From my early teens I was suffering from lower back problems. When I wasn't stooped over a desk, I was slumped before a computer. By the time I was 16 I was representing Ireland in kayaking, where again I was in a seated position, using my lower body to keep myself wedged in to the boat, my upper body pulling me through the water. All this physical work had helped me develop stronger back and 'core' muscles, yet the pain I was experiencing seemed to only worsen. Sitting was uncomfortable, standing was quickly exhausting.
The advice given to me was to try 'back strengthening exercises', which again only seemed to exasperate the problem. I soon gave up trying to do anything.
By my twenties, I had almost constant back pain. I was unable to 'get comfortable' no matter how much I tried. Working in an office, the restlessness I felt around having pain was only amplified by Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) in my wrists, which would make its presence known by sending shooting pains that could sometimes cause me to drop anything I was holding. I tried a few different treatments for relief, but nothing seemed to make a lasting change.
In 2004, I came to the Alexander Technique in Montreal, having heard the name briefly a few years prior, but having no other information other than a very vague description as it being a 're-education'. I noticed a flyer in a clinic with the name, and immediately rang to book a session.
During my first lesson a day later, the teacher got me to notice what I was tending to do in my normal movements. He then helped me come from sitting to standing in a way that felt very unfamiliar, but that involved less effort.
He then took me back to sitting, and though it didn't register quickly, I felt much more supported on the chair than usual, not requiring the relief of the back rest, nor feeling any particular effort involved in being seated. It was explained to me that though there can be profound changes during a lesson, the Alexander Technique would not be a quick fix. It was suggested I would need to continue taking lessons before I could start to make lasting changes in my daily life.
Always a skeptic, I wasn't sure what to think when we proceeded to do 'table work', but any doubt I had was abated when I actually felt my back and shoulder muscles release tension.
I walked out of the teacher's room that day much more grounded than I had remembered being. It was such a difference that I committed to a course of lessons, going as often as I could.
In 2006, fueled by interest and a wish to share the benefit of the Alexander Technique with the people in my life, I enrolled in the 3 year teacher's training course in Galway.
These days I am free from the back pain and discomfort that first took me to lessons, the RSI has long gone. I still get aches and pains like anyone, but they do not dominate my life. More significantly, my whole outlook on life has lightened a great deal with the change.
