THE
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IS a hands-on psychophysical
education process, developed by F.
M. Alexander, that aims to improve an individual’s muscular management of
the whole body to allow it to work in a more natural and unrestricted way.
The Alexander Technique is not a “therapy” and does not teach “relaxation”
... rather it is about learning to create and maintain the appropriate
amount of muscular tension for economic and efficient movement.
Frederick
Matthias Alexander, a young Australian actor and reciter in the 1890s,
developed a chronic hoarseness and loss of voice that jeopardized his
career. Not willing to give up his career, he began a lengthy search for
the root of his trouble. Extensive self-observation and experimentation
showed Alexander that interference with the natural operation of the head,
neck, and back produces excess tension and compression in the body. This
habitual misuse can result in poor general coordination as well as specific
neuro-muscular-skeletal problems.
As the focus of the Alexander Technique is on education,
consultation sessions are known as
“lessons” and participants are known as “pupils” or “students. ”
During a lesson the teacher uses a combination of subtle and non-invasive
hands-on guidance with verbal instruction to guide a pupil through basic
movements, such as sitting, standing, walking, bending and lying down, to
demonstrate how to carry out everyday activities with far less effort and
more efficiency. The pupil learns to engage in an organized thought process
to manage the head, neck, back relationship in order to produce greater
freedom of movement throughout the whole body.
