Category Archives: General

Marilyn Monroe and the Alexander Technique

Marilyn Monroe may well have learned the Alexander Technique!

She certainly owned and read a good part of at least one of F M Alexander’s books,

‘Man’s Supreme Inheritance‘. Marilyn must have been quite serious about reading it, as she made notes in the margins of many of the pages.

It is always good to hear of well-known people that have learned the Technique, particularly when it is one of the world’s most easily recognised, glamorous icons such as Marilyn Monroe. She was always so poised, even in her stilettos and learning the Technique may well have helped her cope with the problems wearing such shoes can cause.

This photo shows her relaxing, bright eyed, alert and happy.

Marilyn left a bookmark in page 157 of Man’s Supreme Inheritance, indicating that other aspects of the Technique were also of interest to her. One section that was marked is where F M Alexander discusses how our ability to be able to allow changes in our point of view is important if we want to bring about changes in ourselves :

“…in both instances all depends on the point of view, we cannot be surprised that the mere promise to reform is usually futile, and we must furthermore realize that a changed point of view is the royal road to reformation.”

Change involves deeper aspects of ourselves that we often wish not to acknowledge. It is interesting that Marilyn was exploring such issues.

Care to follow in her footsteps? Why not try the Technique out?

Yoga Aids Back Pain – but not as much as 24 Alexander Lessons

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University of York Research Finds Yoga Aids Chronic Back Pain

More good news for back pain sufferers and for complementary therapists! Another interesting research trial at the University of York, funded by Arthritis Research UK, has found that yoga helped people with back pain more than conventional GP treatment.

These results were then compared with the findings of the ATEAM Trial into treatments for chronic back pain (in which the Alexander Technique was found to be more effective than either massage and GP treatment) and it was found that:

‘The results suggested that the 12-week yoga group programme may improve back function more than exercise and manipulation, cognitive-behaviour treatment and six sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique, but not as much as 24 sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique’.

Interestingly, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique Scientific Research Committee have pointed out that the ATEAM Trial also found significant reductions in pain experienced by the subjects having Alexander lessons, whereas the Yoga Trial did not report a significant level of pain reduction.

It is good that a body of research into the Alexander Technique and other disciplines is growing and that the findings are very encouraging and support our work as Alexander teachers.

As the comment below describes, people who just rely on drugs become habituated to them and then the drug don’t work. Learning techniques such as yoga and the Alexander Technique gives people tools that they can use throughout their lives to improve their body use and to lesson problems such as back pain.

High Heels are Damaging Women

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‘A Modern Torture’ is how Polly Vernon describes the wearing and ‘Invasion of the Killer Heels’ in The Times Magazine on 22.10.11. It’s a excellent article to read, with graphic illustrations of famous women falling off their high heels in public.

You can see an X Ray photo of a foot coping with being in a stiletto here.

As an Alexander Teacher, I have worked with several women who have back pain and problematic feet because of distortions in their posture which have mainly been created by wearing high heels continually.

The good news is, it is possible to undo a great deal of the damage, if women are willing to give up wearing high heels all the time and learn to use their bodies differently, by having Alexander Technique lessons.

You can read more in my article on Back Pain and High Heels

Degas and Movement

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Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement

For anyone who is interested in movement, the use of the body and in dance, there is a fascinating Degas exhibition on at the Royal Academy of Arts.

This exploration of Degas’ work looks deeper than the merely chocolate box images of ballet dancers with which he has tended to be associated in recent years. Early film and photographs such as the movement studies by Edweard Muybridge, which Degas may well have known, are also included in the exhibition.

On until 11 December

Venue: Royal Academy of Arts

Challenge Your Habits and Switch Off for Earth Hour

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Switch Off to show you care about Climate Change
27 March 8.30pm

Challenge
your habits and turn off all electrics that are not essential for one
hour. No lights, no TV, no music, no computer…. Have fun and create a different sort of evening for yourself, along with hundreds of people around the world that are joining this WWF campaign. Draw attention to the issues involved with adapting to climate
change and think about what life may be like without our familiar appliances available to us if there are power shortages in the future.

So why am I mentioning this here on my Alexander Technique Blog?

I aim to run my Alexander Technique teaching practise in an environmentally aware way and work towards being as energy efficient as I can, so this falls naturally into my field of awareness.

