Changing The Way You Work: The Alexander Technique
Photos from the article excerpted below.
Read the article in Anvil magazine.

Directive 1. (left) Before the Alexander Technique is applied. (right) Practicing the Alexander Technique. Allow the neck muscles to ease (free). Allow the head to go forward and up from the spine.
The drawing at left by David Gorman illustrates the relationship of the head and neck to the torso.
In the first (left-hand) picture, the head is pulled back and down by involuntary tension in the neck and shoulders. Note the compression of disks and vertebrae in the neck.
In the second (right-hand) drawing, following Alexander Technique guidance, the head is released forward and up, resulting in a lengthened neck free of unnecessary pressure on disks and vertebrae.
The “forward and up” direction of the head is essentially an inhibition of the unconscious action of pulling the head back and down. Once a person learns to stop involuntary tensing of the head, neck and shoulders, the spine and neck lenghten due to the natural postural reflex of the body.
So, rather than “doing” something with the head and neck, the individual is consciously inhibiting the detrimental effort of pulling the head back and down. One often experiences this inhibition of unnecessary detrimental effort as a “letting go”, or a “release”. In fact, the lengthened “forward and up” position is our natural postural state.