What is the Alexander Technique? The Alexander Technique is an educational process which teaches improved use of the self and helps the pupil to identify and avoid doing things that are harmful to their general wellbeing. The method is unique because, unlike most systems that advise people what to do or how to do it, this teaches what not to do and how to prevent it. Thus the Technique requires, first of all, a practical demonstration, conveying the experience of what actions are wrong; and then clear instruction as to how they can be avoided. The Technique originated as long ago as 1894 from the experiences gained by Mr. F. Matthias Alexander concerning his use of voice, as an actor and performer of dramatic recitations. He had no scientific training in anatomy and physiology, but observation and experiment led him to acquire knowledge so that he was able to overcome the problems of speech and respiration that had beset him. When certain eminent scientists subsequently experienced his work for themselves, they asserted that it satisfied all the criteria of scientific method. Why then is the Alexander Technique so difficult to describe in simple words? Why, on reading accounts of it, do literate and scientifically educated people often fail to grasp its significance? On the one hand the concept of "not-to-do", of "thou shalt not", can evoke negative emotional responses which confuse the issue. People prefer to be advised what to do. They look for positive instruction. On the other hand, the scientific significance of what Alexander observed as he stood in front of a looking-glass can scarcely be appreciated by a reader without some technical knowledge of balance, movement and posture. He established empirically that in posture and movement his neck must not be stiffened, but that his head should be allowed to adopt a certain preferred attitude in relation to his neck and body (described by him as "headforward-and-up") and that this was consistent with a free, alert attitude or state of poise. Recent scientific research concerning head orientation and posture in vertebrates indicates that there is a preferred head orientation which animals maintain through a variety of behaviours. It is associated with an alert posture and an extensive acrobatic capability. In living vertebrates it involves maintaining the semi-circular canals, or the lateral semicircular canal, (a part of the organ of balance or the vestibular apparatus), in an attitude approximately level with the horizon. Research in the neurophysiology of balance, posture and locomotion is of comparatively recent origin, but so far as it has gone it tends to confirm Alexander's empirical findings and should lead ultimately to an understanding and acceptance of his Technique. Who is F.M. Alexander? F. Matthias Alexander was born in Australia in 1869. He developed his technique in the last decade of the 19th century and taught it in England and in the United States until his death at the age of 86 in 1955. Among his pupils were George Bernard Shaw, John Dewey and Aldous Huxley. What does a lesson consist of? The Alexander teacher analyzes the pupil's movement patterns in daily life: walking, sitting, bending, reaching, lifting. As the teacher guides with a gentle touch and verbal instruction, the pupil learns to replace faulty habits with improved coordination by locating and releasing undue muscular tensions. What can the Alexander Technique accomplish? After a course of lessons the pupil has been shown how to improve his or her own postural habits. This generally results in greater ease and freedom of movement and increased energy. In some cases, the Alexander Technique can help alleviate pain that has been caused by postural stress. With the Alexander Technique people do: LOOK taller, lighter and better. FEEL more confident, energized and healthier. REACT more effectively and constructively. PERFORM at a higher level with less strain. MOVE with greater poise and flexibility. LEARN self-awareness and self-reliance. DISCOVER joy, ease and creativity. Who studies the Alexander Technique? Anyone whose posture, or use of the body in movement, is poor or uncomfortable; people whose occupations can cause ineffecient physical habits such as dentists, carpenters, computer operators, mothers; people who must use their bodies with maximum efficiency and ease such as actors, dancers, musicians, singers, athletes; those with physical problems that have been intensified through faulty body use resulting in pain and fatigue. How is the Alexander Technique taught? Alexander lessons are taught on an individual basis from highly trained teachers to pupils in a series of one-on-one sessions.The Technique is most commonly offered privately and the teacher gives you expert coaching tailored to your specific needs. Private Alexander Lessons: "It gives us all the things we have been looking for in a system of physical education; relief from strain due to maladjustment, and consequent improvement in physical and mental health; increased consciousness of the physical means employed to gain the ends proposed by the will, and, along with this, a general heightening of consciousness on all levels." - Aldous Huxley Along with manual guidance, the Alexander teacher also uses verbal instruction