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{{short description|Postural awareness technique}}
'''
{{for|the Rex Orange County album|The Alexander Technique (album)}}
==History==
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
Alexander was a Shakespearean orator who developed problems with his voice. After doctors informed him there was no physical cause, he carefully observed himself in multiple mirrors. This revealed that he was needlessly stiffening his whole body in preparation to recite or speak. It took eight years to successfully apply his empirical observations on himself to solve his own voice problems.
{{Alternative medical systems|fringe| expanded = no}}


The '''Alexander Technique''', named after its developer ] (1869–1955), is an ] based on the idea that ] causes a range of health problems.<ref name="ee150" /><ref name="bloch" />{{rp|221}} The American ] classifies it as a "psychological and physical" ] approach to health when used "together with" mainstream conventional medicine.<ref name="NCCIH3/10/2023" />
Alexander regarded the empirical scientific method to be the foundation of his work. He used self-observation and reasoning to make the physical performance of any movement easier: sitting, standing, walking, using the hands and speaking. He designed his methods to make experimentation and training deliberately repeatable, and to learn in a way that would allow continuing improvement from any starting point. F.M. Alexander trained educators of his ''technique'' mainly while living in ], UK from 1931 until his death in 1955, except for the wartime period between 1941 to 1943 which were spent teaching with his brother Albert Redden Alexander (1874&ndash;1947) in ], USA.


Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rootberg |first=Ruth |date=September 2007 |title=Voice and Gender and other contemporary issues in professional voice and speech training |journal=Voice and Speech Review |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=164–170 |doi=10.1080/23268263.2007.10769755 |s2cid=144810660 |editor=Mandy Rees}}</ref> to address his own ] during public speaking.<ref name=bloch/>{{rp|34–35}} He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for performing ] ]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Harer |first1=John B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8RlC8aE5foC |title=The Alexander Technique Resource Book: A Reference Guide |last2=Munden |first2=Sharon |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0810863927 |pages=xii–xiii |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref>
During his lifetime, F.M. Alexander gained considerable support for his work from many contemporaries including ], ], ], and scientists ], ], ], and ]. Additional notable students are included in footnote.


Proponents and teachers of the Alexander Technique believe the technique can address a variety of health conditions, but there is a lack of research to support the claims.<ref name=aus17/><ref name="NHS" /> {{As of|2021}}, the UK ] and the ] (NICE) cite evidence that the Alexander Technique may be helpful for long-term ] and for long-term ], and that it could help people cope with ].<ref name="NHS">{{Cite web |date=6 September 2021 |title=Alexander Technique |url=https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alexander-technique/ |access-date=1 December 2021 |publisher=National Health Service}}</ref><ref name="Parkinson's disease in adults">{{cite web |publisher=NICE |title=Parkinson's disease in adults|url=https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71|access-date=7 November 2023}}</ref> Both the American health-insurance company ] and the ] have conducted reviews and concluded that there is insufficient evidence for the technique's health claims to warrant insurance coverage.<ref name=aus17/><ref name="Aetna" />
==The Technique==
===Basic Premises===
The Alexander Technique teaches the ability to make a new choice in spite of established habitual patterns, by studying the kinesthetic evidence of how thinking is expressed in movement. The values of efficiency and effortlessness are the preferred criteria used to evaluate the often unfamiliar results of progress gained through guided experimentation. Established forms of structural anatomy, characteristics of proprioception, practical self-observation and the strategic use of empirical reasoning are among the methods taught. This study may also demand a re-evaluation of self-limiting assumptions and conclusions that Alexander Technique teachers believe have gradually led to what they term ''misuse''.


== Method ==
Alexander Technique teachers believe that humans have a naturally conditioned blind spot: '''repetition encourages habits to form.''' Repeating circumstances lead people to create habits as they adapt to circumstances. These habits contain both deliberate and non-deliberate responses that include physical movement patterns, as well as coping and learning strategies.


The Alexander Technique is most commonly taught in a series of private lessons which may last from 30 minutes to an hour. The number of lessons varies widely, depending on the student's needs and level of interest. Students are often performers, such as actors, dancers, musicians, athletes and public speakers, people who work on computers, or those who are in frequent pain for other reasons. Instructors observe their students, and provide both verbal and gentle manual guidance to help students learn how to move with better poise and less strain.<ref name="actor">{{Cite book |last1=McEvenue |first1=Kelly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixvTPRlcSMoC |title=The Actor and the Alexander Technique |last2=Rodenburg |first2=Patsy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=0-312-29515-4 |location=New York |pages=3–14}}</ref> Sessions include chair work – often in front of a mirror – during which the instructor will guide the student while the student stands, sits and walks, learning to move efficiently while maintaining a comfortable relationship between the head, neck, and spine, and table work or ].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jain |first1=Sanjiv |last2=Kristy Janssen |last3=Sharon DeCelle |year=2004 |title=Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais method: A critical overview |journal=Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=811–825 |citeseerx=10.1.1.611.4183 |doi=10.1016/j.pmr.2004.04.005 |pmid=15458754}}</ref>
The advantage of adapting by creating habits is that behavior and learning becomes simplified; it becomes possible to meet a given stimulus or interpretation of circumstances with a ready-made reaction. Alexander teachers believe that as a person adds one habit onto another, the disadvantage is they may train themselves to also repeat unintentional side effects from answering more than one master. The Alexander Technique addresses over-compensation and cumulative stress by teaching how to avoid and prevent them from happening.


