Improve Your Posture with the Alexander Technique

Mothers, teachers, mentors, and acting instructors across homes and classes are familiar with the “Sit up straight!” mantra to their children and students. Posture is incredibly important for adequate spinal alignment, sufficient breathing, and also evens out tension often held within the neck and back. With back, neck, and shoulder injuries ever-rising, we can all benefit from posture improvement, breathing technique, and learning to release stress and strain from our bodies.

The Alexander Technique was developed by F.Matthias Alexander in the 1890’s, and is a posture and muscle-control technique that helps to align, center, and control the body easily and naturally . After practicing for a period of sesions, this becomes effortless. The Alexander Technique is a way to apply pressure and overall adjustment in a natural, and almost holistic sense, as it allows the body to remain in a completely balanced state of ‘rest’ yet while it is still moving and alert. This state of both physical and mental well-being is one of positivity, relaxation, and clear alertness. An improvement in overall posture is a natural outcome.

Starting in early childhood, we learn to adapt to various situations, circumstances, and physical environments given our natural genetic structure, and our ability to learn movement. As time progresses, habits truly do dictate how well and how completely our bodies learn. The natural poise of a baby cannot be denied, as it is the most comfortable and efficient form of human alignment. As we grow older, we often over-use a particular set or group of muscles. Over-extending a particular muscle, or group of muscles, will cause you to adapt to that stance even if you are not functioning in an optimal and physically balanced state.