to help students become conscious of their own patterns of interference, and teaches them to project simple messages from the brain to the body that will help the natural mechanisms of poise to function more freely. It is for this reason that we call our work re-education and describe ourselves as teachers. As the student learns to allow natural poise and balance to re-emerge, he or she will usually notice the change as one of lightness, ease and greater freedom of movement. Removing habitual tension patterns that interfere with free poise and balance is a practice which the student can, after a time, undertake in daily life for her/himself. Lessons are individual and usually last 30–45 minutes. The number of lessons that may be required varies from one person to another and is best discussed directly with a teacher. To Schedule an Alexander lesson in Japan you may contact: One of the Alexander teachers on the JSTAT teachers list or Contact the Office of JSTAT by Phone: 075-582-6780 or E-mail: info@jstat.jp What happens in a lesson? The role of the Alexander teacher is to use gentle guidance with her/his hands to help unravel distortions and encourage the natural responses that underlie posture, balance, breathing and movement to work freely again. In this way a balance can be found between the necessary degree of muscle tone required to support the body against the downward pull of gravity, and the necessary degree of relaxation-in-activity to allow unrestricted movement, breathing, circulation and digestion. On Teaching The Alexander Technique (Macdonald) It is the job of the teacher of the Alexander Technique, without disregarding other ways, to deal with the one for which he or she has been trained. Alexander left us with an idea of how to improve ourselves and our pupils. All this must be done with extreme skill and precision. I am happy to find that the knowledge of the technique is more widespread, but I am concerned that the extreme accuracy of Alexander’s skill should be unaffected. Without that, the Alexander Technique loses its justification. Six essentials for a teacher of the Alexander Technique are: 1.Knowledge of the history of Alexander’s discovery and the evolution of his teaching technique. 2.Knowledge of the principles upon which the teaching is based: a. Recognition of the force of wrong habit (wrong use) b. Inhibition of reaction to stimulus to overcome wrong habit c. Recognition of faulty sensory awareness d. The giving of directions e. The Primary Control 3. A reasonable standard of good use with a tendency to improve. Without this tendency, deterioration is likely, with the consequent impairment of teaching ability. 4. An ability to bring about inhibition of reaction in pupils and the sensitivity to see and/or feel when it is not present, even when its absence is by no means obvious. 5. An ability to bring about in pupils the phenomenon known as “letting the neck be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen”. 6.An ability to explain to pupils what they should not do, what they should do and how they should do it, and guidance to continue to practice it in the absence of a teacher. I have listed these six items not necessarily in importance but rather in time sequence, as I expect 1, 2 and 3 to be learnt before 4,5 and 6. Both teaching and learning to use the Alexander Technique is fairly simple but by no means easy. The necessary changes are mostly small and very subtle. The amount of change that is required can and usually should be very small in actual movement, but the difference of direction in the flow of force can and often should be very great, even as much as 180 degrees. Unless this is recognised the necessary changes are unlikely to take place. A proliferation of verbiage is unlikely to do the proper job. This is what makes the Alexander Technique difficult, for the changes must be very great and very small. People who have not been accustomed to having the technique are unlikely to understand what I’ve just written. This is unfortunate, but it is a truth that needs to be faced. Knowledge about the Alexander Technique is now very widespread compared with twenty years ago, but knowledge of the real thing has not greatly increased. Indeed a lot of what passes for the Alexander Technique is inaccurate and misleading, and a lot of what now passes for the Technique is something that would have horrified F.M.Alexander. True, this is a phenomenon in many disciplines. Indeed what has not yet been done is the setting of standards of teaching of the Alexander Technique. The work has spread into five continents and what is spreading is fairly thinly spread. There are a number of people who have a good idea as to what this technique is about, but they are a diminishing minority. The Technique is very simple, but I do not say that it is easy. Indeed for most of us it was not easy at all. What knowledge and art are acquired without a lifetime of servitude? By now the reader may understand that the learning of the Technique is a delicate art. The skill should be literally in the hands of the teacher and no other means would replace them. To be able to choose to direct one’s organism rightly rather than wrongly is, as Alexander wrote, “Man’s supreme inheritance”. Information about Alexander