Last week, the New York Times Magazine published a short article, ‘How to stand correctly‘, which has been roundly criticised by those in the Alexander Technique profession.

The article – based on comments by director of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York James Murphy – advises that standing well involves effortful muscular activity to sustain upright posture. It opens with the statement, ‘We have to fight gravity to stand upright’, and then advocates various kinds of pressing, tightening, lifting and straightening of the body.

In her comment on the piece, ‘Michaela from Connecticut’ sums up well the response of the Alexander Technique community:

The language used in this article is almost comical to me; teaching the Alexander Technique, I also want to help people to be upright, be balanced, have space in their torso, have a naturally curved spine AND to breathe, something not mentioned here. We do not have to fight gravity, nope, not at all; we work with a natural response to gravity in our well toned muscular skeletal structure; and there are better ways than to press, to tighten, grip, lift and straighten. … I would like to add that it would have helped if Jaime Lowe had pointed out that this is a description of an exercise, a temporary position and not a way to walk about in the world.

In addition, Dr Rajal Cohen, known for her research on this topic, reminds readers of the comments section that laboratory studies indicate that using a lot of effort to “stand up straight” is harmful to balance. She lists two important studies in this area:

You can also read my own summary of what the Alexander Technique is, and the science behind it.