The most definitive definition of the Alexander Technique (AT) can be found in the writings of F. M. Alexander. His most popular book is The Use of the Self.
Or can go to Wikipedia, but this is written by a consensus of people with unclear knowledge. On can go to may of the online definitions written by Alexander Technique teachers. The pitfall here is that contemporary teachers might be defining the technique in simplistic terms that makes the AT sound appealing to a prospective student.
A traditional way of explaining the AT is to describe it's origins. F.M. Alexander lived between 1869 and 1955. He was a professional actor and reciter. As he became successful he began to lose his voice. He consulted with medical professionals and no significant underlying pathology was noted. He was told to rest, and this seemed to help initially. But when he resumed performing his problems reoccurred. Along with this physicians, he deduced that he must be doing something wrong while performing. He set up mirrors so that he could observe himself. He made observations regarding his actions, his "use", while performing and found correlations between what he was doing and the manifestations of his problems. He observed that his patterns of poor use were nearly universal among others he observed. He distilled his insights and developed a teaching technique to help others. Towards the end of his life he started a teacher training program.
But where is a medical professional, who cares for patients with back pain, to turn for an accurate definition? Where is the sufferer of back pain to turn if they want a complete definition based more on science than metaphor? By no means am I the first to take a stab at this, but most of the definitions that I've read are inadequate. I've tried to define the Technique in my sister blog, but that was written for those interested in the intersection of Zen practice and the AT. In subsequent blogs I'll reference the studies and theories that I'm using to make my claims.
To precisely define the AT, with acknowledgement to modern science, I think it is best to first consider the cause of back pain. Most people believe their back pain is caused by a defect in the condition of the body. That is, there is a lack of strength in some areas of our body, or lack of flexibility or balance, or we are too active, or not active enough. This is the generally held belief despite the fact that no intervention that improves our condition has been found to help in the long term. Another consideration is that there is something wrong with our "use". "Use" is our underlying tendencies to do everything we do in a characteristic fashion. We use our bodies in a variety of tasks but with consistent and observable underlying tendencies. These tendencies tend to shorten and narrow the body.
The Alexander Technique improves this use, but it does not teach one how to stand, sit, walk, bend, or type. Instead it works at the level of our habitual, characteristic patterns that color all our activities. The AT is a educational technique that gives the student the tool to be free from their habits. I want to be quite clear that I am not refering to habits of body only. I am refering to habitual ways of responding to stimuli in a very broad sense. Since habit of body and mind influence every corner of our life, a student can expect global changes. It is not that the technique itself is particularly profound. But the AT produces a wide range of changes because it works with the habitual unconscious ways of responding and these habits govern quite a bit of how we respond to the world. The AT does not claim that it's application will make any specific changes. That specific changes happen are a positive side effect from mastering habits and better use of the self. The AT also does not make any claim other than that it teaches students how to use themselves better. The teacher is an expert in finding defects in use, and helping the student work through barrier to imporve their use. But teacher are not taught to predict what changes improved use will bring. As I'll discuss later, it is not unreasonable to expect much less back pain, anxiety and relief from PTSD.
To go a bit deeper into a definition of the technique, we can consider why people have defects in use. This is a huge topic, but ultimately people use themselves poorly because of their beliefs. The AT teacher is trained to help students let go of beliefs that are related to their poor use patterns. This may sound like some kind of therapy, but typically in a lesson there is not much talking. As opposed to approaching beliefs on a verbal, or intelectual plane, AT appears to be a physical technique because beliefs are approached by gentle touch. Westerners are very "mind centric" and conceive of beliefs as being mental or psychological. But it is a fundamental premise in the Alexander Technique that there is no useful distinction between the mental and physical. Our beliefs are reflected, created, and supported by patterns of habitual shortening and narrowing of our bodies. These patterns color how we do everything. The AT calls the sum manifestation of these patterns our "use". The AT gives students the tools to alter their habits, lossen the beliefs and change their habitual use patterns.
A classic definition of the AT is that it teaches how to bring reason to bear on our response to stimuli. Habits are by definition not conscious - we are not aware of them. The AT teacher provides two concrete tool for the student to employ in their daily life. The AT teaches, first, how to stop a habitual response. Next, it teaches how to use the conscious, reasoning, thinking mind to direct ourselves to a new and improved way of responding. To support and clarify these tools the student is also provided with several principles over a course of instruction. The AT is a way to replace subconscious responses with conscious direction. It teaches how to replacing habit with reason. The AT improves the use of the self.
The AT is about change but the end result is not clear. Habits are known to us, are predictable and if not comfortable then reassuring. Habits are the 'known'. But they are also restricting and by nature prevent change, growth and progress. The AT shows how to move from the known to the unknown.
The AT improves the use of the self. Those who practice the tools of the technique have less pain, less anxiety, etc as a byproduct of the improved use. Imagine a nutrition referral, would taking the advice of a nutritionist treat obesity? No, but it it not unreasonable to assume that taking the advice of a nutritionist will lead to global improvements including helping with obesity. Improved use is every bit as important as eating well.
It is absolutely essential to understand that the AT is an educational process - emphatically not a therapeutic modality. It requires the active participation of the student (not "patient"), and it requires diligents, effort, interest and homework. The AT model is not dissimilar to the music teacher who see students for individual lessons for 1/2 to one hour lesson. Generally, student progress faster with more than one lesson per week initially. How many lessons is needed is unclear but studies generally involve six to 24 lessons, but traditionally more than 24 are recommended.
This has been an attempt to define the AT from a variety of angles. The next post will be to try to define the AT in a way more comfortable to the scientist or medical professional.
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