One of the things I have long wanted to pursue is Alexander Technique. I have always had trouble with my posture – I believe it is both genetic and learned habits that make me slouch much of the time. Both my mother and grandmother have similar posture, and my grandmother has become nearly hunchbacked in recent years. I want to try to avoid this for myself, and I was curious whether the Alexander Technique could help.

Alexander Technique is a training system devised early in the 20th century by F.M. Alexander whose career as an actor was cut short when he lost his speaking voice. He discovered that his posture was the cause of his vocal troubles and he devised a method of correcting posture as well as movement and function. It is often called the “actor’s secret” and is very popular with actors and singers around the world.

I have had two sessions with Lauri Blouke Kain, a local Alexander Technique Practitioner, and plan to have more. The sessions are 45 minutes long and she guides me through some basic exercises with both words and hands. One of the basic exercises is moving from a sitting to standing position. In our first session she started by having me sit down in a chair in the middle of the room and then she held my neck and hip lightly. She asked me to stand up and then stopped me almost immediately (it was difficult for me to hold this partial sitting up position). I noticed that I was using my arms to help me stand up and my chin was moving forward and increasing the hunch in my back. She then sat me back down and slowly corrected my seated posture. After everything was aligned while sitting, she again had me stand and it was much smoother and easier.

The thing that is kind of dismaying about Alexander Technique is how long it takes to get you into proper alignment, whether sitting, standing or walking. It can take 5 minutes just to get me aligned in sitting position from when I first sit down. Although I suspect it will get easier over time, it is a little disheartening at first. I am told it takes 25-30 sessions to really make the training stick. I am noticing changes in my posture already though, and I look forward to my next session.