Technique - Teacher Training Training for being a teacher of Alexander Technique involves more than 1600+ hours of classes over at least a three-year period. Teacher trainees must qualify to graduate; attendance is not a guarantee of becoming a teacher. Trainees are evaluated for the presence of a signature of effortlessness and freedom in themselves and the quality of their touch. Alexander Technique's unexpected poise should be an immediate shared fact for both teacher and student in every hands-on Alexander lesson. After qualifying, most professional teaching associations require continuing development courses. The worldwide affiliated professional Alexander teaching societies & networks and teachers trained by them believe the public should beware of inadequately trained impostors, because there are no laws that require legal certification of AT teachers. The necessary skill to teach is impossible to "fake" - a fact obviously witnessed by those with the professional skill to see it in action but not by the general public. Regardless of what other body science or holistic therapy experience someone who claims Alexander Technique knowledge may have, if he has not qualified at a professional teacher-training course in an establishment approved by a recognized professional AT organization, he is not a certified professional Alexander teacher. Professional organizations generally advise checking references of any teacher you might consider studying with. The Importance Attached To Learning From An Alexander Teacher F.M. Alexander and his brother A.R. Alexander often stressed that The Technique could not be acquired without the active cognitive participation of a student and the help of a suitably qualified instructor trained in the hands-on technique, deceptive self awareness being the significant effect of sensory adaptation. Most Alexander teachers today agree, but F.M. and A.R. did it first alone. So theoretically it is possible to learn without a teacher, although some properly trained help obviates many common pitfalls. Alexander Technique is difficult to describe and teach in words because it requires description of subjective kinesthetic sensations and momentary situations, as well as the ability to perceive them. Most people have little conscious awareness of kinesthetic sensation and not much to say if asked to describe what happens as they move. The possibility of moving in an easier way most often emerges as a surprise from underneath a learner's current sensory ability to command it on purpose. It is needlessly difficult to attempt to learn to apply the Alexander Technique for oneself simply by reading about it. Most Alexander teachers are of the professional opinion that twenty to forty individual lessons are required to learn to use the Technique for yourself. Other teachers believe that group workshops are at least as effective as individual lessons, because camaraderie is supportive, and group teaching usually involves some individual hands-on "turns" directly with the teacher as the class watches. A few teachers believe it is entirely possible to learn and continue to experiment with the basic principles on one's own. Everyone in the field, including other students, agree that having at least a few one-to-one sessions with a trained teacher is useful to appreciate how Alexander Technique works and to get the benefits it offers. Availability of Alexander teachers is limited, except in the United Kingdom, where the profession is in the process of being included in the Complementary & Alternative Medicine of the UK National Health Service. Only one teacher who was personally trained by the founder is still living. Alexander Technique has the lifetime dedication from less than five thousand teachers worldwide, usually grouped in associated professional societies and networks. Alexander teachers differ in teaching style. Differences in teaching approaches evolved as various teachers originated what they believed constituted more effective teaching. Usually, a style of teaching is not just an imitation of training methods, but integrates many such personal lifetime discoveries. It's rare that a teacher can or will articulate the deliberate reasoning behind their teaching variations. Traditionalists believe that spending time on general intellectual concepts may encourage their student's misuse. These teachers may dodge discussions of principles until the student can have the conversation without their old habits of speaking. If you wish to learn about Alexander Technique and for having lessons, workshops & teacher training in Japan please contact JSTAT's office. NEWSFLASH ......... British Medical Journal Study: Significant long-term benefit from Alexander Technique lessons for low back pain has been demonstrated by a major study published by the British Medical Journal. A view of Dr.Nick Mann, GP, 45, London: From a discal neck injury in 1990 I developed progressive spinal problems. By 2002 I had suffered mechanical neck and back pain, several episodes of nerve root pain at different levels with loss of power and reflexes in my arms. I saw 4 neurosurgeons who all recommended (different) neck operations. I then developed complex regional pain syndrome and could barely use my right arm. I was in unbearable pain