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Postural Problems |
Physical Activity |
Stress | Actors
| Singers
| Dancers
| Musicians
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Postural
Problems
"The
Alexander Technique doesn't teach you something new
to do. It teaches you how to bring more practical
intelligence into what you are already doing: how
to eliminate stereotyped responses: how to deal with
habit and change." Frank Pierce Jones
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Why
do we become more curved, slower and heavier
with the passing of the years?
It is accredited
to the agitated life we live, to work and
old age. Or perhaps it is due to a specific
moment, of excess weight or exhausting work.
We never tend to think that it is something
that we cultivate along the life we live and
that it only worsens as the years go by. Have
you ever observed how long we remain in the
same position during the day? For instance,
how many hours we are seated, be it in front
of the television or of the computer or in
the office? The fact that we repeat, day after
day, determined positions for hours on end,
affects our ability to observe how we are
using our body. This mechanical repetition
creates the conditions for the installation
and crystallization of bad postural habits.
Without self-observation, we deteriorate our
physical structure along the years thus causing
pains and illnesses so common nowadays such
as, muscular stiffness, back pains, stiff
necks, breathing difficulties, constant physical
and mental fatigue, discouragement, etc.
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These
bad habits tend to persist and are not corrected with
a simple and direct method, or through certain kinds
of treatments, but through a process of re-education.
Learning Alexander's Technique's can stimulate self-observation
of your daily routine preventing the crystallization
of these bad postural habits and their harmful effects
on the organism.
Physical
Activity
"Through
the Alexander Technique I was able to rehabilitate
my running after 25 years of being unable to run through
injuries, to the extent that I was able to set ten
world records for veterans in 1982." Paul Collins,
marathon runner
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The
Alexander Technique can be of great benefit
to athletes and all that practice any physical activities.
Alexander discovered that most of the people
have a faulty sensory appreciation in their kinetic
perception (kinesthesia is the sense by which one
notices the muscular movements, the weight and the
position of the body in space). This means having
a wrong perception as to how much muscular effort
is necessary to perform a certain physical activity
or to simply maintain an upright posture. This faulty
sensory appreciation can put at risk the stability
of the body itself, because without an exact notion
of these limits, work overloads can lead to problems
like muscular strain, stiffness of the neck, poor
performance, joint lesions, wearing of the vertebral
disks, amongst others.
Alexander's Technique
lessons can recover the precision of the sensations
we have of our body and its movement, creating the
conditions for a balanced posture, freer breathing,
mobility of the joints and the appropriate use of
muscular tonus in different physical activities.
With economy and precision of the neuromuscular
activity the sportsman can reach better results
in his performance.
Stress
"The
things that don't exist are the most difficult to
get rid of." F.M.Alexander
Stress
is a response to certain stimuli that we receive
every second, small and unpredictable problems that
occur without prior preparation. When these stimuli
occur, we create a series of neuro-muscular reactions
as a response to them. The problem is that due to
psychophysical disorganization that we acquire along
life, we tend to respond to these stimuli with excess
of tension and effort. They remain active in us
independent from our present state and even after
we have solved such problems. We end up always reacting
with conditioned responses to everyday problems.
They are responses that do not allow a healthy adaptation
in a world that is each day growing faster.
In the Alexander Technique
lessons, the student can learn to identify and inhibit
certain patterns of habitual response, in this way,
stimulating the choice of new responses in situations
in which the individual is involved.
Actors
"A
series of problems such as a constant hoarseness made
me discover that I needed to learn how to use the
body - I made unnecessary effort to speak and kept
limiting postures, like shrinking my neck that shortened
my breath and affected my voice. Alexander's Technique
is only a process: we learn what not to do, how to
alleviate tension and how to move freely allowing
the flow of energy". Camila Pitanga, actress
"Every actor plays from
his own body. The Alexander Technique gives you the
control over your body so your body can express the
character which is the most important aspect of interpretation."
Stella Adler
"Of all the disciplines
that form the actor training program, none is more
vital, enriching and transformative than the Alexander
Technique." —
Harold Stone, Associate Director, The Juilliard School,
Drama Division
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The
actor needs to be aware of their main instrument:
themselves. It is through them, the use of their
body, their voice and of their emotions, that
an actor gives life to his character.
