Applied Alexander Technique Blog

Hello my friends,

A recent article in the New York Times (6/24/11) makes the connection between posture and pain. Low back pain is all too common in the United States, affecting some 80% of Americans at one time or another in their lifetime. Mary Ann Wilmarth, chief of physical therapy at Harvard University Health Services, says “Posture is the key."

For better posture, the Times recommends the Alexander Technique, a method that not only improves posture, but also reduces tension and pain.

“The majority of back pain is the result of muscle and ligament strain or weakness, and can often be prevented by developing core strength and proper posture,” said Dr. Daniel Mazanec, associate director of the Center for Spine Health at the Cleveland Clinic. A study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2008; 337:a884) showed 86% reduction in pain through 24 lessons in the Alexander Technique alone. Study results were measured a year after the study began, showing lasting results six months after the lessons ended.

Continue reading " NY Times: for Better Posture/Less Back Pain try Alexander Technique " »

Hello my friends,

If you're still not clear about how this method for standing up straight without "standing up straight" works, take a look at this quick video.

Lisa Lutton gives a great demo about how thinking differently connects with posture and feeling better.

On WWWL TV:

One day, I visited the training course and received a gift from a visit six months earlier when I had visited before. One of the trainees on the course read me a poem she wrote from that earlier time.

Attentive yet detached,
Simple, gentle yet powerful,
Doing by non-doing,
Invisible and visible meet
Mysteriously in the
Empty hand…

Naturally at ease in her touch,
She creates a vast space
In which I can breathe
Peacefully and freely...

--Yuko Okada

I am humbled...and grateful. Thank you, Yuko.

Namaste,

Dana