An Introduction to the Alexander Technique

It’s been said that 95% of communication is non-verbal. Does holding your shoulders up to your ears convey anxiety? Are clenched fists a show of anger? Can we change our mood or influence others by adjusting how we stand? The mind-body debate is as old as antiquity, and while ancient Greeks may have been concerned with the influence of the soul on the corpus, modern times have shifted the attention to how the corpus speaks to the mind. Embodied cognition is getting a lot of publicity these days. But let’s turn our attention to a psychophysical technique developed by a young actor in the late nineteenth century — a technique that has proven strikingly effective, retaining its currency for well over a hundred years.

In the early 1890s, Australian Frederick Matthias Alexander was beginning to make a name for himself in theatre. One problem, however, interfered with his success: recurring hoarseness. When doctors tried and failed to cure him, he set about solving the mystery on his own. Every day he stood in front of a set of three full-length mirrors, watching himself recite verse. Alexander noticed that in the moment before he spoke, he would throw his head back. He also noticed that the way he held his head created tension in his neck and back, affecting his voice. Over time he found that his whole body was engaged when he spoke. In any action, even something as simple as speaking or walking, the body had to be seen as a unit, not as a series of discrete parts. Alexander discovered a way of use, as he called it, that allowed greater ease and fluidity, both in movement and in mind. He wrote a book about his experience and began teaching this new way of directing oneself. He worked with musicians, actors, writers, golfers — anyone who had a need for freedom in their body. Using his hands, he gently guided students to a more effective use. Eventually, he started a program where trainees were taught his hands-on work. Over time, his discovery came to be known as the Alexander Technique.

A primary focus of the technique is the importance of where the head is. The Alexander Technique holds that everything — every fear, every feeling of anxiety or tension — will manifest itself in the head, neck, and back. Those tensions will bleed into other parts of the body, influencing us in movement and stillness.

The neck is loaded with muscles that keep the eleven-pound head balanced atop the spine. The spine protects nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain to the rest of the body. It stands to reason that tensions we experience in the head or neck will directly impact our emotions, moods and ease of movement. The spine extends further up the back of the skull than most people are aware. Imagine a rod running from one ear to the other. The mid-point of that rod is the place where your head balances on your spine.

With this in mind, try an exercise: allow your head to fall backwards. Let it hang there. Feel the discomfort. Now pull your head back up, lifting it over the rod between your ears, and find what you consider a neutral position. Feel how long the back of the neck is. Remember that your spine extends above the edge of the occipital bone, right up into the skull. Take a moment to be mindful of that space. Now let your head fall forward, the chin falling toward the clavicle. Experience the pull on the back of the neck, down the middle of the back, where we often experience tension. Take the time to identify any discomfort. Once again, bring your head back up and over the rod to what you feel is a neutral position. Try to find as much space as you can in the back of the neck, without losing any space in front between the chin and the clavicle. Think of the head moving up and away from the top of the spine. Think of the torso lengthening in both directions. Breathe. What feelings, if any, arise from these small but important physical changes?

If you’re in front of your computer, you’re probably seated. Bring yourself forward to the edge of the chair and find your sitting bones. These are the two boney points at the bottom of the pelvis where you sit. Think of them as ball bearings. You can tip forward and backward, or rotate in any direction. Feeling your sitting bones, let your hands rest on your thighs, palms upward. Align your feet beneath your knees. Become aware of your head: think of it as moving forward and up off the top of the spine, freeing the neck from tension. Remember not to lose any space in the front of the neck. The shoulder girdle can fall. The arms can hang loosely from their sockets. When you’re writing a paper or email on your computer, make a habit of sitting consciously on the sitting bones. Keep the neck soft and long, and allow the head to move forward and up from the top of the spine. The arms can hang freely. The torso is long and wide.

What about the other side of the coin? Stand up. Feel your weight on your feet. Do you favour one side over the other? Is your weight more to the front or the back? Take a moment to redistribute your weight equally over both feet. Shift things around, feel the weight in the front and the back until you sense your weight spread evenly over the soles of your feet. Feel the full support of the ground beneath you. We often stand as if we’re trying to hold ourselves up with our legs, when what we really want to do is stand fully on our feet. Check your thighs and buttocks. Are you clenching anywhere? Release the tension. Allow your head to float on your spine. Pay attention to the weight on your feet. Now consider the space between the two extremes. Get a sense of the length and height of your body. Do you feel more grounded? Relaxed? Confident?

Although the above exercises serve to introduce the reader to a few tenets of the Alexander Technique, it’s only through lessons with a trained practitioner that students can properly understand the work. Its application yields awareness of how we use ourselves and promotes a new approach to mind-body phenomenology. Modern science still holds that the mind resides in the brain, but I think it may exist in other parts of our body as well. Mind-body communication really does work in both directions.

And maybe, if you listen, your body will speak to you.

References

Alexander, F.M.. The Use of the Self. (London: Orion House, 2001).

Meier, B. P., Schnall, S., Schwarz, N., & Bargh, J. A. (2012). Embodiment in Social Psychology. Topics In Cognitive Science, 4(4), 705–716. doi:10.1111/j.1756–8765.2012.01212.x