About Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique is a sophisticated way to change the way you manage muscle tension to improve your posture and performance. By learning it you gain a rational understanding of how to use your body to move in ways that promote efficiency and ease rather than pain and strain.

Posture is not something you have, like you have bones and muscles, but rather is the result of your neuromuscular behavior as muscles tense or release in all directions. Since we all develop our own unique, unconscious posture habits, changing your posture is much more complicated than “do these exercises” or “stand up straight”. To change your posture you have to change the way your neuromuscular system behaves in regulating muscle tension.

Alexander Technique teachers are experts in teaching you how to manage muscle tension not only to improve posture, but also to bring ease and balance into everything you do. They have been teaching it to actors, dancers and musicians to improve their posture and performance skills for almost 100 years.

In controlled studies, the Alexander Technique has been proven more effective than standard medical care alone in lessening asymptomatic chronic back pain. Even after one year, patients who had only standard medical care reported on average 21 days of pain per month. Patients who had 24 lessons in the Alexander Technique reported on average only 3 days of pain per month. Importantly, there was no difference in those Alexander Technique students who were also prescribed exercise and those who were not. Both groups showed the same level of improvement, so exercise did not add or detract from the impact of the lessons.

The Alexander Technique has also been shown to improve walking and balance in patients with Parkinson’s disease, to increase lung capacity without breathing exercises, and to increase functional reach in elderly patients.

In short, good posture is important to health, and Alexander Technique can give it to you.