In the United Kingdom, there is no regulation for who can offer Alexander Technique services. Professional organisations do exist, however, typically offering three-year courses to people becoming instructors.<ref name=NHS/>
Adapting has a further self-deceptive drawback: '''using habits diminishes sensation.''' Using the habit decreases the importance of paying attention to seemingly unrelated perceptual differences, because they do not match expectations. From disuse or too much use, perceptual sensitivity will eventually become dull and untrustworthy, just as skin becomes numb if the same spot is repeatedly rubbed. Sensory systems can flood from accommodating too many contradicting habits or intentions. Because habits tend to become automatic, the sensation of ''doing'' a fully formed habit will disappear and become innate. This drawback encourages people to feel convinced that whatever efforts or ways they now use are necessary, even when it is far from normal. Forgetting what has been trained to be done automatically, people mistakenly often train new opposing habits instead of stopping what what they are doing that is interferring. Loss of perceptual awareness encourages mistaken conclusions for a call to action, and can be driven by the necessity for any response. In a panic, all opposing habits can fire off at once, pulling in all directions, sometimes without the person noticing they are doing it except by the immoblity it can cause.


==History==
How our kinesthetic sense becomes untrustworthy from adapting to needless over-compensating is built into many innocent situations. People create habits for themselves that are driven by goals that seem useful at the time. For instance, if a person often carries a bag on their forearm, he will later find himself holding up his arm when the bag is not on it. Misunderstanding a teacher's directions, a student may repeat what the teacher knows is unnecessary, but the teacher forgivingly allows the mistake to go by; this causes the student to unknowingly adopt useless or later problematic mannerisms. If someone is afraid while learning, adapting can mean he will most likely continue doing the skill fearfully. If someone has healed from a temporary injury, a habit of wincing in anticipation of pain can be automatically continued indefinitely, despite pain being healed. Due to rapid growth, teenagers often move their own bodies based on inaccurate assumptions of their size and structure, ie: a rapidly growing 13-year-old may think 'I'm getting too tall' and stoop to shorten herself.


The Alexander Technique is based on the personal observations of Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955). Alexander's career as an actor was hampered by recurrent bouts of ], but he found he could overcome it by focusing on his discomfort and tension, and relaxing. Alexander also thought posture could be improved if a person became more conscious of their bodily movements.<ref name=pp/>
According to Alexander teachers, few adults in Western culture retain their ability to move freely without needless interference. As adults grow older and given an unceasing cumulative cultural demand of pressure to perform and without a working knowledge of the body’s structural design, the cost to health can range from feelings of resignation to very real physical problems. Alexander teachers believe that many of these psychological and physical stresses could be avoided or mitigated by learning to stop outdated habits; useless habits that stand in the way of flexibility, insight and problem solving.
According to those who teach Alexander Technique, most of the time, giving up a certain activity isn't necessary if a learner is ready to free specific habits that work against the body's structural design and ongoing education.


While on a recital tour in New Zealand (1895), Alexander came to believe in the wider significance of improved carriage for overall physical functioning, although evidence from his own publications appears to indicate it happened less systematically and over a long period of time.<ref name="bloch">{{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Michael |title=F.M.: The Life of Frederick Matthias Alexander: Founder of the Alexander Technique |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-316-86048-2 |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|36}}
===Benefits===
Some regard the Alexander Technique as a first-hand experience of the reality of body/mind unity. Proponents believe that its practice results in improved awareness and descriptive ability, as well as improved ease of movement, improved balance, stamina and less muscular tension. Additionally, those who practice it often report that Alexander Technique gives them an enhanced ability to clarify their thinking, gain objectivity about themselves and free themselves from unintentional self-imposed limitations. Further, proponents see Alexander Technique as a way to use less effort for movement and thus perform more efficiently, feeling younger and moving gracefully.


Alexander did not originally conceive of his technique as therapy, but it has become a form of ].<ref name="ee150">{{Cite book |last=Ernst |first=Edzard |title=Alternative Medicine&nbsp;&ndash; A Critical Assessment of 150 Modalities |publisher=Springer |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-030-12600-1 |pages=153–154 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-12601-8 |author-link=Edzard Ernst |s2cid=34148480}}</ref>
It is curriculum in performance schools of ], ], ], ], ] and some ]. Suitable for those starting at any fitness level, it is also used as remedial movement education to complete recovery and provide pain management.


When considering how to classify the Alexander Technique in relation to mainstream medicine, some sources describe it as alternative and/or ], depending on whether it is used alone or with mainstream methods. The American ] classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used with mainstream methods. When used "in place of" conventional medicine, it is considered "alternative".<ref name="NCCIH3/10/2023">{{cite web | title=Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What's In a Name? | website=NCCIH | date=10 March 2023 | url=https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/complementary-alternative-or-integrative-health-whats-in-a-name | access-date=10 March 2023}}</ref>
Although the Alexander Technique is considered by those in its field to be primarily educational &mdash; taught in a student/teacher relationship as compared to being a treatment regimen between client and practitioner &mdash; it is regarded by the ] to offer an alternative and complementary management for many medical complaints. A partial list is: back problems, unlearning and avoiding ], improving ergonomics, stuttering, speech training and voice loss, coping with mobility for those with ], posture or balance problems, or to complete recovery from injury as an adjunct to ].