and virtually unable to move my neck. I started taking Alexander Technique lessons and began to experience improvement and lessening of pain after some 12-15 lessons. I did regular Alexander Technique for about 4 years. Progressive improvement since 2003 is such that I now have no neck or arm pain. Alexander Technique lessons from a good teacher are an effective technique and were instrumental in my recovery. Based on simple applied principles it can afford sustained relief from pain of spinal origin. It teaches the body to undo neuromuscular tensions and reduce strain in normal motor function; probably cost effective were it taught in primary health care. I welcome the positive research trial evidence (published in August 2008). F.Matthias Alexander Photo Gallery & Alexander Technique Videos The STAT Archive F.Matthias Alexander - The film Short Introduction Video Noam Renen - Alexander Technique Lesson Video Patrick Macdonald's Lesson (1980) - The Tablework & Chairwork - Video Marjorie Barstow - Introduction to the Alexander Technique Walter Carrington - Alexander Technique Workshop Video How does the Alexander Technique work? What are the authors findings about the clinical and cost effectiveness of the treatment? Video produced by the British Medical Journal. Published since 1840, the BMJ is an international general medical journal, published weekly in print and updated daily online. It is among the most influential and widely read peer-reviewed general academic journals in the field of medicine in the world. Alexander Technique - first lesson DVD introduction to the Alexander Technique with Academy Award - winner William Hurt and teacher Jane Kosminsky The STAT YouTube Channel This interesting new resource is designed to let people find out more about the Alexander Technique in an easily accessible manner. So far, 28 film clips have been posted, which illustrate different teaching styles and approaches to the Technique. These have been produced and edited by David Reed, MSTAT. You can even see an extract from a film of F M Alexander himself as he taught Margaret Goldie, who in her turn taught the Alexander Technique for over 60 years. There are also films showing some 'first generation' and senior Alexander Teachers, who demonstrate aspects of the Technique plus their own styles of teaching and running workshops. It is hoped that there will be an increasing number of videos on the site, from a wide variety of sources and STAT would welcome films that show A/T teachers in action. This is a great way to extend your understanding of the Alexander Technique and it brings the work into a lively focus. Try it! Walter Carrington on the Regulation of Alexander Technique Teacher Training Courses (Walter Carrington's Speech on June 16th, 2005 to representatives of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) concerning STAT Council's attempt to define the content of Alexander Technique teacher training courses) With regard to this Society, I have known it since not only its first inception but from when it was discussed and planned in the 1930’s. I have seen the Society grow and develop from that time, and now I am in the situation where I don’t expect or wish to take an active part in the Society in the future. The question of where we go from here is up to you all. I can bow out – that is my personal position – but it is only reasonable that I should tell you my thoughts. When the Society first got going, Dilys and I were not in it for the first two years. Then the Barlows said to us one night, ‘You ought to join. We need a society, and you’ve got a training course and we think you should join.’ The Society at that time comprised all the senior teachers who had trained with Alexander. Since his death, we had been working at our own practices and all of us were highly critical of each other’s work. None of us was free from criticism. Each had their own point of view about teaching and the underlying principles of the work. But we got together and knew we had to respect each other’s point of view, and the Society regulated itself to that end. And I use the word ‘regulation’ because when societies come together, they have to have rules; but we did not have rules that suggested how people should teach, and still less was it ever conceived that the Society would tell Heads of Training how they would conduct their training courses. We had all been trained by Alexander, and it was presumed that we were going to teach in accordance with our own understanding, and that we were going to run our training courses in the same way. The Society worked very well – there were no terrible rows or blood on the carpet. In fact it was a positive advantage that a lot of people, who didn’t previously get together naturally, did come together at committee meetings like this. And we got to know each other better, and the Society grew to be the one it is today – which has a lot to commend it. My personal attitude, regarding the matter of regulation, is that I do not think it is the business of the Society to attempt to tell anybody how this Technique ought to be taught or how Heads of Training should run training courses. Those are matters for the individuals concerned. Particularly, I adhere to this view for 2 reasons: The first is that