Good teachers constantly learn new things, have new insights and grow through their own experience. Sydney shared with me that over the years her work with the Alexander Technique has been powerfully enhanced by her training and experience in additional psychological, developmental and human potential/spiritual realms. These include Family Systems Therapy, Resources for Infant Educators (RIE), Energy Balancing, Peak Potentials and Sensory Awareness. She explained to me that the body is the messenger and that it is a medium that can be used to gain deeper understanding of feelings and thoughts. By learning to tune into your body and its messages, you uncover hidden patterns that have contributed to pain, discomfort and/or blocks. I felt this immediately, but could see that if I read it in a book or article I would have never understood it. I actually needed Sydney’s hands to teach it to my body in the proper AT method.

Alexander Technique in a Class Setting

If you can imagine something as elegant as simply re-learning how to stand up, sit down, lie down, by delicately moving your head to lead your movement, then move on to more complex issues such as working at your computer, making business presentations, playing a musical instrument, performing sports activities, then you can glimpse at what AT feels like. It is effortless when you have it demonstrated to you personally and even in your first session you will experience a profound impact on the way your body ultimately supports you through its myriad of subconscious body functions. You leave each session feeling confident in your own body.

At Training for Piano Student by Sydney Laurel Harris

AT is very helpful to people from all walks of life, not just in those situations I mention above but in all professions, for all ages, who just in the normal course of living their lives experience discomfort, especially chronic pain.

Study on Back Pain and the Alexander Technique

“It’s supportive to know good science validates something that so many of Sydney’s AT clients have experienced over the last 35 years: the Alexander Technique helps to eliminate and prevent back pain. For example, three years ago the “BMJ” (formerly the “British Medical Journal”) published a study that demonstrated the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique (“AT”) for back pain.

While it may seem mysterious to some, it’s really common sense that the Alexander Technique alleviates back pain. We may appear to be relaxed when slumped over the computer keyboard or when slouching in front of a classroom or at the kitchen counter. But, in fact, these behaviors are chronically straining muscles and putting enormous pressure on our backs. The same thing is true if we “try” to do the opposite, eg. by holding ourselves upright in a stiff posture. Most of the time the resulting “posture” isn’t “up right” at all, but rather sending us backwards instead of curving forward. Chronically holding ourselves in any position creates excess tension, ie., uses muscles in a way that wears us “down.” The resulting downward pressure then narrows joints making them less flexible. It also crowds organs and nerve channels.”

–excerpted from AlexanderUSA Newsletter

Can Dancers benefit from AT?

AT can be very helpful for dancers. My favorite dance is Argentine Tango so I am always interested in ways to avoid injury, move more efficiently and be able to share some things for dancers to help them prevent injury. I can clearly see that AT is a wonderful technique for dancers to study and incorporate into their daily lives.

In Sydney’s recent newsletter, which you can sign up for at her website, she shared some insights that she recently gained by attending a workshop given by Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, an Alexander Technique (AT) teacher and dance professor at the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. Drawing on her background in dance and her work with AT teachers Alex and Joan Murray using the “Raymond Dart procedures.” Rebecca led Sydney’s group in an enlightening exploration of the movements of the spine, elucidating primary and secondary curves as well as the spirals of the human musculature.

She explained to me that her training has been quite clear about the fact that there is often the misperception that spinal curves should be eliminated in order to have good posture. We’re often told, as actors, models or students to “Stand up straight!” and “Sit up straight!” I think we can all hear those words resounding in our memory banks. AT teachers are interested in their students creating lightness and efficiency in movement that can lead to the student discovering the full potential of their movements. I think we can all relate to that. And as I recall the beauty of the lightness of the AT touch in our introductory session I could see that this technique never used force or any type of rigid movements. It was all very fluid and light. This is very helpful information for dancers.

What about other strenuous exercise routines, such as running?

A few weeks after Sydney studied with Rebecca on AT for dance, she and her husband participated in an AT running workshop with Malcolm Balk, an AT teacher, running trainer, and author.

In their fourth workshop of the year with Malcolm, Sydney shared with me that she found it amazing what a difference a year of commitment to AT and running can make. She and her husband watched running videos that their teacher Malcolm had made of them, and they could clearly see that there were big differences from similar videos he made a year previously. Her husband’s run pattern initially had significant up and down motion, a very common occurrence for long distance runners. Malcolm shared with them that, “if you push up one inch more than necessary at the end of the marathon you’ve also climbed the Empire state building!” That really hit home with Sydney!

A year later, her husband’s run pattern now had very little up and down motion and his stride was much shorter, eliminating “braking” that occurs when the feet land in front of the body instead of directly under the body. This meant that significant wasted effort and energy had been eliminated in his running pattern over that year all thanks to the efficiency of movement taught in the Alexander Technique sessions.

In Sydney’s first taped run from this recent workshop, Malcolm pointed out to her that her feet still landed just a little bit ahead of her body. But not to worry, she was so excited about how different her own running looked overall from the previous videos that she almost missed the rest of the tips her teacher was offering her! Malcolm said, “she now looked much more like a runner,” whereas before she looked as if she was “doing ballet on hot coals.” The insight she carried home from this workshop was recognizing the difference between analyzing her run in her own head versus staying connected with her whole body while running; in fact, to run more from the center of her body.

Many runners who are not trained in AT can be seen pulling their heads back and down and a kind of leading with the chin movement, which has the effect of directing the runners energy backwards. When one is taught AT it can be “reminded” to send the head forward and up, which will look completely different, and much more “natural” as if the runner was “born to run.”

AT running workshops provide real knowledge for helping to improve running. I would encourage anyone who wishes to take up running to work with an AT practitioner to avoid injury, and gain better fitness.

We have only touched upon a few of the activities that AT can benefit. You can learn more here.