Slide show of my inservice on Wed 18.3.2015 @ 7:45 am on KFSH-Riyadh. It takes a brief view of Alexander technique, whose Alexander, how he discover his technique, why it's related to PT, how to assess and treat or guide the client or patient. references: The Alexander Technique Workbook Your Personal Program for Health, Poise and Fitness by Richard Brennan 1992. Teach yourself the Alexander Technique by Richard Craze 1996. change your posture change your life how the power of the alexander technique can combat back by Richard Brennan 2012. The Alexander Technique Solutions for Back Problems video lesson by Deborah Caplan.

2. Professor Nikolaas Tinbergen, Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine
This story of perceptiveness, of intelligence, and of
persistence shown by a man without any medical
training, is one of the true epics of medical research and
practice.

4. Frederick
Matthias
Alexander
(20 January 1869 – 10
October 1955) was an
Australian actor who
developed the
educational process that
is today called the
Alexander Technique.

5. Alexander was born into a poor family
in Wynyard, Tasmania. He was the
eldest of eight children. As a child he
was weak and sickly, and suffered from
continual breathing problems (asthma).

6. He was to ill to attend school and was
kept at home. In 1870 he began to
show an interest in the theatre. He
learn from Shakespeare how to recite
his favorite speeches.

7. In 1885 his family suffered financial
problem which lead Alexander to look
for a regular job instead of theatre. He
mange with time to save money and
after his family’s fortunes had revived,
he moved to Melbourne and started his
acting lessons.

8. As his popularity began to grow and he
was called upon more and more to give
his one-man show, he began to suffer
from a complaint that seemed utterly
disastrous for an actor - he lost his
voice.

9. His voice problem began to get worse.
He tried all the usual remedies of
doctor’s prescriptions and throat
medicine with various voice teachers
and the only cure was complete rest.

10. The technique started when Alexander
decided to watch himself preforming in
front of the mirror, because the problem
only appeared when he preforms.

11. He noticed that while he spoke
normally nothing much happened, but
that just before he began to recite he
did three things:

12. He tensed his neck causing his head to go
back.
He tightened his throat muscles.

13. He found that even when he spoke
normally he was still doing these three
things but on a much smaller scale, he
just hadn’t been able to see it before.

14. He decided that he would take it one
step at a time, beginning with the neck
tensing because he found he could
control this and this is where he made
the discovery that was to lead to the
Alexander Technique.

15. He found that if he didn’t tense his neck
and stopped trying to correct the other
two faults they disappeared on their
own.
By not doing he managed to do.

16. What he had to learn to do was not to
do. He knew that if he put his head up
and forward he could maintain his
acting voice indefinitely. All he has to
do was not to tense anything.

17. He used mirrors to
make sure he was
doing exactly what
he wanted to.

18. By observing himself he realized that
when he thought he was putting his
head up and forwards he was actually
not doing that. He was still pulling it
back.

19. Putting it all together
He had learnt from observation:
1 - Inhabiting the immediate response
to speak and thus stopping the habit to
source.

20. 2 - Consciously projecting the primary
control directions for the improved
'used of self’ which were: letting the
neck be free, letting the head go
forwards and up, and allowing the back
to lengthen and widen.

21. 3 - To continue these directions even
while speaking.
4 - Just at the moment of speaking
stopping again to reconsider the
decision, allowing the freedom not to
speak or to do something else.

24. Alexander rightly observed that the
relationship between the head, neck
and torso affects the whole body.
If the head and neck are properly
aligned with the back, then the whole
body naturally follows into a relaxed,
natural posture.

26. muscle fatigue
migraine
depression
high blood pressure
stress-related disorders including
ulcers, eating disorder and digestion
problems

27. circulatory problems
backache problems
respiratory problems
speech defects

28. “Suitable candidates”
 People who want to learn it in the hope it will
alleviate a specific condition or complaint.
 People who want to learn it to help improve a
particular thing they do with their bodies, like
dancers or musicians.
 People who want to learn it for general interest.

31. EXERCISE
 Quick exercise to see how body shape can affect
respiratory problems:
 1 Scrunch yourself up as tight and as tense as you
can, pull your head down into your body and shorten
and tense your neck, clench your fists with your
arms pressed tightly across your chest. Now take
the deepest breath you can and see how long you
can hold it. Let it out and say ‘ahhh’ as you do so.

32.  2 Now let go of all that tension, allow your body to
lengthen and widen, head up and out, arms loosely
by your side, smile. Now take the deepest breath
you can and hold it. Let it out and say ‘ahhh’ as you
do so.

