The Alexander Technique is about more than tackling muscular pain. Sylvia Thompson discovers it's a whole way of life
The first thing to know about the Alexander Technique is that it is not a therapy. Neither is it a series of exercises or disciplined movements practised at regular intervals. Instead, it is a whole approach to physical, mental and emotional well-being based on learning how to go about your everyday activites in a tension-free manner.
In other words, when you go to lessons with an Alexander Technique teacher (they don't call themselves therapists) you look at how you walk, sit, stand, brush your teeth, drive your car, use the telephone, etc ... and discover ways you can do all these daily activities with less effort, less tension, less muscle strain and for some people, less pain.
"It's a self-improvement programme in which we develop a degree of conscious control of how we conduct our lives. For example, when you sit with your legs crossed and back slouched at a desk, there is tension in your neck, shoulders and legs. Your back muscles are weakened from slouching, your inner organs are compressed, interfering with your breathing and digestion and there is undue wear and tear on your bones which can lead to a variety of neck, back and muscular problems," says Frank Kennedy, a Dublin-based teacher of the technique.
"Essentially, the Alexander Technique sets out to free the body of tension and restore pose and co-ordination. Most people exert too much tension and strain in performing their normal daily activities," says Kennedy, who has been teaching the technique in Dublin for more than 25 years.
The technique is taught on a one-to-one basis and generally speaking, between 25 and 30 half an hour lessons are recommended to fully absorb the technique and re-educate your body in such a way as to lose bad postural habits and replace them with new, tension-free ones.
Many pupils (not clients or patients) return for top-up lessons once or twice a year.
Although the Alexander Technique is not a complementary health therapy, many people who attend a series of classes find that it allieviates neck, back and muscular problems, breathing difficulties linked to poor posture, repetitive strain injury, fatigue and stress-related illnesses in which poor posture and movement are contributing factors.
Dermot Egan (70), chairman of the National Concert Hall is a strong advocate of the technique. "I had a problem with my right hip and thought I was on the road to a hip replacement but then I discovered the Alexander Technique. It has taught me to use my body more effectively and I never had to have a hip replacement operation.
"You become aware of how much strain and energy people put into basic activities and thereby create tension and stress in their bodies. It's extraordinary how you discover just how dysfuntional you can be in the most basic things such as walking, writing and driving," he adds.
Egan has been going for lessons in the technique for the last 17 years. "It's kind of addictive," he says. "I feel the experience is good. It keeps my awareness heightened and constantly reinforces the correct patterns."
Susan Hood (36) was introduced to the Alexander Technique in the Christ Church Cathedral choir of which she is a member. "We learnt how to hold ourselves in a good position as we were rehearsing and singing. This is particularly important for choral singing," she explains.
However, aside from her singing, Hood also went for lessons in the Alexander Technique to allieviate a chronic back problem.
"Initially, I went for lessons every week for about three months and now I go back every three months or so. I still have the disc injury but most of the time, I'm painfree. The Alexander Technique has helped me to become a more positive person. I also play a lot of golf and the Alexander Technique teacher watched my swing and pointed out where it was going off even though he doesn't play golf himself."
As the founder of the Alexander Technique was himself an actor, the technique is widely taught to actors and musicians around the world. Brian McNamara is a senior teacher of violin and a teacher of the technique at the Conservatory of Music and Drama in the Dublin Institute of Technology.
"The first-year students on the performance degree course have 15 one-to-one lessons in the Alexander Technique in the first term. The first thing is to make them aware of their habits and then to learn to release tension from their bodies as they play. The problem is change doesn't happen overnight. But, I find it is very interesting to see how students relate to the technique and take it on board. Some of them tell me how they don't get so tired when practising or how they no longer gets aches or even blisters from playing after learning the Alexander Technique," says McNamara.
Richard Brennan runs the only teacher training course in the Alexander Technique in the State.
Based in Galway, he explains how his personal experience of severe back pain in his early 30s led him to the Alexander Technique. "I had been in hospital with my back problem and the surgeon had wanted to remove two to three discs. My father, a GP advised me against this and loaned me a book on the Alexander Technique. Five weeks after I started lessons, I no longer had any back problem. I had tried physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy and this was the only thing that really worked."
Brennan says that the technique itself is very simple but what's difficult for people is that they have got used to bad postural habits over 20 to 30 years.
"It's difficult to let go of these habits and people feel very peculiar in the beginning. Then it becomes familiar but you've got to take an active part in the process," says Brennan.
"The Alexander Technique can also be a philosophy for life. A lot of people are very goal-orientated but when you learn the Alexander Technique, you have to let go and think in a different way. Those who do so find that they become happier, less stressed out, less worried about whether they get promotion or not and they also start sleeping better," says Brennan.
He also believes that stiffness and physical inability is not an automatic consequence of old age but instead a culmulative effect of muscle tension over 30 to 40 years. "People don't realise how much tension they carry around with them. They are carrying 20 times more that they really need to," he says.