===Influence===
Alexander Technique has also been known to help performers with getting past the ''plateau'' effect (despite trying, no improvement), performance anxiety, getting beyond a supposed "lack of talent" and to sharpen discrimination and descriptive ability. It has also helped people control unwanted reactions, phobias and depression.


The American philosopher and educator ] became impressed with the Alexander Technique after his headaches, neck pains, ], and stress symptoms largely improved during the time he used Alexander's advice to change his posture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ryan, Alan |title=John Dewey and the high tide of American liberalism |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1997 |isbn=0-393-31550-9 |location=New York |pages=187–188}}</ref> In 1923, Dewey wrote the introduction to Alexander's ''Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual''.<ref>F. M. Alexander, ''Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual'', E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923, {{ISBN|0-913111-11-2}}</ref>
Of course, applications are very subjective and personal by nature; many testimonies exist on the Internet. Note that Alexander Technique is regarded to be a helpful adjunct to traditional medical treatment regimens and not as a substitute for them.


], who originated ], credited Alexander as an inspiration for his psychological work.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tengwall |first=Roger |year=1996 |title=A note on the influence of F.&nbsp;M.&nbsp;Alexander on the development of gestalt therapy |journal=Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences |publisher=Wiley |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=126–130 |doi=10.1002/1520-6696(198101)17:1<126::AID-JHBS2300170113>3.0.CO;2-X |issn=1520-6696 |pmid=7007480}}</ref>
===Reported Effects===
Alexander teachers have been educated to perceive, observe and articulate very subtle but crucial differences influencing motion. They offer this education and feedback to their students. Students learn to change small crucial differences that they learn will influence long-term effects if repeated over time.


==Uses==
Evidence of change is sought in verifiable outside feedback; using a mirror; by noting, comparing, or describing differences of the relative location of one's eyes, balance or weight changes; a change in the sound of one's voice or the effects on one’s objectives, props or environment.


The Alexander Technique is used as a therapy for stress-related chronic conditions. It does not attempt to cure the underlying cause, but to teach people how to avoid bad habits which might exacerbate their condition.<ref name=pp>{{cite book |title=Pain Procedures in Clinical Practice |edition=3rd |year=2011 |pages=205–222 |publisher=Elsevier |vauthors=Moroz A, Cohler MH, Schulman RA |chapter=Chapter 21: Body Work and Movement Therapies |doi=10.1016/B978-1-4160-3779-8.10021-1 |veditors=Lennard TA, Walkowski S, Singla AK, Vivian DG |isbn=978-1-4160-3779-8}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
Students often describe the immediate effect of an ''Alexander lesson'' as being an odd feeling. During hands-on lessons, most pupils report an immediate result of feeling less weighted down, despite their inability to evoke or sustain this state by themselves. Other reported experiences include altered perception of their voice or environment, noticing a change in self image, or having temporary disorientations of where their body is located spatially.


The Technique is used as an alternative treatment to improve both voice and posture for people in the ]. {{as of|1995}} it was on the curriculum of prominent Western performing arts institutions.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=D'Antoni ML, Harvey PL, Fried MP |title=Alternative medicine: does it play a role in the management of voice disorders? |journal=J Voice |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=308–11 |date=September 1995 |pmid=8541975 |doi=10.1016/s0892-1997(05)80239-5 |url=}}</ref>
Though most students experience these perceptual paradoxes as desirable, students are often admonished by teachers to regard their sensations as not worth trying to repeat by favored means. Students learn to avoid ''end-gaining,'' meaning, to resist going directly for results that usually activates habitual ways. Instead students are to allow themselves the room to use the deliberate new processes of experimenting prescribed by ''the Technique,'' termed ''means whereby.'' For this reason students are advised they must continue practice of Alexander Technique without expectation or reinforcement of ''feeling'' themselves changing. Teachers say this is because a student's senses may not yet be awake enough to register the crucial subtle adjustments, which cannot be done piecemeal. Improved sensitivity can be reawakened by sustained practice over time. The learner may at different times still paradoxically experience both states: the unusual sensory effects described above during a progressive leap ahead and a sense of nothing happening when gradual progress is, in fact, taking place.


According to Alexander Technique instructor ], people tend to study the Alexander Technique for reasons of ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gelb |first=Michael J. |title=Body learning: an introduction to the Alexander Technique |publisher=Holt |year=1995 |isbn=0805042067 |edition=2nd Owl Book |location=New York |pages=3–4}}</ref>
Depending on the causes of limitations, structural posture may or may not improve, but freedom of motion should always improve during the lesson with a teacher. To take improvements away from the class, the dedication of later remembering to attentively experiment is required on the part of the learner.


==Health effects==
===Effective under what circumstances===
Alexander Technique can be practiced while doing any other activity. Remembering to use Alexander Technique to get its benefits is required, but not a special practice activity; merely an experimental, thinking moment while doing any other action. Of course, the longer these moments of awareness can be sustained, the greater the effect over time. Practice at any time while awake will result in its benefits. Curiosity, a willingness to experiment and recognition of gradual improvement are the attitudes that most effectively bring attention to possible choices of responding differently.