33.  3 compare the two results. In 1 the deep breath is
nowhere as deep as in 2, and the time you can hold
that deep breath is much shorter. Also, in 2
the ‘ahhh’ is deeper, richer, more resonate than in 1.
How can you breath properly if you’re tense and
scrunched up?

34. When anything is
pointed out our only
idea is to go from wrong
to right, in spite of the
fact that it has taken us
years to get wrong: we
try to get right in a
moment.
F M Alexander

36. Inhibitions - in Alexander terminology
means stopping and thinking before
making a movement.
It’s a tiny pause before you move while
you consider the value of the
movement

37. Conscious projection - It is a
conscious instruction to yourself before
you make a movement and while you
are making it.
‘let the neck be free, let the head go
forwards and up, allow the back to
lengthen and widen.’

38. Conscious projection is a thought;
not a movement of any sort.
You think it, you don’t do it. You are
letting and allowing.

39. Primary control - The head should be
directed up and forwards.
First: up is not a place, it is a direction.
It is the direction that the top of the spine
happens to pointing in.

40. • Standing
• Sitting
Head
The Ceiling
when you are:

41. • Lying
Head
The head of
the bed.
when you are:

42. • Crawling
Head
The wall in
front of you.
when you are:

43. Second: direction the head forwards
does not mean you thrust it forwards.
Forwards again is a direction. You tilt your
head, where it balances on top of the
spine (between the ears, not the top of
the neck), until it it directed forwards.

45. What we are doing and the way
we are doing it
First, find the habits, find how we do
them and check what they are doing to
us.

46. HABITS
be aware and observe yourself:
Standing: see if you stand on one leg
more than the other, or you’re equally
balanced on both legs?

47. If you equally balanced try moving over
by putting more weight on one leg than
the other, then reverse. Whichever
position feels more comfortable will
indicate your habit.

48. Are you standing on your heels or more
on the balls of the feet?
“indicate leaning forward or backward”

49. Standing on the inner or outer side of
your feet?
Are the knees Locked with excess
tension or over relaxed so that they are
bent?

51. The best use of ourselves
Second, replace the habits, find new
ways to do and then enjoy experiencing
our new poise and gracefulness in
movement.

55. EXERCISE
Find yourself an area of blank wall. you
should be wearing light clothes or no
clothing on at all, and be barefoot.

56. Stand with your back to the wall and
position your feet so that they are 45
cm (18inches) apart with your heels 5
cm (2inches) out from the wall.
‘you can measure and mark on the floor
those two measurements’

57. At first, don’t touch the wall at all. Then
relax and let yourself lean gently back
against the wall.
If you are well aligned your shoulder
blades and buttocks will touch the wall
all at the same time.

58. If one shoulder blade touches before
another, then you are slightly twisted or
one-sided. If your buttocks touch first,
you are holding your pelvis too far
back. If your shoulders touch first, you
are holding your pelvis too far
forwards.

60. Improve your standing
Feet could be at a 45- degree angle
with about nine inches between them.

61. When standing for long periods, it’s
helpful to place one foot slightly behind
the other, with the weight of the body
resting chiefly in the rare foot.

62. Hips Should be allowed to go back as
far as possible without altering the
balance and without deliberately
throwing the body forward.

63. Tripod of the
foot.
1st point is the heel.
2nd is the ball.
3rd is situated at the
beginning of the little
toe.

64. It’s well known by engineers that an
object needs at least three points of
contact to be stable; so if we are only
standing on tow of the three points we will
be less balanced and consequently many
more muscles will be tense trying to
maintain the body’s equilibrium.

65. Most people walk with
their eyes looking down
at their feet. This leads
the head to drop
forwards, and the neck
and back follow until we
have the often seen
position - Modern human.

66. Puppets
When you walk imagine
the string attached to the
top of your head pulling
you up, holding and
supporting you. It is not a
movement; it is an
imagining, a
reprograming.

67. Monkey Position

68. Semi Supine Position

69. “There is no such thing as a right
position, but there is such thing as
a right direction.”
F. M. Alexander

70. THINKING , really matter!
Thank you for listening

71. Referrences
 The Alexander Technique Workbook Your Personal
Program for Health, Poise and Fitness by Richard
Brennan 1992.
 Teach yourself the Alexander Technique by Richard
Craze 1996.
 change your posture change your life how the power of
the alexander technique can combat back by Richard
Brennan 2012.
 The Alexander Technique Solutions for Back Problems
video lesson by Deborah Caplan.