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Health Benefits
Health Benefits of the Alexander Technique
Health Benefits of Tai Chi
Health Benefits of the Alexander Technique
It must be said at the outset that the Alexander Technique is an educational process, not a therapeutic intervention. The effect of lessons is often therapeutic, but no specific claims are made for cures. There are four major areas that are influenced by lessons in Alexander's method. Most students are afflicted in at least one area, many in all four.
The first area is breathing. During his life, Alexander was known as the "Breathing Doctor." As students learn to inhibit and redirect maladaptive habits of thought and behavior, the body regains its easeful upright status and breathing improves automatically. Special breathing exercises are not only not required, but when they are done with the same maladaptive habits that have caused breathing to be restricted, breathing exercises can make it worse.
The second area is pain relief. More people come to the Alexander Technique for this reason than for any other. Certainly not all pain is helped by the technique, but muscle, joint, and some forms of neurological pain respond well to lessons. Students come with pain from overuse, repetitive motion, trauma, accidents, injuries, and post-surgery.
The third area is performance and functioning. Alexander was a Shakespearian orator in the late 1880s, and he worked with many famous actors. Musicians and dancers also find the work helpful for understanding their body and how to use it for expression and communication. Athletes also come to learn Alexander's process for maximum efficiency and to prevent injuries.
The last group of people drawn to the work are educators. Alexander had profound insights into how people learn and how they integrate what they learn. Brain research has confirmed that learning is a whole-person activity. The Alexander Technique teaches a whole-person approach. There is always a locomotor component to learning and understanding. Stay tuned for more information on body learning. There will be articles on this subject and others to download.
Health Benefits of Tai Chi
 Studies show the increasing importance of exercise, especially the weight-bearing variety. Safe and effective weight-bearing exercises can be difficult to find. Although there are a number of exercise systems, Tai Chi offers more benefits with minimal risk of injury. Stimulation of the bones in a weight-bearing exercise like Tai Chi causes them to strengthen. It is also believed that stimulation of the bone increases red blood cell formation, especially in the bone marrow of the femur.
Tai Chi is good for all ages because it does not compress the joints like running or jumping. The principles of Tai Chi help develop muscular strength (especially in the legs) and balance. In China, the legs are known as the second heart. When blood from the heart is pumped to our lower extremities, it has to have a way to return to the lungs to drop off carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen, then head back to the heart. Reclining chairs have been designed to do this mechanically, but good muscle tone in the legs facilitates the blood's journey back to the heart from the feet and legs.
The principles of Tai Chi also help maintain pliability in the body. Pliability is the quality of childlike ease in movement. Many of us as we age become stiff and inelastic. We maintain pliability by gaining and maintaining a right relationship with gravity, better known as balance. When we are balanced, the body is relaxed and the weight-bearing joints are open and available for movement. Pliability is a function of this openness.
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