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Common Misconceptions about the Alexander Technqiue

© Robert Rickover

When the subject of the Alexander Technique comes up in conversation, I've found that people who have heard about it often have a very distorted idea of what it's all about. This is not surprising because the Technique is concerned with the quality of how our body functions as we go through life. And for the most part, our culture tends to emphasize what we do rather than how we do it.

Here are some of the most common misconceptions about the Alexander Technique I've run across:

1. The Alexander Technique is a type of physical therapy designed to take care of things like back pain, stiff necks and shoulders etc.

It's certainly true that many people take Alexander lessons because they are in pain and have been told the Technique can help them. And a great many are helped. But Alexander Technique teachers are very careful to present our work as being educational in nature; we teach people how they can become more sensitive to messages their body is sending them, and how they can respond in a useful and constructive manner.

Put another way, we show our students precisely what they are inadvertently doing to themselves that gets in the way of their natural functioning - and then how they can sit, stand, move and perform their daily activities without unnecessary and harmful tension in their bodies.

Relief from pain often comes about when this excess tension is released, but an Alexander Technique teacher has no way of predicting just how and when this will occur - or, for that matter, offer an absolute guarantee that it will happen.

Sometimes, in fact, a pupil has "therapeutic" benefits they never anticipated. They may have come for lessons because of back pain and discover that their asthma symptoms have abated.

2. The Alexander Technique is really only for performers.

Again, it's true that musicians, actors and dancers constitute a sizable proportion of Alexander Technique students - perhaps as many as half for some teachers. And Alexander teachers often teach in schools of music, drama and dance.

But the Technique has always been used by people from all sorts of occupations. Among my current students is a carpenter, a dentist, a massage therapist, a university professor and an accountant.

Performers are attracted to the Alexander Technique because the quality of how their body functions directly influences the quality of their performance. Also many performers, especially musicians and dancers, are in pain because of the demanding nature of their work.

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