Relieve Tension with the Alexander Technique

Padmini Menon is the only certified Alexander Technique training teacher in India. She tells us how it can help release tensions in the body and improve mobility with age. 

There’s a hard to miss calm around Padmini Menon, 59, the only certified resident Alexander Technique (AT) teacher in India (to her best knowledge and ours). A former English teacher in Rishi Valley School and The Valley School, Bangalore, Menon did a three year full time Teacher Training course at the Alexander Technique College in Brighton, UK, and has been practicing the technique since 2008. Menon runs the only certified Indian Centre for the Alexander Technique in Bangalore. She learnt AT not because of any health issues but due to sheer interest.

Training herself in it helped her discover few things about her body. “For example, I hadn’t realised until then that I had stiff hips,” says Menon, talking about how the course affected her life and wellbeing. “As I realised it, the way I walked changed.” Menon also feels she is calmer and less liable to panic due to AT practice. “I’m able to handle things much better after learning the Alexander Technique and there is a general sense of calm and comfort.”

What is the Alexander Technique?

The Alexander Technique is a gentle non-invasive way of releasing tensions in your body that can interfere with the way your muscles function. According to Menon, the technique helps you go right into the deepest layer and let that tension go. “The result is that our muscles have a chance to function the way they are supposed to, how they worked originally when we were children.” She adds that over the years, as we grow up and submit to a hectic pace of life, we take the underlying tension in our body as normal. She calls AT not a form of treatment but “retraining yourself to function differently.”

Can it help seniors?

It is said that the AT can help seniors with balance and mobility issues. Menon agrees that it is true, and adds that AT teaches you to use yourself. well. “Once you learn, you can take that basic discipline into every area of your life.” She believes one of the reasons people lose balance as they grow older is because they move much lesser, especially given our cultural conditioning. She believes that AT could help seniors get steady but also says that it is associated with the person’s outlook towards life and mind. Having an open mind is a pre-requisite to learn this unique technique. According to Menon, it can teach you to deal effectively with issues of discomfort, stiffness or pain, sit, stand and move with ease. She feels many older people could use this to tackle their mobility issues and gain more freedom. Learning the Alexander Technique can make many elders with mobility issues like inability to climb stairs, sit or stand with ease, more independent.

How it’s done

A description in Menon’s website puts it clearly: In an Alexander Technique lesson the teacher helps you to become aware of the tensions you are holding in your neck, or back, or shoulders. She works with you to release them, in simple everyday actions, as well as in the specialised movements of your work. 

Menon calls AT a hands on discipline and it truly is. When working with a client, she places her hands on the problem area in their neck, shoulder or back and teaches them to use their thoughts to release the tension. It may sound easy but it of course, isn’t. “I teach them to do it systematically and consistently.” She also clarifies that AT is “not exercise.” As she puts it: “It targets muscles usually not accessed by exercise.” For instance, one of the lessons include ‘sitting up and sitting down’ and targets the postural muscles. Menon mentions that for many older people sitting up and sitting down are problematic. “When you learn how to get up and sit down the right way it won’t hurt,” she says. Before she begins training, Menon always asks people with health issues to get themselves checked by a doctor.

Menon herself got into learning AT in her 50s and believes that as you grow older, some way of looking after yourself is crucial.”AT is valuable because it helps to change the quality of your life. You gain more control.”

Most people visit Menon with back issues, while some wish to learn the technique and improve the general quality of their lives. As Menon never tires of pointing out, AT helps to improve basic muscle habits. These are used in our daily actions and sometimes extended into stronger form when we do kitchen worker use the computer. “When you learn to improve them with AT, the effect is felt across the range of your actions,” she adds. 

Padmini Menon offers group lessons and limited one on one training. She can offer an introductory course on Alexander Technique for a group of 6 to 8 seniors, which would include 12 lessons and cost approximately Rs. 3000. She also has several other learning modules. 

If interested in learning or knowing more, reach out to Padmini Menon through her website http://www.alexandertechnique-india.com/