The Alexander Technique
The Alexander technique teaches you to be more aware of your body, improves posture and helps you move more efficiently. It can help people with Parkinson’s to manage their symptoms and carry out everyday tasks more effectively, as well as giving people the tools for self-management and self-care.
Loretta Manson has been teaching the Alexander technique for 11 years and has a special interest in Parkinson’s. Here, she tells us more about the technique.
What happens during an Alexander technique lesson?
The technique is ideally taught on a one-to-one basis, with lessons usually lasting around 45 minutes.
I use gentle, hands-on guidance and verbal coaching to help the person I’m working with become more aware of, and avoid, patterns of compression and tension when they are sitting, standing still, or in simple movements like walking or moving into and out of a chair. We can then apply this approach to any activity someone would like help with, such as tying shoelaces, lifting a kettle, gardening or writing.
For example, if someone wanted to learn to stand from their chair more easily, we’d first pause to bring their attention to things such as how their weight can rest through the contact of their sitting bones on the seat and their feet on the floor. We consider the length and natural curves of the spine, how and where the weight of the head is balanced, and how to move the body freely by pivoting at the hip joints. Eventually, we’ll take this movement into rising from the chair.
By slowing down and switching our attention to how we do what we do, we can learn first to notice, then to interrupt patterns of excessive tension and collapse throughout the body.
Lessons may also include a rest period, when the person I’m teaching lies flat on their back, with their knees bent and head supported by some books. This can become a vital part of a person’s daily self-care routine for easing both mind and body. It often helps with neck and back pain, not to mention your mood!
How has the technique benefitted the people with Parkinson's you've worked with?
After lessons, people with Parkinson’s say they feel steadier on their feet, are able to sit or stand comfortably for longer, and are able to participate more fully in social interactions and other activities they enjoy.
The technique involves rethinking our automatic reactions so that we can exercise more choice in the way we go about things. Learning to do things with less stress and tension can have a profound effect on our physical and emotional wellbeing.
How can someone with Parkinson’s get the most out of the Alexander technique?
A course of 20 to 30 lessons gives a good basic grounding in the technique, and we can start to make helpful changes from the first session.
The technique can be used to help you anytime, anywhere, at rest or during activity. It can be applied in the simplest everyday situations like waiting in a queue or even brushing your teeth.
The way we hold ourselves and move have developed over many years, and as with other habits, patience is needed to change them. Fortunately, most people find their Alexander lessons both valuable and enjoyable.