Can Alexander Technique help with back pain?
Trials funded by the Medical Research Council and the NHS have shown that lessons in the Alexander Technique can result in long-term benefit for people with chronic low back pain. The ATEAM trial showed that taking 24 one-to-one lessons in the Technique led to an 86% reduction in days in pain one year on as well as significant improvements in function and quality of life.
Trials funded by the Medical Research Council and the NHS have shown that lessons in the Alexander Technique can result in long-term benefit for people with chronic low back pain. The ATEAM trial showed that taking 24 one-to-one lessons in the Technique led to an 86% reduction in days in pain one year on as well as significant improvements in function and quality of life.
Is Alexander Technique a therapy?
The Technique is not a therapy but rather a mind-body discipline and re-education. It consists of skills you can learn and apply in your daily life allowing you to go about activities with less strain and more ease. People usually find lessons in the Technique relaxing and enjoyable but also thought-provoking and educative.
The Technique is not a therapy but rather a mind-body discipline and re-education. It consists of skills you can learn and apply in your daily life allowing you to go about activities with less strain and more ease. People usually find lessons in the Technique relaxing and enjoyable but also thought-provoking and educative.
What happens in on-line lessons?
Lessons are 1-1 and are taught through verbal and visual guidance, discussion and feedback and gentle practical explorations. In a course of lessons you will usually learn in sitting, lying down, standing and gentle movement. Depending on your interests application of the technique will be explored to relate to your everyday domestic, work & leisure activities such as computer use, lifting, driving, food preparation and other ideas you may bring. You will be given practical follow-up work after each lesson helping you to improve awareness and learn skills in how to let go of unhelpful habits of muscular tension.
Lessons are 1-1 and are taught through verbal and visual guidance, discussion and feedback and gentle practical explorations. In a course of lessons you will usually learn in sitting, lying down, standing and gentle movement. Depending on your interests application of the technique will be explored to relate to your everyday domestic, work & leisure activities such as computer use, lifting, driving, food preparation and other ideas you may bring. You will be given practical follow-up work after each lesson helping you to improve awareness and learn skills in how to let go of unhelpful habits of muscular tension.
What happens in face-to-face lessons?
(These are currently suspended due to Coronavirus)
Lessons are usually one-to-one and are taught through verbal and hands-on guidance. The hands-on work is very gentle and allows you to experience release of unhelpful muscle tension. With practice you learn to allow over-tight muscles to release on your own, away from lessons.
Usually in a lesson you will explore the Technique lying down and in simple every-day activities such as sitting and standing.
(These are currently suspended due to Coronavirus)
Lessons are usually one-to-one and are taught through verbal and hands-on guidance. The hands-on work is very gentle and allows you to experience release of unhelpful muscle tension. With practice you learn to allow over-tight muscles to release on your own, away from lessons.
Usually in a lesson you will explore the Technique lying down and in simple every-day activities such as sitting and standing.
Am I too old to learn Alexander Technique?
It's never too late to start lessons in the Technique as long as you are prepared and willing to learn. A curious and open mind will help to accelerate your progress whatever your age.
It's never too late to start lessons in the Technique as long as you are prepared and willing to learn. A curious and open mind will help to accelerate your progress whatever your age.
Is it about sitting up straight?
No, but it is about re-educating our postural mechanisms. If we are in the habit of slumping when we sit or stand most of us can sit up straight if we decide to, at least for a short time. The trouble is if we do this directly we employ more muscle tension on top of existing unhelpful tensions. Using the Alexander Technique we learn to avoid pulling ourselves down and to stop interfering with the natural poise and balance most of us had as toddlers. In this way we learn to sit and stand with ease and increased stature.
No, but it is about re-educating our postural mechanisms. If we are in the habit of slumping when we sit or stand most of us can sit up straight if we decide to, at least for a short time. The trouble is if we do this directly we employ more muscle tension on top of existing unhelpful tensions. Using the Alexander Technique we learn to avoid pulling ourselves down and to stop interfering with the natural poise and balance most of us had as toddlers. In this way we learn to sit and stand with ease and increased stature.
