The physical outcomes of the Alexander Technique (AT) are fairly well-established. There have been comprehensive studies into its benefits for conditions such as back pain, neck pain and Parkinson’s disease, and its positive effects on movement, postural tone and balance have also been documented. I have provided a concise review of these areas on my Alexander Technique Science page.
Some recent research has now looked in greater detail into the psychological and non-physical outcomes of the Alexander Technique. The paper (which is free to access) is entitled, ‘How does the Alexander Technique lead to psychological and non-physical outcomes? A realist review’.
The authors of the article choose the term ‘non-physical outcomes’ to include psychological and wellbeing outcomes, for example mood, sense of self, cognitive processes (such as the way people think), confidence, and emotion. Their paper concludes that the Alexander Technique can lead to a wide range of non-physical outcomes, including:-
- improved general wellbeing;
- increased sense of control;
- increased confidence.
Their research leads them to conclude that the above outcomes can be generated through:-
- improvements in physical wellbeing;
- the experience of mind-body integration;
- the application of AT skills to non-physical areas (these include ways of thinking or noticing physical tensing in emotionally driven situations such as in interpersonal situations).
The authors also make (to my mind) two surprising claims regarding a recent model of the Alexander Technique as follows:
Cacciatore et al.’s neurophysiological model of the AT is largely based in the physical but does include ‘emotional regulation’ resulting from improvements in postural tone and body schema. … Our findings go beyond this to add that emotional and non-physical outcomes are not always secondary, but can come from direct application of the AT to the non-physical.
I would counter the above claims as follows:
- Cacciatore et al’s model is not ‘largely based in the physical’ because it is a neurophysiological model which a) includes the intentional and attentional processes of the AT b) has at its centre the concept of body schema which is representational in nature and c) includes ’emotional regulation’ as one of its four outcomes of AT.
- It is contentious to claim that ’emotional and non-physical outcomes are not always secondary, but can come from direct application of the AT to the non-physical’. This is because the Alexander Technique is a psychophysical process, and as such cannot be applied directly to the non-physical. In other words, we must venture through the portal of the psychophysical and only then discover the panoply of AT effects, including its non-physical outcomes.