The UK ] says that advocates of the Alexander Technique made claims for it that were not supported by evidence, but that there was evidence suggesting that it might help with chronic back or neck pain. According to the NHS, Alexander technique may be of benefit for people with ].<ref name="NHS"/> The ] (NICE) guidelines state that people with ] who are experiencing balance or motor function problems should consider the Alexander Technique along with disease-specific physiotherapy.<ref name="Parkinson's disease in adults"/> There is limited evidence for chronic pain, stammering, and balance skills in older people. There was no good evidence of benefit for other conditions including ], ]s, ], ], and stress.<ref name="NHS" />
Which motions, actions and criteria someone might apply for an activity that could benefit from practice will range from the most simple and mundane motions to the most strenuously demanding physical challenges.


A 2012 ] ] found that there is no good evidence that the Alexander Technique is effective for treating asthma, and randomized clinical trials are needed in order to assess the effectiveness of this type of treatment approach.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dennis |first1=JA |last2=Cates |first2=CJ |date=12 September 2012 |title=Alexander technique for chronic asthma. |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |volume=2016 |issue=9 |pages=CD000995 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD000995.pub2 |pmc=6458000 |pmid=22972048}}</ref>
===Disadvantages===
Alexander Technique may not be effective for everyone. Most teachers consider twenty to forty lessons to be required. Learning requires the student to work at a somewhat paradoxical goal that is, at first, based on the teacher's (or classmates') perception of success. Learning to value the feedback of others is invaluable, because it's difficult to change that which cannot yet be perceived. Habits are often tied to self-image, emotions and cultural assumptions. The student must be willing and able to challenge the validity and criteria of their assumptions, judgments, and motives. Because of this, the road of learning can be rocky.


A review published in '']'' in 2014 focused on "the evidence for the effectiveness of AT sessions on musicians' performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture" concluded that "evidence from RCTs and CTs suggests that AT sessions may improve performance anxiety in musicians. Effects on music performance, respiratory function and posture yet remain inconclusive."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=SD |last2=Bayard |first2=C |last3=Wolf |first3=U |date=24 October 2014 |title=The Alexander Technique and musicians: a systematic review of controlled trials. |journal=BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine |volume=14 |pages=414 |doi=10.1186/1472-6882-14-414 |pmc=4287507 |pmid=25344325 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
In rare occasions, undoing old habits may trigger possibly unpleasant "unresolved" emotions that originally justified the habitual remedies, perhaps requiring additional professional help. Some ingrained habit patterns seem to have a sense of self-preservation that objects to its possible lack of importance.


A 2015 review, conducted for the Australian Department of Health in order to determine what services the Australian government should pay for, examined clinical trials published to date and found that "overall, the evidence was limited by the small number of participants in the intervention arms, wide confidence intervals or a lack of replication of results." It concluded that "the Alexander Technique may improve short-term pain and disability in people with low back pain, but the longer-term effects remain uncertain. For all other clinical conditions, the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique was deemed to be uncertain, due to insufficient evidence." It also noted that "evidence for the safety of Alexander Technique was lacking, with most trials not reporting on this outcome."<ref name="aus17">{{Cite web |last=Baggoley C |year=2015 |title=Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Natural Therapies for Private Health Insurance |url=http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/0E9129B3574FCA53CA257BF0001ACD11/$File/Natural%20Therapies%20Overview%20Report%20Final%20with%20copyright%2011%20March.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626024750/http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/0E9129B3574FCA53CA257BF0001ACD11/$File/Natural%20Therapies%20Overview%20Report%20Final%20with%20copyright%2011%20March.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2016 |access-date=12 December 2015 |publisher=Australian Government &ndash; Department of Health }}
There can be a time during mid-learning when the student can't yet reliably sustain the new ways of moving he prefers. What used to feel comfortable instead becomes experienced as an unpleasantly heavy, pressured sagging sensation. It's a stage where every posture the student can assume seems to have something wrong with it. Often the student constantly notices other people around them are always stiff and slumping. It seems that once the door to perception is open, there is no going back to unselfconsciousness. If the student feels he cannot continue lessons at this point, perhaps sampling a number of teachers from different teaching styles is advisable rather than quitting altogether.
*{{lay source |template=cite web |author=Gavura, S. |date=19 November 2015 |title=Australian review finds no benefit to 17 natural therapies |url=https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/australian-review-finds-no-benefit-to-17-natural-therapies |website=Science-Based Medicine}}</ref> Subsequently, in 2017, the Australian government named the Alexander Technique as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence".<ref name="nosubsidy">{{Cite journal |last=Paola S |date=17 October 2017 |title=Homeopathy, naturopathy struck off private insurance list |url=https://ajp.com.au/news/homeopathy-naturopathy-struck-off-private-insurance-list/ |url-status=live |journal=Australian Journal of Pharmacy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418235118/https://ajp.com.au/news/homeopathy-naturopathy-struck-off-private-insurance-list/ |archive-date=18 April 2021 |access-date=11 January 2018}}</ref>


A review by ] last updated in 2021 stated: "Aetna considers the following alternative medicine interventions experimental and investigational because there is inadequate evidence in the peer-reviewed published medical literature of their effectiveness." The Alexander Technique is included in that list.<ref name="Aetna">{{Cite web |title=Medical Clinical Policy Bulletin Number 0388: Complementary and Alternative Medicine |url=http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/300_399/0388.html |access-date=1 December 2021 |publisher=Aetna}}</ref>
Practicing Alexander Technique cannot affect structural deformities, (such as caused by ] or other bone problems,) or other diseases, (such as caused by ], etc.) In these cases, Alexander Technique can only mitigate how the person compensates for these difficulties, which can be significant for them.
Many healthy adult students have reported a gaining up to an inch in height after a few months of regular lessons.


