where? Winchester and Concord Massachusetts

Private Lessons (All lessons are by appointment only.)

When?
Thursdays and Tuesdays in Winchester, MA
Fridays from 2pm to 8pm in Concord, MA

How Much? Private lesson? Semi-private? Call me for my rates. 617-290-7102

On the Web:

*Note* the Back Pain Study published in the British Medical Journal:

This study stated that 579 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain were treated with either Alexander Technique lessons, exercise or massage. 144 of them had 6 Alexander Technique lessons and 144 of them had 24 lessons.  Results  The results showed that lessons in the Alexander Technique reported the number of days with back pain was lower after lessons and the quality of life improved significantly. Lessons in the Alexander Technique remained effective one year later as well.  Conclusion: One to one lessons in the Alexander Technique from a certified teacher have long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain.

For more info About Jamee please click here

Watch some videos on the Alexander Technique on Jamee’s YouTube channel.

Here is one for example:
The Alexander Technique in the Corporate Atmosphere

Other videos:

The Alexander Technique in Tai Chi and Gardening

The Alexander Technique and Playing Piano

The Alexander Technique at Music School

Follow Jamee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jameec

and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jamee.culbertson

Tags: alexander technique, boston, boston healing tao, chi kung, consciousness, iron shirt chi kung, posture, USA

PA Photos

She’s been wearing towering stilettos her whole life – but Victoria Beckham fears her love of lavish footwear may leave her with a hunchback look as she gets older.

Instead of ditching the heels in favour of a nice pair of flatties, however, Victoria has turned to the Alexander Technique, a famous regime which can help strengthen core muscles and re-align the spine.

Friends in LA recommended Victoria try the Alexander Technique after recent upset about her photos displaying a round-shouldered look.

A source explained, ‘Victoria has been working hard on getting a straight back and correcting her terrible posture‘.

It seems years of bad postural habits have ‘caused her bones to be improperly aligned, with her muscles, joints and ligaments taking more stress than they should’.

The regime appears to be doing the trick. Said the source, ‘You can tell that something is working as the years of Victoria’s shoulders being slumped are now over‘.

Many actors and dancers practice the correction regime in an attempt to improve movement and eliminate bad postural habits, which can be picked up over the years.

Actress Juliet Stevenson hailed the method as ‘miraculous‘ while novelist Aldous Huxley claimed it cured him of ‘neurotic tendencies‘.

Even Lenny Henry and Anthea Turner have had practitioner courses in the technique, which is said to drain stress and tension from the muscles, ease back pain and improve breathing problems. It also boosts physical endurance and flexibility, with claims it can improve women’s fertility.

Victoria, who is already said to be ‘walking straighter,’ is hoping for a double whammy of results for her twice-daily, post-gym efforts.

The designer also suffers problems with her feet. Recent reports say the workaholic mum-of-three refused a painful-sounding bunionectomy operation because the medical procedure would have left her out-of-action for weeks.

Re-printed from marieclaire.co.uk

Tags: alexander technique, boston, chi kung, consciousness, posture, USA

Hillary Swank, Actor
Hugh Jackman, Actor
Victoria Beckham
Daniel Radcliffe, Actor
Marilyn Monroe, Actor, Icon
John Dewey, American Educational Philosopher
Aldous Huxley, Author
George Bernard Shaw, Playwright
Jane Brody, Journalist
John Houseman, Producer, Director, Actor
Robertson Davies, Author
Frederick Perls, Originator of Gestalt Therapy
Moshe Feldenkrais, Originator of The Feldenkrais Method
Professor Nikolaas Tinbergen, Winner of Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine

Kevin Kline, Paul Newman, John Cleese, Joanne Woodward, Jeremy Irons, Keanu Reeves, Maggie Smith, Robin Williams, Sir Colin Davis, Paul McCartney, Sting, Joel Gray, Howard Stern…

Some of the many institutions where it is part of the curriculum:
American Dance Festival
Juilliard School
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts
New York University
Hunter College, NYC
Circle in the Square, NYC
Boston University
American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco
Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute
The Acting Studio, Inc., NYC

Tags: alexander technique, boston, boston healing tao, chi kung, consciousness, posture, USA

Upcoming Alexander Technique

and Related Workshops

Introductory Workshop for the American Guild of Organists

When: Sunday, November 15 from 2-4 PM

Where: First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 2 Westford Street, Chelmsford MA.

The Posture of Consciousness:
The Alexander Technique and Iron Shirt Chi Kung ~learn More
~learn more > click here for AT and  > here for IS

Instructors: Jamee Culbertson and Marie Favorito

When: Saturday, December 5th  9:30am to Noon

Where: 440 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA

Fee: $80.00

6 Healing Sounds and the Phoenix Chi Kung ~learn more
Instructors: Marie Favorito and Jamee Culbertson

When: Saturday, December 12th  9:30am to Noon

Where: 440 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA

Fee: $80.00

Tags: alexander technique, boston, boston healing tao, chi kung, consciousness, iron shirt chi kung, posture, USA