The New York Times recently featured a report from the British Medical Journal confirming the effectiveness of The Alexander Technique in helping people overcome back pain.

Born in Tasmania in 1869, F. Matthias Alexander was a Shakespearean actor specializing in one-man shows of tragedy and comedy. His promising career was interrupted by a tendency to lose his voice in the middle of performances. Alexander consulted the leading doctors, speech therapists and drama coaches of his day, carefully following their advice. Nothing helped. The average person would have given up and tried another line of work. Instead, Alexander resolved to overcome his problem on his own, reasoning that something he was doing — with and to — himself, was causing the problem. But how could he discover the specific cause?

Alexander realized that he must find a way to get objective feedback. He began to observe himself in specially constructed mirrors. After many months of detailed and thorough observation, he noticed a pattern. Whenever he attempted to recite, he contracted his neck muscles, thereby pulling back his head. This led to a tendency to distort his whole body and gasp for breath.

Noticing that this pattern of misuse began to manifest the moment he thought of reciting, Alexander realized that the key to unlearning it was to pause before reciting, thus preventing his habitual pattern of contraction. He would then mentally focus on the lengthening and expanding directions he wanted his body to follow instead – for example: “Let the neck be free, to allow the head to go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen.” Alexander, creating an Australian version of a Zen koan, emphasized that these directions were to be projected “all together, one after the other.”

Repeated practice of this new method produced dramatic results. Alexander not only regained full control of his voice, he also recovered from a number of persistent health problems and became famous on the stage for the quality of his voice, breathing and general stage presence.

People began to flock to Alexander for lessons, among them, a group of doctors who had an amateur theatrical company. The doctors began to send their patients with chronic problems, stress ailments, breathing problems, back and neck pain to Alexander. Alexander was able to assist these people in a surprising number of instances by helping them to learn a new coordination of mind and body.

The doctors were so impressed by Alexander’s work that in 1904 they sponsored his trip to London so he could share his work with the international scientific community. He arrived in London and soon became known as the “protector of the London theater,” giving lessons to leading actresses and actors of the day.

Alexander also influenced many notable figures in other fields including Professor Raymond Dart, Nobel Prize winners Sir Charles Sherrington and Nicholas Tinbergen, Sir Aldous Huxley, and “The Father of Progressive Education” John Dewey. Before Alexander died in 1955 he trained a number of individuals to continue his work. For many years the technique has been taught at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Royal Academy of Music, The Julliard School, and other top academies for musicians, actors and dancers. The technique is a “trade secret” of performing artists including luminaries such as Paul Newman, Mary Steenburgen, Sting, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul McCartney, and John Cleese.

For more information:

Body Learning: An Introduction To The Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique Workshops International