But what is often left out of the equation is attention to way older people use their bodies - not just what activities they do, but how well they do them. All too often, harmful habits of posture and movement that may have become an inconvenience in one's 40s and 50s become serious impediments to physical functioning in later years.
I used to live a block from a large medical office building where, each morning as I walked by, older patients would emerge from cars and cabs. Many of these patients moved very, very stiffly. Some had necks that were so tight that they could not even turn their head from side to side.
From my teaching experience, I know that most of them felt no discomfort in their neck. The messages from their neck muscles to their brain had long ago been shut down - an efficient procedure one's body adapts if there no longer seems any possibility that the person will take appropriate remedial action.
What my older students often do notice is that they tend to have shortness of breath, restricted movement ability and poor balance. Those are usually the reasons they've decided to take Alexander Technique lessons. But they were generally unaware, before taking lessons, of the actual cause of many of these problems - the general tightness in their bodies, particularly in their necks.
In my own teaching experience, I've found that older adults are often able to make dramatic changes in these patterns, despite their long-standing nature. I believe that's mainly because the ones who explore methods like the Alexander Technique are often highly motivated to improve their functioning.
In this regard it's interesting to note that some of F. Matthias Alexander's students (Alexander was the originator of the Technique) were middle aged and older when they first started taking lessons. George Bernard Shaw as 86 and Professor John Dewey, America's most famous philosopher and educator, was in his late 50s. Alexander himself was 86 when he died, and he had been actively teaching until a few days before his death.
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