====Scientific Proof==== ==See also==
The effectiveness of the Alexander Technique has not been thoroughly verified in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Lengthy learning time seems to be a drawback in testing for short term results.


* ]
In 2005 Cacciatore et al. found the technique improved a single patient's posture thereby reducing their lower back pain. <ref>Improvement in automatic postural coordination following Alexander Technique lessons in a person with low back pain, Cacciatore TW, Horak FB, Henry SM, Phys Ther. 2005 Jun;85(6):565-78.</ref>
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References==
In 2004 Maher concluded that "Physical treatments, such as (list with many others)... Alexander technique ... are either of unknown value or ineffective and so should not be considered" when treating lower back pain with an evidence-based approach. <ref>Effective physical treatment for chronic low back pain, Maher CG., Orthop Clin North Am. 2004 Jan;35(1):57-64.</ref>
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
In 2002, Stalibrass et al. published the results of a significant controlled study into the effectiveness of the technique in treating Parkinson's disease. Four different measures were used to assess the change in severity of the disease. By all four measures, Alexander Technique was better than no treatment, to a statistically significant degree (both P-values < 0.04). However, when compared to a control group given massage sessions, Alexander technique was only significantly better by two of the measures. The other two measures gave statisticially insignificant improvements (P-values of approximately 0.1 and 0.6). This appears to lend some weight to the effectiveness of the Technique, but more studies and data are required. <ref>Randomized controlled trial of the Alexander technique for idiopathic Parkinson's disease, Stallibrass C, Sissons P, Chalmers C, Clin Rehabil. 2002 Nov;16(7):695-708.</ref>
*{{Commons category-inline}}


{{Authority control}}
Frank Pierce Jones' articles detailing his research have been collected in a 1997 edition, detailed in references below.

Results for Alexander Technique in neuroscience and current gait lab research on the effects and function of body motion have yet to locate funding. (See additional current research at the UK STAT online website.) While the UK medical communities are convinced of the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique, it is still often classified as pseudo-scientific in other countries.

==Learning and Teaching==
Teachers train “pupils” in a personalized, living anatomy lesson. Most use a specialized hands-on technique of guided modeling to show what they mean. Even if only briefly during group classes, movement is guided with very light, one-on-one hand contact, usually about the student's head, neck and back. The value of effortlessness is advocated. Coaching the substitution of more appropriate, specific ways to detour limitations are also suggested. As anyone knows who has tried substitution strategies against a habit, there are often more complex paradoxes involved, because habits can be tricky. Alexander Technique teacher tailors how to establish personally constructive experimentation uniquely for each student's challenges.

Most commonly at the beginning of lessons, teachers may suggest activities that are routine, such as walking or sitting. For part of the lesson, some teachers have learners lie on a table, so the student can experience the principles in action without having to pay attention to maintaining balance, called ''table work.''Also, ''Working on oneself'' while lying semi-supine with knees up is taught to be used for refresh during the student's workday. Depending on the student's purposes, the teacher might later suggest simulating a particularly stressful situation for using Alexander Technique under pressure, such as acting, public speaking, shouting or other demands.

==Learning Environments==
Teaching methods vary; all have in common guided discovery of easier, more positive ways to carry intention into physical action and how to recognize and prevent outdated habits from derailing intended results. To begin lessons, there is no prerequisite level of fitness or movement ability. Alexander Technique is most often taught in private lessons. Group, shared lessons and workshops are recently becoming more common - especially as an adjunct to a specialized art, sport or skill and as required curriculum in music & drama colleges.

Because the Alexander Technique can be taught and practiced during any activity, some teachers leave the choice of activity up to the student. Many Alexander teachers also have additional specialties; such as teaching children in grade school, ] or pain management. Some teach Alexander Technique with an additional professional skill, such as being a dancer, speech or physical therapist or yoga teacher. Alexander Technique may also be included as an adjunct to improve a sport, as in horsemanship, running or golf.

===Teacher Training===
Training for being a teacher of Alexander Technique requires more than 1600+ hours of classes over at least a three-year period. Most AT professional teaching associations require continuing development courses. It is also possible to qualify for membership by peer review. Professional teaching organizations advise checking peer references against unqualified misrepresentation, since the term ''Alexander Technique'' is not protected by ].

F.M. Alexander himself often stressed that his work could not be learned without the help of a suitably qualified instructor trained in his hands-on technique. Many Alexander teachers today agree, but F.M. Alexander and his brother taught themselves. So theoretically it is possible to learn ''AT'' without a teacher. A few ''AT teachers'' believe it is entirely possible to learn and continue to experiment with the basic principles entirely on one's own. Free online study courses exist for Alexander's books, and some teachers offer free introductory lessons. The help of a teacher for at least a few lessons avoids many common pitfalls.

Easier ways to learn these principles have come a long way since Alexander's death in 1953. Differences in teaching style 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 passed on in training, but integrates many personal lifetime discoveries based on Alexander's principles.

