Did you know…that a unique and practical method of moment called the Alexander Technique has been shown to help alleviate tension headaches naturally, as well as ease back pain, tennis elbow—and even asthma, sleep disorders and lethargy?
If you watch toddlers playing, you will notice that they move with ease: spines straight, joints free and large heads balanced easily on their small necks.
It doesn’t take long, however, before unawareness settles in, and the body’s innate ability to move freely is restricted by deficient movement patterns and habits—the effect of years of built-up muscle tension.
Reclaiming your freedom of movement is really a matter of reclaiming awareness, reeducating your body and releasing undesirable tension.
Joint and muscle problems are not permanent. Neither are health conditions such as asthma, migraines or chronic fatigue syndrome. The Alexander Technique allows you to take command of your health and healing by first pinpointing, and then unlearning the damaging habits that have collected over time.
This simple method teaches natural movement patterns to use in your daily activities—everything from pouring coffee to working at your computer. It is a wonderful, natural alternative to expensive drugs, chiropractic visits or surgeries.
The Head/Spine Relationship
The Alexander Technique is based on the importance of the head/spine relationship. Ideally, the head balances lightly on the spine, a position that guides the torso and spine upward, lengthening and strengthening posture.
But if overworked, the neck muscles compress, affecting coordination, posture and balance. When your muscles are chronically strained, your overall health becomes dangerously compromised.
How the Alexander Technique Dissolves Chronic Pain
Chronic pain can develop as a result of a particular activity, but Alexander Technique practitioners ask: is the pain due to the activity, or due to the way we perform that activity? For instance, tennis elbow isn’t just caused from playing a lot of tennis, but from poor technique and undue muscle strain.
An Alexander Technique teacher will diagnose the areas in which you hold tension and help readjust your habits. 
Pain is also a result of accumulated and excessive muscle tension that increases gradually until it reaches a maximum threshold, manifesting as back pain from a herniated disc, sciatica, tension headaches, migraines or joint pain.
Why do we tense our muscles? As part of the fight-or-flight response. Muscle tension alleviates some of the pain because it dulls sensation, but it also restricts circulation and movement, and overtime our tissue, joints and muscles deteriorate.
The Alexander Technique will release years of pent up tension, and keep future tension at bay. A 1988 British Study of chronic pain victims found the Alexander Technique to be the most effective treatment for long-term pain relief.
The Alexander Technique as a Treatment for Asthma
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Center have overturned conventional beliefs about what causes asthmatic attacks. Traditional theory held that asthma was a reaction to environmental stimulants such as dust, pollen and pollution. A new study finds that what differentiates an asthmatic from a non-asthmatic is actually how well one is able to breath after an attack.
Scientists administered an inhalant drug to non-asthma sufferers and asked them not to breath deep. Subjects reacted in a similar manner to asthmatics. Lead researcher Dr. Alkis Tongias explains, “This is just the reaction we would expect if asthma is caused by an impairment of muscle relaxation (in the lungs) triggered by deep breaths.”
Since its development in 1903 by F. Matthias Alexander (known as the “breathing man”) the Alexander Technique has been helping people around the world reclaim full use of their breathing mechanisms.
To discover more about the Alexander Technique or to find a practitioner near you, visit www.alexandertechnique.com.
