Think of it as one of the best-kept trade secrets of the artistic community. Now that the singer turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham has been outed as being a student of the posture-improving Alexander Technique, however, no doubt we can all stand by (elegantly, of course) for an avalanche of interest from celebrity models and their fashionable wannabes.
Apparently the 35-year-old Mrs Beckham has been crucifying her feet for years by wearing five-inch heels and higher. As a consequence, she’s developed painful improperly aligned bones, which in turn has been putting stress onto the muscles, joints and ligaments of her feet. She’s developed a nasty case of slouched shoulders into the bargain. Not a good look for anybody in her business. So now she’s turned to the Alexander Technique in an attempt to correct this visual imperfection, presumably lest anyone starts to believe she’s ageing prematurely. Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than a Dowager’s Hump for adding years.
The Technique’s publicity states that it’s for anybody “ready to feel more comfortable in your own body”, a mantra whose Zen-like vibe chimes perfectly with the new age. You don’t need to buy new gear or equipment to do it (too un-green); it’s not an exercise class (too 1980s Yuppy). Rather, it’s a re-education of the mind and body and as such it only requires – ahem – intelligence.
Perhaps that’s why those undergoing lessons in the Alexander Technique are referred to as ‘students’. And perhaps that’s why Mrs Beckham doesn’t seem to mind us knowing about her involvement with it.
After all, she’s in good company. The actress Juliet Stevenson called it “miraculous” and described how it helped her imagine a length of elastic coming out the top of her head, drawing her up and letting the tension dropping away. Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine, Judi Dench and Alan Cummings are among the other actors who practise it not only for posture and stress but also to overcome stagefright. Yehudi Menuin, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Lulu and Michael Ball are also fans; and George Bernard Shaw, the great playwright, was 88 when he began. According to teachers around the UK, carpenters, dentists, massage therapists, university professors and accountants also keep them busy.
Repetitive strain injury, backache, stiff neck and shoulders, and discomfort at the computer screen can be cured. Learning the Alexander Technique is required curriculum in the performance schools of music, acting, circus, dance, and some Olympic level sports training. It’s remedially used for gaining full recovery of balance and ease of motion, for stuttering, voice loss and speech training, to unlearn and avoid repetitive stress, and to cope with dwindling mobility in people who, for example, have Parkinson’s disease.
The AT teacher Richard Brennan explains: “Over the years we become accustomed to the ways in which we sit and stand without realising that if is often these very positions that are putting strains upon our body. When we perform everyday activities it is amazing how frequently we subject our bodies to undue tension simply by not being aware of what we are doing.
“Many of our modern methods of combating such problems involve powerful painkilling drugs that block out the body’s warning system, whose function it is to tell us that something is wrong. Often, doctors can offer little advice as their training revolves around the treating of symptoms rather than uncovering, and also rectifying, the causes of such problems.
“The Alexander Technique does just this; it shows you the underlying cause, enabling you to eliminate the tension responsible for so many of the ailments that we mistakenly put down to the ageing process.”
A killer closing remark indeed, and one likely to have us all reaching for the telephone.
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