====In-depth principles====
As has been mentioned previously, human senses are built to adapt to continuous messages sent by the brain. '''Repetition makes perceptual sensation disappear'''. Keeping muscles contracted when unnecessary is a waste of energy. This was later referred to as ''sensory adaptation'' by behavioral scientists. This principle describing how habits disappear from sensing was originally called '''debauchery''' by F.M. Alexander. Few ''AT teachers'' currently use that term, preferring the more general term of suspending '''end-gaining''' for familiar results. To unlearn conflicted habits, ''Alexander teachers'' advise that a prerequisite is a willingness to welcome experimentation and unfamiliarity. This is because what is entirely new will feel odd.

Another unique concept is a specialized use of the word '''Inhibition.''' Many Alexander teachers believe this concept to be the foundation of Alexander Technique. It is possible to learn to recognize a habitual patterned reaction and choose differently to stop it, usually by preventing it entirely. As a carnivore stalking prey inhibits its natural urges in order to choose a deliberate leap for an effective attack, an unwanted habitual urge can be deliberately stopped or strategically prevented with ''inhibition'' techniques. Suggested practical means to effectively subvert a particular unwanted habit vary with each Alexander teacher's experience. Side-stepping, stalling, tricking, boring the old habitual solution - any tactic is fair game to get the old habit to disengage or entirely prevent it, leaving the freedom to try something different, something easier.

A stiffening of the neck in a startle response, chin tipped up, head back and pulled down into the neck was observed by Alexander to be the source of his self-imposed limitations. To address these challenges indirectly rather than fight them, Alexander originated an action called '''Direction''' which is an ingredient of his principle of '''Primary Control'''. ''Directing '' is a codified expression of a student's understanding of the governing characteristics of easier movement, substituted to prevent and replace ongoing habitual ''misuse.'' These ''directions'' are phrases of a thought that are repeatedly suggested to practice refusing a direct reaction of extremes. People who direct themselves mentally attend to how they apply thinking and force through their body. Rather than gunning the motor and muscling their way through an activity, people who '''direct''' use their mind to oversee their own coordinated dynamic expansion during activity. By doing so, the body's reflexive coordination seems to spontaneously recover from habit to gracefully handle the action, as if by itself.

The more inclusive principle of '''Primary Control''' shows how easily the head can move in the lightest initiation of movement is its structural balancing act, cradled at the top of the spine. By integrating attention, using direction and refusing habit, the whole body can follow the smallest initiation of head movement. To the extent the learner can also pay attention to what they are doing, their suspended goal or intention improves. Occasionally the result is a significant practical insight, as taking the interference off refreshed senses will give new sensory information.

====Sample lesson====
The principles may be put together in any sequence, not necessarily in this order. Here is an example lesson using procedures that have come to be called the ''application approach'' that was originated by Marj Barstow, 1899-1995, the first graduate of F.M. Alexander's first teacher training course in 1933.

First, choosing some sort of movement to practice with can be done by the student or teacher. Sitting down or walking is a commonly selected activity. Skills or arts are also commonly selected. The teacher prompts the student how to observe him or herself during the sample action. Students are asked to describe their observations without value judgments. Teachers may also experiment alongside students; modeling the process they would prefer the student to emulate.

Once a sample activity is observed and described, the teacher guides the experimenting to avoid habitual interference, usually by slowing down reaction time with a light hand contact. Intercepting unnecessary habits might also be made easier by creating an arbitrary beginning moment of starting. In keeping with the ''sensory adaptation'' principle, customary kinesthetic orientation and preparation assumed necessary is repeatedly noted to be unnecessary. Toward leaving out habit, the goal of the chosen action or motion is temporarily suspended, so motivation for immediate results does not encourage the habit to jump in to helpfully answer the urge to respond. Habitual interference is identified and stopped, but no replacement is offered. This lack of substitution is often indicated manually by the teacher so a freer capacity to respond can reassert itself while moving.

As interference is removed, the teacher shows how the head, neck and back together can ''lengthen'', increasing a capacity for freedom of movement from intention. The teacher may use their hands as "training wheels" to help the student perceive exactly when their habit is interfering and pulling them back down. The effect of this prevention of habit provided by the teacher often feels immediately strange or disorienting to the student. The teacher steadies and encourages the student to resist a need to go back down into the familiar habit and to tolerate additional unfamiliarity for longer periods of time.

A result coined by Alexander of ''Do-less-ness'' can be used as the new measure of success. Some teachers bring a student's attention to pivotal timing issues and specific qualities of directing movement in this unfamiliar way. Just as often seeking any results is also suspended, because the ability to sense subtle perceptual differences may have become dulled from ''sensory adaptation.''

Usually, this is all that is required to be practiced in the lesson. Sometimes habits are trickier and remedies to detour habit are needed. Some of these strategies are directly prescribed by F.M. Alexander's historic examples, but many may be invented on the spot by the teacher.

Now that the student's senses are not being dampened by habit, an insight or discovery about the suspended goal of the activity may occur. These discoveries are noted and integrated into repeated experimentation to make them more reliable. It is important that judging for results and possible insight comes after doing the preventing and moving, not before; otherwise the unwanted habits can take back control.

