Pilates, Alexander and the Usefulness of Exercises

F. Matthias Alexander, the founder of the Alexander Technique, also had very strong views on the subject of exercises. Indeed at the start of his first book, "Man's Supreme Inheritance", he spends several pages on this very topic. I think it's fair to summarize his views by saying that in his view exercises had, at best, very limited value. More often than not they led to harm. In his view, most people who took up a fitness program (in his day, it often was termed "physical culture") did so without taking the time to learn how to use their bodies well. As a consequence, they took their old, harmful, habits of posture and movement with them as they exercised.

Worse yet, most people doing strenuous exercises tend to exaggerate their harmful habitual patterns. You can easily see this for yourself by looking a any group of joggers or runners--you'll see lots of examples of heads pulled back onto tight necks, hunched shoulders and pained facial expressions. If you were to observe these people while they were walking, you might see some of the same patterns, but in a muted form.

Today, most Alexander Technique teachers would probably agree that Alexander went a little too far in his condemnation of exercises. Indeed, there are Alexander teachers today who specialize in working with students doing specific athletic activities like running, swimming, cycling, etc. However, there is still a very strong emphasis on how one uses his or her body when exercising. That's an emphasis I believe Pilates would endorse wholeheartedly.

Robert Rickover teachers the Alexander Technique in Lincoln, Nebraska and in Toronto, Canada. His website, The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique at http://www.alexandertechnique.com is a comprehensive source of information about the Alexander Technique.

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