Can I improve my postural mechanisms by working out at the gym?
The Alexander Technique is very different from a physical exercise programme. It is good to be active but if we engage in repetitive physical exercise there is a danger we may be compounding poor postural habits and tension patterns resulting in the risk of strain or injury. The Alexander Technique helps us to identify our habits and gives us the skills to make choices about whether to continue our familiar approach, which may include excess tension, strain, and postural distortion, or whether to apply a more balanced method that allows for more efficient ease of movement.
The Alexander Technique is very different from a physical exercise programme. It is good to be active but if we engage in repetitive physical exercise there is a danger we may be compounding poor postural habits and tension patterns resulting in the risk of strain or injury. The Alexander Technique helps us to identify our habits and gives us the skills to make choices about whether to continue our familiar approach, which may include excess tension, strain, and postural distortion, or whether to apply a more balanced method that allows for more efficient ease of movement.
Is Alexander Technique like mindfulness?
The two disciplines do have areas of common ground including allowing yourself time and space to come to quiet, developing skills in conscious awareness and an ability to be present in the moment.
A key bonus in having lessons in the Alexander Technique is that you have the benefit of experiential learning through hands-on work. This contact gives you the experience of muscular release and balanced re-coordination, which has great value in itself, as well as aiding your own learning.
Another positive advantage of Alexander Technique is that it provides the key to understanding and unlocking engrained poor postural and behavioural habits. It enables you to make changes that help you to avoid excess tension and strain in your daily life.
Practice in the Technique allows you to use your Alexander skill-set as and when you choose and this can become a hugely empowering tool.
The two disciplines do have areas of common ground including allowing yourself time and space to come to quiet, developing skills in conscious awareness and an ability to be present in the moment.
A key bonus in having lessons in the Alexander Technique is that you have the benefit of experiential learning through hands-on work. This contact gives you the experience of muscular release and balanced re-coordination, which has great value in itself, as well as aiding your own learning.
Another positive advantage of Alexander Technique is that it provides the key to understanding and unlocking engrained poor postural and behavioural habits. It enables you to make changes that help you to avoid excess tension and strain in your daily life.
Practice in the Technique allows you to use your Alexander skill-set as and when you choose and this can become a hugely empowering tool.
How can the Technique help with stress?
We all find ourselves having to face stressful situations in life whether it's a looming deadline, being stuck in rush hour traffic with the prospect of being late for an important meeting or coping with emotional strain. When we are confronted by these or other stresses we all have a tendency to react with muscle tension. This in turn can give us a myriad of physical symptoms ranging from tense shoulders, a dry mouth, tension headache or feeling sick. Muscle tension also effects our mental and emotional state and may cause us to suffer mental block, anxiety and panic.
With the Alexander Technique we can learn to identify and understand these mechanisms. Most importantly the Technique gives us the skills to be able to choose whether to react in our habitual manner or whether to respond in the calm, considered and rational manner we would prefer. As with all skills this takes time and practice........but it is so worthwhile!
We all find ourselves having to face stressful situations in life whether it's a looming deadline, being stuck in rush hour traffic with the prospect of being late for an important meeting or coping with emotional strain. When we are confronted by these or other stresses we all have a tendency to react with muscle tension. This in turn can give us a myriad of physical symptoms ranging from tense shoulders, a dry mouth, tension headache or feeling sick. Muscle tension also effects our mental and emotional state and may cause us to suffer mental block, anxiety and panic.
With the Alexander Technique we can learn to identify and understand these mechanisms. Most importantly the Technique gives us the skills to be able to choose whether to react in our habitual manner or whether to respond in the calm, considered and rational manner we would prefer. As with all skills this takes time and practice........but it is so worthwhile!
"Sarah's instruction on the use of Alexander Technique is both gentle and effective.....life as a whole can be greatly improved by it's use".
Jane
Jane
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