When additional results, insights or discoveries are desired, a similar process of questioning, experimenting and observing possible results is again used. These principles can be recombined in other sequences, tailored for a student's needs. According to proponents of Alexander Technique, a learner's tolerance for unfamiliarity and their ability to observe is directly related to learning speed.

==Students of the Alexander Technique==
*Professor ], Nobel Prize for Medicine
*Professor ], American philosopher and educator
*], singer/actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], singer
*], actor
*], singer
*], actor
*], musician
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*Members of the ]
*], conductor
*], conductor
*], dancer
*], actor
*], writer
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], writer
*], writer
*], writer
*], writer
*], writer
*], musician
*], musician
*], producer, actor, director
*], originator of ]
*], originator of the ]
*], journalist
*], author of Freeing the Natural Voice
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], singer and actor
*], actor
*], actor
*], paleoanthropologist and neuroanatomist
*], musician
*], musician
*], actor
*], actor
*], Olympic Fencer'''==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
* Alexander, F. Matthias ''The Use of the Self, Its conscious direction in relation to diagnosis, functioning and the control of reaction''. 1932 hb (1985, 2001, pb), 123 pages, Methuen, (Gollancz, Orion.) ISBN 0-575-03720-2.
* Frank Pierce Jones, ''Freedom to Change; The Development and Science of the Alexander Technique'' Third edition published May 1997 by Mouritz ISBN 0-9525574-7-9.
* ''Collected Writings on the Alexander Technique'', research on the Alexander Technique at the Institute for Experimental Psychology conducted by Frank Pierce Jones at Tufts University from 1949 until his death in 1975. Edited by Theodore Dimon, Jr. and Richard Brown. Forty research papers, 92 photos and illustrations. Boston (Alexander Technique Archives, Inc.), 1999.

==External Links==
* The largest professional organization of Alexander Technique teachers in the United States.
* The oldest and largest professional organisation of Alexander Technique Teachers with members in the UK and worldwide.


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Latest revision as of 05:00, 16 November 2024

Postural awareness technique For the Rex Orange County album, see The Alexander Technique (album).

Part of a series on
Alternative medicine
General information
Fringe medicine and science
Controversies
Classifications
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Alternative diagnoses

The Alexander Technique, named after its developer Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), is an alternative therapy based on the idea that poor posture causes a range of health problems. The American National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used "together with" mainstream conventional medicine.

Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s to address his own voice loss during public speaking. He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for performing Shakespearean recitations.

Proponents and teachers of the Alexander Technique believe the technique can address a variety of health conditions, but there is a lack of research to support the claims. As of 2021, the UK National Health Service and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) cite evidence that the Alexander Technique may be helpful for long-term back pain and for long-term neck pain, and that it could help people cope with Parkinson's disease. Both the American health-insurance company Aetna and the Australian Department of Health have conducted reviews and concluded that there is insufficient evidence for the technique's health claims to warrant insurance coverage.

Method

The Alexander Technique is most commonly taught in a series of private lessons which may last from 30 minutes to an hour. The number of lessons varies widely, depending on the student's needs and level of interest. Students are often performers, such as actors, dancers, musicians, athletes and public speakers, people who work on computers, or those who are in frequent pain for other reasons. Instructors observe their students, and provide both verbal and gentle manual guidance to help students learn how to move with better poise and less strain. Sessions include chair work – often in front of a mirror – during which the instructor will guide the student while the student stands, sits and walks, learning to move efficiently while maintaining a comfortable relationship between the head, neck, and spine, and table work or physical manipulation.

In the United Kingdom, there is no regulation for who can offer Alexander Technique services. Professional organisations do exist, however, typically offering three-year courses to people becoming instructors.

History

The Alexander Technique is based on the personal observations of Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955). Alexander's career as an actor was hampered by recurrent bouts of laryngitis, but he found he could overcome it by focusing on his discomfort and tension, and relaxing. Alexander also thought posture could be improved if a person became more conscious of their bodily movements.

While on a recital tour in New Zealand (1895), Alexander came to believe in the wider significance of improved carriage for overall physical functioning, although evidence from his own publications appears to indicate it happened less systematically and over a long period of time.

Alexander did not originally conceive of his technique as therapy, but it has become a form of alternative medicine.

When considering how to classify the Alexander Technique in relation to mainstream medicine, some sources describe it as alternative and/or complementary, depending on whether it is used alone or with mainstream methods. The American National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used with mainstream methods. When used "in place of" conventional medicine, it is considered "alternative".

Influence

The American philosopher and educator John Dewey became impressed with the Alexander Technique after his headaches, neck pains, blurred vision, and stress symptoms largely improved during the time he used Alexander's advice to change his posture. In 1923, Dewey wrote the introduction to Alexander's Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual.

Fritz Perls, who originated Gestalt therapy, credited Alexander as an inspiration for his psychological work.

Uses

The Alexander Technique is used as a therapy for stress-related chronic conditions. It does not attempt to cure the underlying cause, but to teach people how to avoid bad habits which might exacerbate their condition.

The Technique is used as an alternative treatment to improve both voice and posture for people in the performing arts. As of 1995 it was on the curriculum of prominent Western performing arts institutions.

According to Alexander Technique instructor Michael J. Gelb, people tend to study the Alexander Technique for reasons of personal development.

