Amira Glasser is an Alexander Technique teacher in New York and a student of traditional Chinese medicine.
Robert Rickover conducts the interview. “At one point, I tried to understand it [TCM] and I gave up.”
“When I go, I present myself and I don’t do any thinking.”
“That seems from my point of view as a patient who’s passive and Alexander students are expected to be present and conscious and thinking, it seems the two systems don’t have much in common.”
Amira: “In my last year of Alexander teaching training, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Western medicine has little to say about treating autoimmune disease. I found my way to an acupuncturist. I got interested.”
“While TCM and Alexander Technique are significantly different…there are some amazing similarities in the philosophy. In thinking of health, the Alexander teacher is looking at the balance of the system. We talk to people about the ways they are out of balance. You might talk about how the flow of energy is getting interfered with. We help people find their own natural easy alignment.”
“In TCM, the underlying principles are, how is this system out of balance? It’s not mechanical in the same way the Alexander Technique can be but it is physical.”
“In Western medicine, we break things down to a microscopic level. In TCM, it’s a macro view. How is this whole system functioning? That’s similar to the Alexander Technique. We’re always looking at the whole person.”
Robert: “That everything is connected to everything else. How you manage your head-neck-relationship, for example, affects everything in your body.”
Amira: “In TCM, we have the concept that if we can get out of the way, the body will heal itself.”
Robert: “It’s not so much that you are trying to create some new thing, you’re trying to figure out what is getting in the way and releasing that blockage. That’s very analogous to the Alexander Technique.”
“Alexander teachers are drawn to stopping what gets in the way with the assumption that the right will take care of itself.”
Amira: “With my acupuncture treatments, I could feel energy moving in my body.”
“Acupuncture can help relieve acute back pain while Alexander helps you become aware of your habits that might be causing that pain.”
“I’ve seen in the student clinic [for acupuncture], people come in all slumped over and their head is pulled back and down so their spine is being compressed and they have terrible chronic neck pain. They get some relief from acupuncture, but they wonder why nothing helps. I’m not in a position yet where I can say, maybe you should try the Alexander Technique.”
Robert: “It’s analogous to somebody who goes to a chiropractor for neck pain and back pain and gets some temporary relief. That’s useful but it doesn’t necessary address the root cause of that pain, the way the person carries himself as he moves through life.”
“My experience of TCM is that the doctor sits a lot at a desk and he has to bend over to put in needles. Being able to use yourself better will make your life easier.”
Amira: “What is the state of the practicioner and of their chi when they’re treating.”
