Asthma

F. M. Alexander

F. M. Alexander made several references to a number of conditions, including asthma, which were relieved or ‘eradicated’ (in the sense of disappearing) as a result of the general level of health from better use and functioning.

 

Alexander in his writings also blamed the cause of asthma (as well as several other breathing related problems) on the ‘sniffing’ and ‘gasping’ modes of breathing,[1] [2] and the ‘disorganization and consequent strain in the region of the throat’.[3]

 

See also several references to asthma in MSI.[4]

 

Alexander provides an asthma case history in UCL.[5]

 

Later Writings

Walter Carrington relates the story of a friend of his, Edmund Haines, suffering a severe asthma attack, and how Alexander ‘took him by the head and neck’ and relieved Haines of the attack in An Evolution of the Alexander Technique.[6]

 

In Explaining the Alexander Technique Walter Carrington talks about the relevance of the Technique for asthmatics.[7]

 

‘A positive approach to asthma’ by Eric de Peyer; on the benefits of the Alexander Technique for asthma sufferers.[8]

 

See also Breathing, Breathing Problems.

 

References

[1] ‘A Respiratory Method’ (1905) in Articles and Lectures by F. M. Alexander (Mouritz, 1995, London), p. 28.

[2] ‘The Theory and Practice of a New Method of Respiratory Re-Education’ (1907) in Articles and Lectures by F. M. Alexander (Mouritz, 1995, London), p. 64.

[3] ‘The Dangers of Deep Breathing’ (1908) in Articles and Lectures by F. M. Alexander (Mouritz, 1995, London), p. 70.

[4] Man’s Supreme Inheritance by F. Matthias Alexander (Mouritz, 1996), pp. 144., 167, 176, 182, 206.

[5] The Universal Constant in Living by F. Matthias Alexander (Mouritz, 2000), pp. 29–30.

[6] An Evolution of the Alexander Technique by Walter Carrington, Dilys Carrington (Sheildrake Press, 2017), pp. 139–40.

[7] Explaining the Alexander Technique by Walter Carrington, Seán Carey, (Mouritz, 2004), pp. 150-51.

[8] ‘A positive approach to asthma’ by Eric de Peyer in the British Naturopathic Journal and Osteopathic Review, vol. 6, no. 7., Winter, 1966.

Copyright Jean M. O. Fischer, © 2013–2019