The Alexander technique is not just a method for resolving postural problems — it also becomes an opportunity for a journey of personal growth and self-awareness.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century in Australia, a young actor at the height of his career, Frederick Matthias Alexander, began experiencing problems with his voice, while realising that these could not be attributed directly to any dysfunction of the vocal organ itself. By observing himself carefully through a series of mirrors, he became aware that certain faulty postural habits, consolidated over time, were interfering with the use of his vocal apparatus and were therefore the cause of his problem.
He went on to develop a technique of conscious movement re-education that bore fruit not only in the actor's vocal production but also in his posture, breathing, and capacity for coordination and learning.
The aim of the Alexander technique is to rediscover the "primary control" — that is, the occipital connection between the head, neck and spine. This capacity for alignment is present in human beings from birth but tends to change involuntarily over time as a result of emotional and environmental factors.
Even very young children often adopt a squatting position yet are able to return to an upright stance in a completely natural and correct way, thanks to the primary control they retain unaltered for a long time. At least until the age of twelve, they should be allowed freedom of movement without any postural restriction.
Unfortunately, as a result of fixed positions at school and later at work, situations of stress, or errors in everyday habits — for instance when we read a book, or watch television or our mobile phone — we involuntarily abandon this natural capacity for alignment and consolidate incorrect habits.
The method was explained in detail by Dr Paolo Frigoli, an Alexander technique teacher since 1992, during a series of meetings held from 18 to 20 May at the Alexander Technique Academy in Coccaglio, in the province of Brescia — a school he founded in 2015 to promote the teaching of this method. Joining him for the occasion was Galen Cranz, a certified Alexander technique teacher, who shared her personal testimony on the importance of this method.
Cranz, a professor of architecture at the University of California Berkeley, has lived since a young age with a form of scoliosis for which, initially, medical treatment and surgery seemed inevitable. This led her to search for an alternative solution and to discover the Alexander technique, which accompanied her through a delicate journey of recovery and towards a different vision of herself.
It is a re-educative technique consisting of gentle manipulation and verbal guidance through which the therapist helps the individual to organise the use of their musculature more effectively. Gradually, excessive tension is released, the ability to realign the head, neck and back is restored, and considerable benefit to breathing is experienced. In this way, the tendency to compress and shorten oneself is replaced by the capacity to lengthen and expand.
Frederick Alexander maintained that "use affects functioning," and that returning to an optimal system of movement is therefore fundamental to keeping the whole body in good health.
During sessions, simple guided actions are carried out — such as sitting down, standing up, walking or lying down — making the individual aware of the accumulation of tension used to perform certain movements. One learns not to involve unnecessary parts of the body in executing a desired movement, inhibiting the superfluous gestures that have become an integral part of our habitual way of moving and that over time create tension, pain and stiffness. Every movement is thought through before it is performed, with mind and body consciously united in the action.
The re-educative process is intentionally slow, precisely to allow incorrect habits and patterns to be replaced with correct ones, to reawaken primary control, and to develop a genuine power of choice over movement — a power that can transform into a power of choice in life more broadly.
This method is certainly indicated for all people who suffer from back pain with severe tension in the neck and shoulders, or for people with specific conditions such as scoliosis, hyperkyphosis, hyperlordosis and Scheuermann's syndrome. In practice, it can benefit all people who are compelled to sit for long periods — office workers, vehicle drivers, students, or warehouse workers who risk lifting weights incorrectly. The technique is also excellent for musicians, actors, those who practise horse riding or dance, those who play sports such as tennis, football, golf and archery, as well as housewives, bricklayers and women during pregnancy.
The scientific validity of the method in the fields of education, prevention and therapy was officially recognised in 1973 when the biologist and ornithologist Nikolaas Tinbergen received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine and ethology. During his acceptance speech he declared: "I recommend the Alexander method as a very sophisticated form of rehabilitation … many conditions of malfunctioning and even disorders, both physical and mental, can be alleviated, sometimes strikingly so, by teaching the musculature to function differently." In short, one might well say that the Alexander technique is recommended for absolutely everyone.