StrengthAndPoise.com

Resources

Audio & Audiovisual Media

Alexander Technique: A Balm for Back Pain? A 4-minute segment on NPR's Morning Edition; both the recording and the transcript are available at this link.

Alexander Technique—Mayo Clinic A 2-minute YouTube video introducing the Technique and showing "table work" (performed, ironically, on the floor).

The Dutch zoologist Dr. Nikolaas Tinbergen devoted a significant portion of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine) to describing F.M. Alexander, the importance of his discovery, and the efficacy of lessons in the Alexander Technique (transcript; video).

Websites

Alexander Technique Science: Peer-Reviewed Research on Mind, Movement, and Posture is devoted to improving scientific understanding of the Alexander Technique. It summarizes, excerpts, and links to research studies on how the Technique works and on its health benefits.

The American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) is the professional organization for teachers of the Alexander Technique. Learn more about the Technique, purchase books and DVDs, and find more links and resources at this website.

The Alexander Technique Training Center (ATTC) in Newton, MA (USA) is one of the world's premier training programs for teachers of the Alexander Technique. In addition to its full-time teacher-training program, ATTC offers workshops and other continuing education opportunities for beginning and established Alexander teachers. This is where Elaine trained to be an Alexander teacher.

Articles

A 2008 British Medical Journal study shows an 86% reduction in chronic or recurrent back pain and a 42% reduction in back-pain-related physical disability as a consequence of lessons in the Alexander Technique. The beneficial effects on pain and functioning are long-term, being observable 12 months after the lessons.

The April 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine includes an article about the Technique entitled "A Dramatic Cure for Back Pain".

This 2014 Huffington Post article offers a taste of what it's like to have increased body awareness in daily life, and includes a helpfully demonstrative (if somewhat corny) video: "Actors Swear By This Mindful Movement Practice. Here's How You Can Benefit From It, Too".

The world-renowned alternative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil describes the Technique on his website.

Books

Change Your Posture, Change Your Life: How the Alexander Technique Can Combat Back Pain, Tension and Stress, by Richard Brennan (2012).

A friendly exploration of the wide-ranging benefits of improved posture. Also gives a sense of what it's like to learn the Alexander Technique and to use it in everyday life.

Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique, by Michael J. Gelb (2nd ed., 1994).

A readable introduction to the Technique that discusses its applications to real-world situations.

The Use of the Self: Its Conscious Direction in Relation to Diagnosis, Functioning and the Control of Reaction, by F. Matthias Alexander (2nd ed., 1942).

The first chapter, entitled "Evolution of a Technique", is accessible to beginning students who are interested in learning about how Alexander discovered his technique.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg (2012).

The first part of this book, entitled "The Habits of Individuals", illustrates the force of our habits and offers examples of how specific pernicious habits were stopped.

The Alexander Technique teaches a person how, in the most general sense, to replace bad habits with good ones; the scientifically sound methods explored in this book are simply built into the pedagogy of the Technique.

Eminent individuals who've used the Technique

Scientists and intellectuals

Dr. Nikolaas Tinbergen, zoologist, recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Sir Charles Sherrington, neurophysiologist, recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

John Dewey, American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer

Aldous Huxley, writer and philosopher

Musicians

Paul McCartney, Sting, Sir Colin Davis, Yehudi Menuhin

Actors

Lupita Nyong'o, Juliette Binoche, John Cleese, Judi Dench, James Earl Jones, Ben Kingsley, Kevin Kline, Hilary Swank, Kerry Washington

Others

Moshe Feldenkrais (originator of the Feldenkrais Method), Terri Gross (host of NPR's Fresh Air), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

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