The Alexander Technique
By Nora Nausbaum, certified AmSAT, STAT
Besides being famous, what do Paul McCartney, Robin Williams, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, Sting, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, John Cleese and William Hurt have in common? They have all taken lessons in the Alexander Technique.
The Alexander Technique is a 100-year-old method that helped these well-known people with neck and back pain, knee and shoulder stiffness, tendonitis and feeling comfortable in their bodies. Whether we are famous or not, many of us have habits that contract the spine, joints and muscles. We can learn to reverse these habits with the guidance of an experienced Alexander Technique teacher.
There are no exercises in the Alexander Technique. Instead, over time we learn to incorporate freer ways of moving into our everyday lives. In an Alexander Technique lesson, we take a close look at common movements such as sitting, standing, bending, reaching, walking and even talking. This increased awareness results in pain mitigation, elimination and a feeling of lightness.
In a typical 30 –45 minute session, we observe and change how a specific habit has contributed to compression. For example, if someone comes to see me with lower back pain, one thing we might observe together is a too-active tailbone. Cultural assumptions may come into play here. While it’s best to let gravity help us balance through our sit bones, our underlying beliefs may at first interfere and dictate a military style rigidity. Letting the tailbone float down while sitting balanced on our sitbones allows the spine to lengthen and have more space. With my reminder and gentle hands-on guidance, the student learns a new, healthier way to sit.
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Our spine can be likened to a spring. It can get shorter or allowed to uncurl to its full length.
How our head sits on our spine also greatly affects the shortening or lengthening of our spine. Many of us have neck pain which is often due to an imbalance of the head relative to the top of the spine. We may be frozen into the reflex called “startle pattern,” resulting in a compressed upper spine, stiff shoulder muscles and pressure on the vocal mechanism. Even though “startle position” can cause chronic pain, it can also be a “comfortable” habit. We perceive ourselves through the lens of habit unless we are shown a something different. A willingness to try something new is a great asset in this process. Although it may take getting used to, change becomes easier as stiffness and pain abate.
A lesson also includes 15-20 minutes of lying down on a massage table. The student is fully clothed; knees are up, feet on the table, head elevated on a flat, sturdy surface (paperback books). We then allow gravity to lengthen and widen the back and ease the neck which is not being stimulated. With trained hands, mind and balance, I complement gravity’s helpful horizontal effects.
Many people respond well in just a few lessons, while others need or want a deeper, more lasting change requiring more lessons. Teaching the Alexander Technique requires a minimum of 1600-hours over three years time in an approved teacher-training course. I’ve been teaching since 1988, after completing the required three-year, 1600-hour certification training. I also have my masters degree from New England Conservatory of Music and am a free-lance flutist in addition to teaching the Alexander Technique.
Incorporating the ideas of the Alexander Technique into our lives is like getting back to the way we moved as a very young child. If you watch a child of 3 or 4 bend, walk, sit and stand, you’ll see a perfectly balanced body without habits of contraction. That’s where we’re headed.
Nora Nausbaum
Alexander Technique
email: listen2@netwiz.net
web: http://www.ATSierra.com
305 Railroad Ave. Ste. 7, Nevada City
3275 Fortune Court, Auburn
530-273-5283;