Health effects

The UK National Health Service says that advocates of the Alexander Technique made claims for it that were not supported by evidence, but that there was evidence suggesting that it might help with chronic back or neck pain. According to the NHS, Alexander technique may be of benefit for people with Parkinson disease. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines state that people with Parkinson disease who are experiencing balance or motor function problems should consider the Alexander Technique along with disease-specific physiotherapy. There is limited evidence for chronic pain, stammering, and balance skills in older people. There was no good evidence of benefit for other conditions including asthma, headaches, osteoarthritis, difficulty sleeping, and stress.

A 2012 Cochrane systematic review found that there is no good evidence that the Alexander Technique is effective for treating asthma, and randomized clinical trials are needed in order to assess the effectiveness of this type of treatment approach.

A review published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2014 focused on "the evidence for the effectiveness of AT sessions on musicians' performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture" concluded that "evidence from RCTs and CTs suggests that AT sessions may improve performance anxiety in musicians. Effects on music performance, respiratory function and posture yet remain inconclusive."

A 2015 review, conducted for the Australian Department of Health in order to determine what services the Australian government should pay for, examined clinical trials published to date and found that "overall, the evidence was limited by the small number of participants in the intervention arms, wide confidence intervals or a lack of replication of results." It concluded that "the Alexander Technique may improve short-term pain and disability in people with low back pain, but the longer-term effects remain uncertain. For all other clinical conditions, the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique was deemed to be uncertain, due to insufficient evidence." It also noted that "evidence for the safety of Alexander Technique was lacking, with most trials not reporting on this outcome." Subsequently, in 2017, the Australian government named the Alexander Technique as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence".

A review by Aetna last updated in 2021 stated: "Aetna considers the following alternative medicine interventions experimental and investigational because there is inadequate evidence in the peer-reviewed published medical literature of their effectiveness." The Alexander Technique is included in that list.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ernst, Edzard (2019). Alternative Medicine – A Critical Assessment of 150 Modalities. Springer. pp. 153–154. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12601-8. ISBN 978-3-030-12600-1. S2CID 34148480.
  2. ^ Bloch, Michael (2004). F.M.: The Life of Frederick Matthias Alexander: Founder of the Alexander Technique. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-86048-2.
  3. ^ "Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What's In a Name?". NCCIH. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  4. Rootberg, Ruth (September 2007). Mandy Rees (ed.). "Voice and Gender and other contemporary issues in professional voice and speech training". Voice and Speech Review. 35 (1): 164–170. doi:10.1080/23268263.2007.10769755. S2CID 144810660.
  5. Harer, John B.; Munden, Sharon (2008). The Alexander Technique Resource Book: A Reference Guide. Scarecrow Press. pp. xii–xiii. ISBN 978-0810863927. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  6. ^ Baggoley C (2015). "Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Natural Therapies for Private Health Insurance" (PDF). Australian Government – Department of Health. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Alexander Technique". National Health Service. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Parkinson's disease in adults". NICE. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Medical Clinical Policy Bulletin Number 0388: Complementary and Alternative Medicine". Aetna. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  10. McEvenue, Kelly; Rodenburg, Patsy (2002). The Actor and the Alexander Technique. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 3–14. ISBN 0-312-29515-4.
  11. Jain, Sanjiv; Kristy Janssen; Sharon DeCelle (2004). "Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais method: A critical overview". Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America. 15 (4): 811–825. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.611.4183. doi:10.1016/j.pmr.2004.04.005. PMID 15458754.
  12. ^ Moroz A, Cohler MH, Schulman RA (2011). "Chapter 21: Body Work and Movement Therapies". In Lennard TA, Walkowski S, Singla AK, Vivian DG (eds.). Pain Procedures in Clinical Practice (3rd ed.). Elsevier. pp. 205–222. doi:10.1016/B978-1-4160-3779-8.10021-1. ISBN 978-1-4160-3779-8. (subscription required)
  13. Ryan, Alan (1997). John Dewey and the high tide of American liberalism. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 187–188. ISBN 0-393-31550-9.
  14. F. M. Alexander, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923, ISBN 0-913111-11-2
  15. Tengwall, Roger (1996). "A note on the influence of F. M. Alexander on the development of gestalt therapy". Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. 17 (1). Wiley: 126–130. doi:10.1002/1520-6696(198101)17:1<126::AID-JHBS2300170113>3.0.CO;2-X. ISSN 1520-6696. PMID 7007480.
  16. D'Antoni ML, Harvey PL, Fried MP (September 1995). "Alternative medicine: does it play a role in the management of voice disorders?". J Voice. 9 (3): 308–11. doi:10.1016/s0892-1997(05)80239-5. PMID 8541975.
  17. Gelb, Michael J. (1995). Body learning: an introduction to the Alexander Technique (2nd Owl Book ed.). New York: Holt. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0805042067.
  18. Dennis, JA; Cates, CJ (12 September 2012). "Alexander technique for chronic asthma". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016 (9): CD000995. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000995.pub2. PMC 6458000. PMID 22972048.
  19. Klein, SD; Bayard, C; Wolf, U (24 October 2014). "The Alexander Technique and musicians: a systematic review of controlled trials". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 14: 414. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-414. PMC 4287507. PMID 25344325.
  20. Paola S (17 October 2017). "Homeopathy, naturopathy struck off private insurance list". Australian Journal of Pharmacy. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2018.

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