For many of us, performing simple movements — sitting, rising from a chair, walking — are automatic. We don’t give them much thought.
But what if these rote acts are having a negative effect on our comfort, proficiency and emotional well-being?
Ruth Rootberg, an Amherst-based instructor of the Alexander Technique, said that for lots of people, they are. The practices she teaches, she said, can change the way we perform these basic actions and provide relief to nagging aches and pains, and even overactive minds.
“The Alexander Technique is a very gentle technique that helps us identify and address unconscious, inefficient habits that affect our movement, health and wellness,” she said.
A holistic self-care practice, the Alexander Technique teaches people to think before they move. And, through hands-on guidance, it helps them align their bodies, with emphasis on the head and its relation to the neck and spine.
This, Rootberg said, can correct physical misuse of the body and have a profound effect on well-being.
Those who use the technique — from athletes and performers, to the average person — learn to avoid unnecessary stress and strain, decompress joints and release tension in the muscles. This in turn improves balance, coordination and posture, and can reduce chronic pain in the neck, shoulders, back and hips, Rootberg said.
In a typical session, a client may begin by learning how to relax the body while lying on a table with proper head support. The individual also will receive both gentle hands-on touch and verbal instruction while Rootberg guides the person through various movements like rising from a chair or walking.
The principles of the technique eventually can be incorporated into other life activities.
“For me, the Alexander technique is amazing,” said Michelle MacInnes, 63, of Easthampton, one of Rootberg’s longtime students.
MacInnes, who suffers from joint pain, said that using the Alexander techniques she has learned takes away much of the stress on her joints and diminishes her discomfort.
“In the beginning it was confusing,” MacInnes said. “I thought I just had to pull my head up and then that would make all these things happen, but it’s more about being mindful and thinking before moving.”
MacInnes, who has taken regular lessons from Rootberg for 10 years, said that she appreciates the flexibility of the technique.
“I can do this anywhere and anytime whether I am driving in a car or waiting at an airport,” she said. “I say to myself — look forward, think up, relax my shoulders. I think about where my tailbone is, to relax my hips, and I feel my whole body relax and the tension let go.”
Paul Dennis, 52, is a dancer, choreographer and assistant professor in the dance program at the University of Massachusetts and the Five College Dance Department. He learned the Alexander Technique during his undergraduate days at Juilliard School in New York City.
Dennis said he has used it while dancing and running.
“It’s a very image-based way of organizing the body to move more efficiently,” he said. “I imagine my head floating upward towards the ceiling, which helps align and lengthen my spine.”
In fact, it is literally “image” that gave birth to the Alexander Technique, and the story of its creation offers a good example of how it works.
The technique was developed in the 1890s by Tasmanian-born actor Frederick Matthias Alexander.
As a young actor, Alexander’s career was threatened when he was suddenly struck with chronic hoarseness, a condition that multiple doctors could neither explain nor cure, Rootberg said.
The standard remedy of tea and honey, and resting his voice worked until he tried to speak and perform. Then, the hoarseness would inevitably return.
Frustrated, he took matters into his own hands, she said, and began to examine the way he spoke by using two mirrors to observe his movements.
“He noticed that his head was pulled back and down, his larynx became depressed; he was gasping in air which dried out his throat, increasing his problem when he tried to speak clearly,” Rootberg said.
This unconscious way of speaking was a natural habit for him, one that caused no pain or discomfort while doing it, yet it had a severe impact on his speaking voice.
Changing this habit that felt completely normal to him did not come easy, Rootberg said, but Alexander eventually developed a strategy to consciously think about the position of his head and neck before he thought about speaking.
It worked. His voice improved and he went on to a successful acting career while further developing the technique. Eventually he began teaching it full time.
The Alexander Technique is now taught and practiced around the world.
Rootberg’s story, and her 40 years of experience with the Alexander Technique, share similarities with its creator’s.
She was an opera singer who studied in Switzerland, Germany and Chicago. She also has had a lifelong interest in acting.
As an undergraduate student at Tufts University in Medford, Rootberg took a few lessons in the Alexander Technique and noticed a change in the resonance of her voice. Singing became easier, she said.
She became an advocate, and later, when she began teaching at the Yale University School of Drama, she successfully lobbied for the addition of Alexander Technique classes at the school.
“I just fell deeply in love with it,” she said. “It was during that time that I discovered that I wanted to be an Alexander Technique teacher.”
Eventually, Rootberg moved to Amherst to study with Missy Vineyard, the director of the Alexander Technique Center of New England and author of the book “How You Stand How You Move How You Live.”
“I did three years of training — about 1,600 hours — and finished in 2003,” Rootberg said.
Since then, she has been primarily teaching out of her Amherst home.
Rootberg said the technique can also help those suffering from illnesses like arthritis and Parkinson’s disease get relief from some of their symptoms.
“It is not a cure for these conditions,” she said. “But even if it is momentary relief, it is such a godsend for people when they can learn how to do this for themselves.”
MacInnes said that in addition to providing physical comfort, the Alexander Technique helps to quiet anxious thoughts.
“I think that we are all so busy in our lives, this gives us a chance to practice mindfulness, to slow down, learn how to be present and how to feel better.”
For those interested in the Alexander Technique, Rootberg makes the following suggestions:
Take three lessons to decide whether it is right for you. Then take five to 10 more to learn the basic procedures for working by yourself. To learn improvements that you can easily sustain, she suggests 25 to 30 lessons.
A lifetime of lessons are for those who are committed to more than resolution of pain and are interested in the ongoing discovery of the self, she said.
Rootberg is certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique and is the current editor of the journal published by that organization. She is also a certified Laban Movement Analyst — a method and language for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting human movement. And she is a designated teacher in the Linklater vocal training method.
The website for the American Society for the Alexander Technique is amsatonline.org. The site provides a tool for finding Alexander Techniques teachers within 25 miles of your zip code.
For more information on Ruth Rootberg, visit her website at: www.alexandertechnique.com/amherst.
Fran Ryan can be reached at fryan.gazette@gmail.com.