Also, in Alexander lessons, we are always learning how to let go of habits that don’t serve us and in many ways we all need to do exactly this – let go of many of our habits – in order to reduce our carbon footprints and energy consumption. How often do we leave the tap running, the lights on, or the the TV constantly on, just by habit, even though we are not even using them? What a waste of these valuable resources!

We can inhibit, stop these habits and make simple but important changes in our lives that will help conserve our fragile environment.

As the WWF says – Be Bright, Turn Off the Light!

Further info about WWF Earth Hour:

http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/about_earth_hour/

Dilys Carrington 1915 – 2009

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Dilys Carrington, one of the senior teachers of the Alexander Technique who had lessons and had trained with F M Alexander himself, died peacefully at her home on the 22nd September 2009.

Dilys Jones was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire and later read Mathematics and Psychology at the University of London. For a short period, she was F M Alexander’s secretary at Ashley Place, where Alexander ran his teacher training course and his private teaching practice. Later, Dilys worked as secretary at the Physical Society.

Dilys began taking lessons with FM Alexander in 1938. In 1940 she married Walter Carrington who had graduated from Alexander’s Teacher Training Course in 1939. They had three children.

Dilys also started to train as a teacher with F M Alexander, shortly before his death in 1955. She then completed her training with Walter Carrington. Together, they developed and ran the Constructive Teaching Centre, which is still running today and is the oldest Alexander Technique Teacher Training Course.

Throughout her teaching career, Dilys was an active and influential member of STAT, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique and was a member of the STAT Council for a number of years.

Dilys Carrington will be missed by many people.

‘Skeletons’ Exhibition at the Wellcome Collection July ’08

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‘Skeletons – London’s Buried Bones’

If you are interested in how your body works plus how your posture, the way you use yourself and live your life, can leave it’s mark on the structure of your bones, you may want to visit the ‘Skeletons: London’s Buried Bones’ Exhibition that has just opened at the Wellcome Collection.

The skeletons on display are from the Museum of London’s collection of 17,000 skeletons that have come from people who lived and worked in the London area over the last 16 centuries.

This exhibition looks at the events and health hazards of the day, that affected people’s lives and their skeletons. There will also be a day of activities for all ages and a public debate about why the dead are useful to study.

Perhaps seeing the wear and tear on all those bones, may encourage us to be more aware of our own body use, right now, so that we change some of our unhelpful and even damaging habits and learn to do as much as possible to look after our own skeletons!

Venue: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road

Date: 23 July – 28 September

Info: http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/skeletons/index.htm

Think of your Use at an Art Exhibition and Avoid Back Pain

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Ellen Graubart

Ellen is an artist who is familiar with the Alexander Technique. She held a solo exhibition locally, which was well worth going to see. I’ll let the painting speak for itself but will add that her work is even better in reality. It was an exciting and vibrant exhibition.

Art exhibitions are a time when many people end up with back ache, because they are standing for long periods without being aware of the way they are using their bodies. Looking up above eye level to see a painting, without awareness, can contribute to the problem if we contract our neck and the muscles in our lower back. This can create problems such as a hollow back, putting pressure onto the lumbar vertebrae and discs, which causes discomfort and even back pain.

So take yourself to art exhibitions and remember all you have learned in Alexander lessons; be aware of your use, look after your neck and back so that you remain freely poised and pain-free.

Sailing 2 – Ellen Graubart

Climate Change and the means-whereby we live

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Do you want to know more about the process of climate change, written in easy to understand language? The BBC have created some graphics, based on scientific research, that do just that.

Compare the levels of climate change it’s predicted we’ll create through our present greedy consumption of fossil fuels, with the lower levels we could bring about with more sustainable lifestyles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/04/climate_change/html/climate.stm

In the Alexander Technique we aim to improve our individual use and the means-whereby we gain our own immediate, personal ends, so that we look after our health and wellbeing. This attitude of mind can be expanded, to develop awareness of our use in relation to the world’s shrinking resources and of our impact on the environment.

In order to gain the end that most of us agree that we want, ie a world in which we do not contribute to global warming, we need to address our increasing mis-use
of these natural resources. The means-whereby most of us are living now, seems to be
having a negative impact on the environment. We can all make conscious choices to live more sustainably, inhibit our unthinking and wasteful habits and bring about changes to improve the situation.

For ideas about how you can make positive changes and live more sustainably, visit: http://www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/