Skillful Performance - This is another area where the Alexander Technique excels. As you develop your overall coordination, your skill is enhanced. Musicians, actors, dancers, and singers have long relied on the Alexander Technique to enhance technical skills in performance. The Alexander work is taught in the curriculum of many university degree programs of Music, Dance and Theater. Athletes, especially in Golf and Tennis, find the technique helpful with their stroke or swing.
Age Gracefully - Some have called the technique "all natural Botox". By reducing and eliminating bad habits of tension and contraction in the face and body, we will look and feel younger. If we continue these good habits for many years, the effect is quite dramatic. Alexander practitioners are known for looking very young for their age.
Increased Presence - As William Shakespeare said "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." Whether it be business presentations, public speaking or theatrical performance, we can all benefit from more personal presence, making all our performances more convincing.
“Although a specific problem usually leads a person to try a course of lessons in the Alexander Technique, many people find the experience positive in diverse and unanticipated ways-such as decrease in back pain and improvements in athletic performance, respiratory function, and stage presence, as well as enhanced emotional well-being.”
Dr. John H.M. Austin, M.D., Professor of Radiology, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York
How can the Alexander Technique help you?
Center for Conscious Learning and Movement
Alexander Technique with Wes Howard
Relieve Chronic Pain and Improve Your General Health - The Alexander Technique is well known for helping with chronic health and pain problems where traditional medical approaches often fail. It is particularly effective with musculo-skeletal problems because it eliminates the predisposing bad habits of movement, posture and tension: back, neck and spinal pain (verified with a medical trials in the British Medical Journal), tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, plantar fasciitis and other repetitive stress injuries. Many have found relief from other chronic health problems: headaches, insomnia, fibromyalgia, digestive issues and depression. The technique helps with these more systemic health problems by raising your standard of health and eliminating unhealthy patterns of chronic postural stress that irritate our body and cause general ill health. (See my page on Pain Relief Research.)
Calm and Poise - As you become more aware of your bodily reactions, you’ll learn how to control habitual patterns of tension, even in stressful situations, and establish in their place, calm and poise.
Expanded Awareness - Your increase in mind-body awareness can serve as a stimulus for raised consciousness. You may feel a heightening of perceptive abilities, a surge of aliveness, confidence in your abilities, and a more free, natural approach to life.
Reduce Muscle Tension and Stress - We all are so accustomed to tension we rarely notice it - but it interferes with healthy mental and physical functioning. As we learn to improve our awareness, posture and coordination, we are preventing occupational injury and fatigue.
Ease of Movement - As you learn to use appropriate effort and proper coordination in your movements, you move with greater ease, freedom, and control. It's a wonderful experience to feel lighter and clearer and less dragged down by life.