12/07/2018
This important Australian innovation turns 150 in January!
Have you heard of an important Australian innovation that has been teaching people around the world to reduce pain, improve movement and posture and to breathe better? It has been used by Sting, Paul McCartney, Hugh Jackman, Judi Dench to help them reduce tension and perform at their best. Test Cricketer Greg Chappell has learnt it. Aldous Huxley wrote a book about it. Many famous celebrities including scientists, medical people, politicians and sportspeople over the last one hundred and twenty years have studied this method for improving posture and movement. So why don’t we know about it?
What is it? It’s the Alexander Technique. It’s all thanks to an Australian called Frederick Matthias Alexander. Alexander Technique teachers from around the world are commemorating Alexander’s 150th birthday this January. They are gathering at his birthplace in Wynyard Tasmania to celebrate the achievements and ground-breaking movement discoveries of this famous Australian innovator.
A simple health education technique
The last thing that most people think about when they are suffering from a long-standing pain condition is that they might be aggravating things by the way they move and take breath during their normal activities. Alexander Technique teachers show their pupils how movement and breathing can be subtly changed to reduce harmful pressure that can exacerbate chronic pain. Many people have been impressed over the years that some simple education can have such a positive effect on their health, their movement and their posture.
Famous medical professor Nikolaas Tinbergen related, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, that he was surprised to discover for himself that many types of under-performance and even ailments, both physical and mental, can be alleviated, sometimes to a surprising extent, using Alexander Technique.
A revolutionary model of movement
“Alexander’s observations of movement provide us with a revolutionary model of movement”, says past Chairman of the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AUSTAT) Michael Shellshear. “With just a few lessons, people learn to move in a better way. The human body has the potential to organise its movements in a synchronised way. When this occurs, movement becomes effortless and easy, muscle tension reduces, everything seems easier.”
Studies carried out in England have shown that a series of lessons in the Alexander Technique can help chronic pain sufferers reduce the number of pain days that they experience over a long period of time.”
“Alexander Technique doesn’t cure anything. It’s not medicine, it’s education”, he said. “The more information people have about their movement and posture, the more they can make changes that reduce overall tension levels in their body. It’s a form of self-management that can be used to reduce the incidence and severity of long held pain conditions and movement problems.”