if you look at the big edition of The Universal Constant in Living, (UCL) F. M. wrote a section entitled ‘Introductory’. He explains there why he came to write UCL, having already written his three previous books. In those few pages, which I commend to you, he explains what I think is so important and – as he says in those pages – is very frequently misunderstood and ignored: the real significance of our experience of mind-body unity. Mind-body unity is something you can talk about these days and few people will deny it; but probe further and you will find that in practice, people separate the two. All the health professionals, gymnasts, etc, separate it. In fact everyone separates it, except us. We don’t, because we have a practical technique which is based on unity – a living demonstration of mind-body unity. When we are teaching our pupils, it isn’t the body side or the mental side that we are concerned with. We are concerned with the whole individual and we are successful in that way. And it is our understanding – and more than that, the practical technique that Alexander devised – that enables us to put into practice the mind-body unity, in a way which nobody else really does. The second thing is that Alexander himself took the philosophical stance – which again, I think, is very popular and theoretically accepted these days – that we need to concern ourselves with what is wrong, rather than what is right. Alexander always said that it was no use dreaming up wonderful ideas about rightness whilst we were persisting in wrongness; that you had got to stop the wrong first, and that if you could stop people doing the wrong, you did not have to worry: the right thing would take care of itself. In this day and age, people don’t give attention to stopping the wrong. They are far too intent on advocating what they see to be the right. And I think that these two things – the unity of mind and body, and the attitude towards right and wrong – are the two main features that distinguish our work from everything else. It is no good seeing our work as like that of anyone else, because it is not. If we are true to our own principles, if we really live the Technique – which after all is what we need to do, what we are supposed to do – then there won’t be very much room for presenting our work as though it was like anything else. To present it as a form of therapy, to present it as a form of callisthenics, or to present it as anything other than it is – a psycho-physical process – is to misrepresent and mislead. That is why I personally, from the beginning, have been very strongly against "competencies" and various other things that have emerged in the last year or two; and I could not envisage acquiescing in the adoption of those things by a society that I belong to. I look for change and I hope for change. I recognise that the decision is yours. But as far as I am concerned, I take leave to be excused and you must allow me quietly to depart. But when I do depart, I will certainly supply to anybody who is interested an explanation of why I do so. Thank you. Publishers of Books on the Alexander Technique & Links to Alexander Technique related websites and resources http://www.mtpress.com The F.M. Alexander Trust Friends of the Alexander Technique Pedro de Alcantara: musician, teacher, writer John Dewey & the F.Matthias Alexander Technique Guidance for musicians and the Alexander Technique Global Directory on the Alexander Technique sponsored by Direction Journal The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique STAT Publications: books, journals, radio programmes etc The Alexander Technique: recapturing the poise of a young child Book Service of the American Alexander Teachers Society AmSAT The Alexander Technique Centre (ATC) Kyoto provides following personal growth opportunities: individual Alexander lessons (classical Alexander teaching procedures: chairwork in front of a mirror, monkey, lunge, tablework, whispered 'ahs', moving effortless out of the chair, moving effortless into the chair, sitting in balance, effortless bending, effortless walking, non - endgaining, balanced & directed standing etc. & explaination of the significance of these procedures and their relevance to other everyday activities), introductory workshops for conventions and small groups (help learners to understand and recognize the nature of unwanted, undesirable responses to stimuli and learn to apply conscious inhibition to bring about a change in their manner of reaction and to learn to apply the principles of the Alexander Technique in their lives), JSTAT-accredited teacher training course, certification program with competent instructors in Japan International Music Academy Maestro - The Academy was founded in 2002 to create a cultural forum in Kyoto. Since then Maestro offers fundamental education for pianists and other instrumentalists combined with qualified lessons in the Alexander Technique and regular concerts with international artists. The Definitive Guide to the Alexander Technique provided by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique STAT: Find a certified Alexander teacher, worldwide teachers data base, Alexander - publications, archives, contacts and much more.

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