East Bay Headache Support Group

March 2004 Meeting Notes

Topic:  “ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE”

The East Bay Headache Support Group meeting on March 9, 2004 featured Annette Schmidt, Alexander Technique Teacher, as its guest speaker.  We met in the Hanson Room at John Muir Medical Center with 25 in attendance.

Annette gave a lecture and demonstration showing how students of the Alexander Technique learn to take control of their lives and their pain.  In describing her presentation prior to the meeting, Annette said, “Headaches are caused by a wide variety of factors.  One of these factors is the misuse of the body’s structure.  In fact, experience with headache sufferers shows that the body’s misuse can be directly linked to the onset of headache and other migraine symptoms.  Habitual interference with the proper functioning of the head, neck and back relationship can bring additional pain and stress which triggers the headaches.  Conscientious study of the Alexander Technique can be a way to become aware of headache triggering factors and to change the habits that cause them.”

Annette is certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique and has had success teaching people with chronic pain how to relieve and prevent headaches.  For additional information about the Alexander Technique, visit Annette’s Website at www.silverfoxstudio.net.

Annette began her presentation by reviewing the points she would cover, as follows:

o       Habits

o       Triggers                                                                          

o       What you can do

·        Demonstration with student using a chair

o       Evaluation

o       Teach directions

o       Sitting and standing

o       How to find an AmSAT Certified AT Teacher

o       Jane Brody article

o       Annette’s brochure

Annette explained that Alexander was an actor in the late 1800’s who lost his voice.  When medical treatment did not solve his problem, he decided that it must be something that he was doing that was causing his trouble.  Alexander discovered that most civilized people pull their heads into their torsos in such a way that it interferes with their functioning.  He not only cured his voice trouble, but other medical issues that had been troubling him since he was a little boy.  And when he began teaching his technique to other people, he found that they got better too.

Annette is not a health care practitioner, but an educator.  She is a certified Alexander Technique Teacher, and originally a school teacher.

In talking about headaches, she said that maybe there’s something you’re doing that’s causing the pain.  The Alexander Technique helps you figure out what you’re doing, and how to change for the better.  In a session she evaluates your posture as you walk, stand and sit.  There are three parts to a private “hands on” lesson:

But she stressed that this is not a treatment─afterwards you go home and practice.  Annette said this is not a big time commitment, though.  It is a slow, gradual process, like music lessons.  The instrument you’re learning to play is your body.  She said she spent 1,600 hours to learn to teach this technique, over three years.

Annette then began to demonstrate what she called “Directing,” which is giving yourself a mental order.  For example, the student learns to give the order to not pull the head back and down.  In an Alexander Technique lesson the teacher, through gentle touch and verbal guidance, shows the student precisely what is meant by pulling the head back and down.  Annette demonstrated this with an audience volunteer.  You tell yourself, “Stop” and “Let the neck be free.”

Annette teaches not relaxation, but releasing.  You need to get rid of tension, but not good tension.  “To let the head go forward and up” is another statement you learn to say to yourself.

She mentioned the “atlanto-occipital joint,” where the spine meets the neck, or the neck articulates between the ears.

In practicing the Alexander Technique, the commands (or directions) you say to yourself are:

·        Stop.

·        Let the neck be free.

·        Let the head go forward and up.

·        Let the back lengthen and widen.

 Annette said the shorthand for this is “think up.”  And ask yourself:  Where am I holding tension in my body?

Practice the Alexander Technique by lying down twice a day for ten minutes.  Lie on your back on a carpeted floor with your knees bent and a small book underneath your head.  Walk your feet up toward your hips so the small of your back is flat on the floor, and lay your hands on your torso.  Annette keeps coming back to the head, because the head, neck and back are so important.  She said you need to be able to practice the Alexander Technique while you’re still enjoying life.

Another volunteer was solicited from the audience to come up and lie down on his back on a table.  Annette encouraged him to release tension from his body.  She told him to put his feet on the couch to make it easier, and then to give himself the directions and let gravity do its work.  She also told the volunteer to think about exhaling, and then don’t think about inhaling.

She highly recommends the book, “Healing Your Headache,” by David Buchholz, MD.  And the best book on the Alexander Technique is “The Alexander Technique…A Skill for Life,” by Pedro de Alcantara.  But she added that to learn the technique you need a teacher.

If you wish to learn the Alexander Technique, you may make an appointment with Annette.  She charges $60 per session, which is once per week for 45 minutes.  She said you would need to come at least for 12 lessons, but that most students come for 20-30 lessons.  She said it is a slow process─it takes time to learn this skill well.

Dr. Michael Stein, in the audience, asked, “Are people required to practice at home?”  Annette answered that home practice is not required, but that she wants people to apply the Alexander Technique to their life.

Annette explained she is teaching conscious control of the self.  Key is inhibition and direction.  It is not a muscular activity.  Annette said that she agrees with yoga, which is very compatible with the Alexander Technique.  In fact, she practices yoga herself.

When you are practicing the technique you are to stay down and still and work on yourself (inhibit and direct) for 10 minutes per day.  Use books underneath your head to position it correctly, about one inch thick for most people.   

Annette compared the Alexander Technique with another technique call “Feldenkrais.”  Feldenkrais is more affordable because you frequently can find group lessons.  You are learning things through movement, whereas the Alexander Technique teaches head, neck and back relationship and releasing tension.

Pilates also was discussed as a way of toning the body.

Annette then offered a complimentary evaluation and first lesson for those attendees who might be interested in trying the Alexander Technique.  Thereafter, lessons are charged on a sliding scale from $40 to $60 each.  She added that lessons in this technique are not covered by insurance.

In conclusion, Annette said that the majority of students come for chronic pain issues, and most of those have back problems.  But other students of the Alexander Technique are musicians and actors, who just want to be more in touch with their bodies.

The intention of the East Bay Headache Support Group is to provide information and resources for headache sufferers.  It does not provide medical advice, which should be obtained directly from a physician.