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What makes someone take that first step in having Alexander lessons? Curiosity? Pain? Desire to improve in our area in expertise beyond technique? All of the above?
The Alexander Technique is still growing and is not yet as well known as other complimentary therapies, such as Pilates, Yoga or Tai Chi. I often get people asking me what it is, and I tell them it is a way of moving and doing every day activities (such as sitting at a desk, walking, playing music, etc) without creating unnecessary tension on the body. They ask if it's a bit like physio, then.
errr...... no.
Society these days is so fast moving, so high pressure, that people put their health on hold to make way for their career. Let's take Claire as an example. Claire tells herself she can handle it, she's still young, and she'll be fine as long as she make the deadline or gets a good mark in her exam. Then she finds herself suffering from back pain. Now what? She goes to the doctor, and makes time in her already busy schedule for physiotherapy, massage and exercise. But it doesn't help. She still can't sit for too long, has terrible pain in her back and ends up with stiff a neck and shoulders. Soon it gets the point where she's seen all the specialists but still finds herself needing entire days off work because of the pain. Then what does she do? It's a scary thought.
Then someone mentions this thing called the Alexander Technique. It's all about posture and stuff, apparently. Changing your everyday habits. But what do they actually DO? It takes how long??
Claire now finds herself at a cross roads. Down one road, she can turn her back on the technique. She's used to saying "I'm broken, fix me", and isn't ready to help herself. She can't acknowledge that it may be something she's been doing herself that is causing her pain, and that it's up to her to change it. Claire continues on in life struggling through with back pain seeing her chiropractors and/or physiotherapists. Will she get better? Maybe.
But what about the other road? What if they make that phone call and book their first lesson?
So many people have come to the Alexander Technique as a last resort and found relief. They realised that there are things they can do to help themselves. They can take control of their body which so often takes control of their pain. They find an Alexander teacher and along with them a safe place where they have permission to leave the busy world outside and stop and breathe, giving them the chance to discover an awareness of their body, and tension they didn't know they had. They can learn to release that tension, ready to face the world head-on without compromising their health.
So now I ask one final question:
Are you ready to help yourself?