So for the actor
to choose, he must be free from the habits that
interfere in his choices. If patterns of movement,
breathing and of the use of the voice, are habitual
and unconscious to the actor, he cannot make
choices about the life of the character without
creating distortions and unneeded efforts in
himself to make these choices.
Institutions like
universities and theater schools are including
the Alexander Technique as part of their curricula
as a base for creative exploration, health improvement,
mental clarity, understanding and expansion
of human potential.
Juilliard School,
Dartington College of Arts, Yale School of Drama,
Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Actors Studio
are some of them. In England, the Alexander
Technique is popular in an actor's curriculum
and training as a professional and in Brazil
follows a world trend and has been applied to
actors during rehearsals, bringing greater economy
and precision to their movements, as well as
giving the actor more creative freedom. |
Singers
"You
cannot separate your voice use from the rest of you.
The impulse to communicate vocally comes from and
uses your whole person,, not merely the vocal organs.
And however your mechanical use is affected, so is
your voice which is an expression of yourself..."
Michael
McCallion – The Voice Book
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The
Alexander Technique is not a voice
work and nor does it exclude the need for
specific singing training, but it is an instrument
that the artist may use to improve and to
enhance his performance. It allows your voice
to be the full expression and organization
of yourself rather than resulting from tension
and distortion.
What can be more
distressful for an artist than the sensation
of physical discomfort, to be able to sing
for a day and not another, to feel neck pains
and internal pressure, to have breathing difficulties
and not to know what is happening? Why is
it sometimes so easy and pleasant and, at
other times, no matter how much you try, does
not happen? How is my voice today?
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The
Alexander Technique does not try to do something
new, but to give the opportunity of certain habits
that interfere in the performance not to repeat themselves.
Dancers
"As
a ballerina, I was used to taking my body to the maximum
limit and through Alexander Technique's classes I
learned the importance of stopping and observing.
The understanding of the appropriate use of the energy,
of the muscular tonus, and of the intention in the
performance of the movements brought more subtileness,
freedom and integrity to my way of moving and dancing"
Jaqueline Gimenez
- Grupo
Corpo's
former ballarina
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Throughout
life we suffer several influences from our
surroundings and independent from what qualities
they possess, these influences mold our posture
and movement. Before the ballet dancer executes
a dance movement, all these acquired influences
and automations in his body manifest themselves
and telegraph movement. One of the advantages
of the Alexander Technique for the
ballet dancer is to bring attention to the
moment that precedes movement, while body
and mind organize themselves to execute a
certain task.
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There
are a series of psico-physical reactions between stimulus
and response that are normally automated. These reactions
can limit the ballet dancer's performance once automated
responses interfere in the natural flow of movement,
what makes the workload greater. You will not be able
to move freely if your body is limited. This explains
why it is so widespread that without excessive muscular
effort the results are poor. Know
more about Dance and the Alexander Technique
Musicians
"Forty
years ago, after one of my concerts, Adrian Boult
told me that I would be crippled if I continued to
conduct in a specific manner, and that I should take
Alexander Technique classes. Today still I take Alexander
Technique lessons, as well as music; the learning
process is endless. Not only does it affect the use
of the body but also your self-image and behavior.
The Technique can make miracles for those who experience
pain and difficulties that come with time." Colin
Davis, main conductor of LSO - BBC Music Magazine
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The
Alexander Technique is a practical
method of re-education and is applied in conservatories,
universities, orchestras and music festivals
around of the world. It teaches us how to
use our main work instrument: ourselves. Muscular
strain, problems in the joints, restriction
of the movement in the arms and legs, lack
of muscular control, breathing impairments,
poor performance, mental confusion and stage
fright are quite common due to the excess
of rehearsals, inadequate postures, uncomfortable
chairs and stools, among others.
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In
the classes, the musician learns to observe how the
body and mind work integrated, preventing noxious
habits that are accumulated along life and that interfere
in the evolvement and performance. Know
more about the musicians and the Alexander Technique
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