SOME TESTIMONIALS TO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

  • A flute player …

    who could no longer play due to shoulder pain is able to play again, and was applauded on tremendously improved breath support.

  • A dancer …

    who couldn't stabilize their rear ankle, when they stopped working so hard and released their leg into length, the ankle was suddenly solid and still.

  • A medical professional …

    wasn't taken seriously by colleagues because they weren't a doctor or nurse. When posture improved, so did poise and presence, and suddenly they were being treated with respect in the workplace.

  • A student …

    asked if I dealt with TMJ. I said I'd worked with it but had no special knowledge. They came for a lesson and I noticed their arm was incredibly tight; it had been shattered in an accident. It took only a few minutes to guide them to release some of that tension, and the pain in their jaw went away.

  • A person living with Parkinson’s Disease …

    not only used the technique to help improve posture and balance, but was subsequently able to control hemi-facial spasms!

  • A guitarist wrote …

    Thanks for working on my hand and arm yesterday. It really helped. My fingers, wrist, and forearm feel looser and more relaxed. I've been walking around with tension in my arm and fingers without realizing it. A number of times you told me to look outside of myself, letting my eyes lead the way. I need to do the same for myself. I need to get out of my shell into the world.

  • A dancer wrote …

    I so enjoyed working with you today .. it was wonderful to re-connect with my balance actually on the dance floor. It is so easy to lose it in the midst of all the technique one is endeavoring to incorporate! I felt the power go into my legs just by releasing the neck and hips. Very encouraging.

  • After a first session …

    The session has already made a world of difference!!  I have incorporated what I learned into driving, sitting at my desk, and standing.  I know I have a lot farther to go but the changes in daily aches and pain have been incredible.

  • A double bass player wrote …

    I'd been having a lot of trouble with chronic back and shoulder pain while playing the double bass. I went to two chiropractors and physical therapy with no relief. Finally I tried Alexander Technique and it gave me immense relief. I don't feel pain anymore when I play. I don't know how I would have made it through 3 hours of opera/ day + practicing for juries last week and a concert today without the Alexander lessons. I used to have pain after practicing my upright bass for 1/2 hour. I can practice so much now that my mind is fatigued before my body! Thank you so much. -Melissa Holland Kagiyama, musician/bassist

  • A film producer wrote …

    I think the most remarkable difference has been working with Dana Ben-Yehuda, who practices the Alexander Technique. I have to say that this has been life-changing and the key to keeping me pain-free. I still have a long way to go, as it is a gradual learning process, but Dana has taught me a new level of awareness about how I move to do really anything, and to recognize patterns of movement that can cause or aggravate pain or tension to recur. I've been learning how to change certain habits and my posture, often making very subtle adjustments, which is keeping me in a good place. I whole-heartedly recommend Dana.

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

The Alexander Technique is a proven method to help reduce pain and stress.  Although the Technique is educational and not therapy, it is found in many rehabilitation programs to help heal injury and recuperate from surgery. The Alexander Technique is also a vital part of the curriculum of many universities and conservatories both here and abroad, and is made available to employees of select companies and corporations.

The purpose of the study of the Alexander Technique is to get in touch with our natural postural habits of movement and expression that have always been a part of each of us. During the course of a lesson, the teacher will, through verbal and hands on instruction, help the pupil contact a feeling of ease, lightness and connection perhaps not experienced since childhood. The student begins to recognize that movement and expression are within our control, and therefore we are able to determine the amount of tension and muscular activity applied to any task. Through a study of the Technique, we learn to use our energy more efficiently, and stresses and strains that may have led to discomfort and pain, begin to go away. 

As we study the Alexander Technique, we learn there are many ways to go about our activities no matter what they may be. With new found awareness we become open to the alternatives of our life routines without unnecessary pain and stress. It is with this understanding that we learn to use only the effort we truly need for any activity.

THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE AT WORK

A summary by Dana Ben-Yehuda

The core principles of the Alexander Technique help you return to the upright posture you were born with, but often lose along the way:

1 – The Force of Habit

-          The first step is Awareness – how do you move? Have you gradually picked up poor habits?

-          How do you carry yourself? Are habits that you may not even feel at the root of your poor posture and pain?

-          An Alexander teacher is trained to observe your habits. They help you retrain harmful habits, release excess tension and move with ease.

2 – Inhibition

-          In Alexander terms it means to refrain from doing the intended action. It is not agreeing to move by habit.

-          Pausing (Inhibition) gives you freedom to choose how you do what you do rather than reacting habitually. It’s equally applicable in movement and in human interaction.

-          As you begin to move through expansion and length, you regain upright, natural movement and good posture.

3 – Primary Control

-          Relationship of the Head, Neck and Spine

-          F.M. Alexander discovered that the head-spine coordination is the key factor in good movement and coordination. This is true for all vertebrates – all animals with a spine.

-          Coming back into balance with the head and spine is the essence of good posture.

-          Do you have “text neck?” Does your head and neck poke forward of your body? An Alexander teacher is trained to help you gently return to upright, natural posture.

4 – Direction

-          A way to organize yourself by thinking internally in physical directions in the body.

-          We all prepare for movement –the Alexander Directions promote graceful lines and movement with ease.

-          Runners gather themselves in the moment before the race begins.

-          Golfers take a stance.

-          Dancers organize themselves before the first step.

5 – Mind-Body Unity

-          Alexander Technique is about the connection between thought and muscular activity.

-          The way you think is the way you move.

-          Stress, happiness, fatigue, poor posture, all show up both in mind and body.

-          Learn to think the Alexander Directions and move with ease.