Deborah Caplan as a dancer with the Jean Erdman Dance Company 1951	YOUR POSTURE AND YOUR HEALTH by Joan Arnold(JoanArn@aol.com) & Hope Gillerman(hopeg@bway.net), Certified Teachers of the Alexander Technique A solution to persistent pain and tension Do you feel mystified by an array of tensions, aches, stresses or general discomfort? Do you attribute such symptoms to heredity, aging or to one of your activities, such as tennis or computer work? You may have more control over such nagging discomfort than you realize. Most pain and muscular tension is the result of how you move and hold yourself through the day. With the Alexander Technique, you can learn to use your body differently. You can relieve many of those mysterious aches and chronic pains and make lasting changes in your movement style. Compression causes pain Do you try to correct a slump by straightening your back, and find that tiring and unnatural? Do you think your back is weak, that there is no way to sit upright through a long work day with comfort and ease? Both slumping and straightening can be harmful. Stiffening overworks the back and neck muscles and compresses the spine. Slumping stresses muscles and joints unevenly and compresses your breathing and digestion. Over time, compression can cause persistent fatigue, excess tension, chronic pain or even back injury ö but only if you accept your symptoms as an unchangeable fact of life. There is an accessible method for managing your posture and your health ö the Alexander Technique. Discover your natural support system ö The human body is designed to move in concert with gravity. You can see how our natural support system is supposed to work if you watch young children. They don't stiffen to maintain upright posture. They look comfortable, free and erect. Each of us has the capacity to access that natural support and restore our original poise. With the Alexander Technique, you learn how to elicit your body's inherent postural reflex and experience your full potential to function ö pain-free, with ease and grace. With the Technique, you can find a more efficient response to stress. You can learn how to protect your back, how to sit comfortably at your computer, how to put some power in your tennis swing. You can change how you move through everyday activities and tap into more of your personal resources. © 1997