Oct 8
2008

George was a man of 41 when we first met. His acupuncturist referred him to me for the pain in his neck. He had been looking for relief for nearly 3 years for the pain that he was experiencing all over his body. He had to stop working, go on disability and he could no longer play guitar which he really loved to do. He couldn’t even scratch his nose without wincing.

Some doctors told him he had rheumatoid arthritis , others said it was fibromyalgia. No one knew for sure.

I told him that I didn’t know if I could help him but that we could surely try. If his pain had something to do with how he was using himself to move and interact with the world around him, we had a good chance of being able to make a difference.

We worked together for a good hour and although George remarked that he did not feel any difference in his level of pain he thought that what we talked about made a lot of sense. He didn’t expect a miracle seeing me just this once so he asked to make another appointment to see me again the following week.

When George came in again I asked him how he felt after the first lesson. He said that something very interesting occurred that he thought had something to do with the lesson. Last week when he left he walked a couple blocks to the bus stop. While he was sitting on the bench waiting for the bus to arrive it all of a sudden occurred to him that he wasn’t worrying. He noted that it was the first time since he was a child that he could remember not worrying. He said it lasted a good ten minutes albeit a pleasurable ten minutes, and he attributed it to the Alexander Technique lesson he’d just had.

Although George’s first experience was more psychological than a direct relief from the physical pain he was experiencing it was a good beginning. George decided to come twice a week for awhile. He revealed to me that he was also in the very beginning stages of recovery from years of alcohol consumption. He had lots of support in a 12 Step program and was working with a Sponsor there.

Within just a few weeks George started to experience an absence of the pain, first in his upper body and eventually to include his legs. Before long he reported that he had a new girlfriend and was starting to play his guitar again. I asked him to bring his guitar into the next lesson so I could see how he was using himself to play. No wonder he missed playing so much, it turns out he is a very fine blues guitar player. We both were really encouraged to see and hear him play his guitar again!

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