The Alexander Technique can have a huge, positive impact on pain, and I know this from personal experience. The Alexander Technique got me out of the severe neck pain I was in, and now I see the same results over and over as I teach Alexander Technique lessons in NYC to people suffering from back pain, neck and shoulder pain, hand pain. We don’t realize that we’re causing our own pain by the way we use our bodies (poor posture, added stress). The good news is that the Alexander Technique shows us a way out from this pain. It puts us back in control…

“A correct position or posture indicates a fixed position, and a person held to a fixed position cannot grow, as we understand growth. The correct position today cannot be the correct position a week later for any person who is advancing in the work of reeducation and coordination.

F.M. Alexander- Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual

During Alexander Technique lessons, people frequently sit up straight or move their head around and ask: is this right?” I answer differently in different situations, but the real answer might be: No. I don’t say that because the…

On my subway ride to teach some Alexander Technique lessons at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Mahattan, I noticed a man who could not have been more stooped over. As an Alexander Technique teacher I was particularly aware of how he was seated, reading the paper, his head not very far from his knees. His face was quite tense, and had a scowl I suspected was habitual. He seemed to ‘have the weight of the world on his shoulders…

Many Alexander Technique teachers are slumpers, or former slumpers. My name is Mark and I’m a slumper. Slumping was my habit before I became an Alexander Technique teacher, and it will be my habit forever. Although …

New York Magazine asked me to write a few sentences on the Alexander Technique for the January 18, 2010 issue. The article is entitled: ‘50 Steps To Simple Happiness.’ Included in the few sentences I was to give instructions about the Alexander Technique, and when to ‘do’ the Alexander Technique. Yikes… When to do the Alexander Technique? When not to do the Alexander Technique would save words!

The Alexander Technique offers a different kind of posture training, a different kind of posture.You can apply the Alexander Technique to any situation. You can be more easeful, with less tension and compression. You will look like you have better posture.

What kind of person studies to become an Alexander Technique teacher? At first, I believe, it’s the same type of person who decides to take a few Alexander Technique lessons, and there’s no ‘type’ of person. To become a certified Alexander Technique teacher, you enter an Alexander Technique training…

“Stand up straight!” “Pull your shoulders back!” As children, we were told to have good posture. Yet we were seldom taught effective ways to accomplish this. Indeed, we were often not even told just what “good posture” is. The consequences of this information gap can be seen all around us: stiff necks, shoulders hunched forward or pulled tightly back, restricted breathing, and tightness in the thighs, legs and ankles. Backaches, headaches, and other painful symptoms are often the unfortunate result…

When speaking of musculoskeletal problems, those are five of the most depressing, disheartening, unintentionally cruel and very often untrue words a health professional can say….as an Alexander Technique teacher in NYC, part of my job is to help people reverse or prevent damage, and I see back pain, neck pain etc. minimized and eliminated all the time, every day. People get better, and better, and better. The power of the human body (and mind, and spirit) to rejuvenate is well known. People start the healing process the minute they stop hurting themselves. The Alexander Technique teaches you how to stop hurting yourself; how to stop the damage, so you can start getting better…

When you learn to drive you are taught to grip the steering wheel at ten and two, unless you’re thinking of a digital clock; then it gets confusing. If you weren’t taught by an Alexander Technique teacher, you likely weren’t taught how to grip the steering wheel, how little muscular effort is needed, or how to stop gripping in other parts of your body while driving. I observed that for highway driving I could get away with keeping my hands comfortably lower; perhaps around 4:35, give or take a few minutes. I also noticed, whenever I became aware, I could release tension in my hands. Once I released that extra effort I was able to notice tension elsewhere, including my jaw and my neck, and release that unneeded tension too. Moving up and away from my hands…