The Alexander Technique

My work is starting up an 8 week course of the Alexander Technique, just wondering if anyone has any experiences of it? Does it really help your posture a lot?

Reply 1

ambiguous

well load of rubbish in my opinion. Have done it before, and it didn't help at all. waste of money, if your paying, and waste of time if your not.

Reply 2

Zoecb

What is your work?

Unless you're an actor or musician or dancer or something I don't see why an 8 week course of it would be useful...

Reply 3

jellybaby1

I've had one Alexander technique lesson, it was an introductory session in a group. In my opinion it didn't do anything to benefit me really, although it was just the one lesson. I didn't think it told me anything that you couldn't work out for yourself and was a bit of a waste of money.

Reply 4

tommorris

From my reading of the evidence, it's somewhat effective compared to no treatment, but has very little advantage over just having an ordinary massage.

That said, I'm not totally sure that one can appropriately assess it based on it's clinical evidence, as it is also supposed to be an educational technique primarily, not a health thing.

See Wikipedia.

Reply 5

steelmole

I've heard it's really good for trumpet playing, the sort of thing where being tense in lots of odd places gives you loads of problems. For general posture and the likes I doubt it's worth it.

Reply 6

IB-more

I love Alexander Technique. I think there's a lot of merit to it if you're an actor, in some sort art, or you just have to use your body in order to make a living. I took some classes in it as a part of a conservatory-style acting class I was in, and I found the whole thing beneficial.

As you go through life, you learn to hold tension in really random places in your body. It's nice to take a good look at the way you move and live and get rid of any excess tension that you don't need. Then, you won't be as tired at night, and more energized in the morning. My teacher and some others have told me that they're much happier after going through some Alexander Tech, and they all seem to recommend it highly.

Reply 7

Create

i would echo zackinbaltimore's post.
Being a musician, I've found it particularly useful. Playing for a while used to leave me achey and in pain. The vast majority of that has been released since learning and using the Alexander Technique.
Is there anything in particular you were thinking of using it for?