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The curve in the spine quite quickly becomes “set”. It
used to be known as a “dowager's hump”, though it is commonly seen in much
younger people too.
We spend a great deal of time in a sitting position, carrying out many different activities. As well as the obvious situations, like sitting at a desk, or the dinner table, or sitting watching telly, there's also driving, riding a bike, a motorbike or horse, using an exercise bike or rowing machine.
When Frederick Matthias Alexander (after whom the Alexander Technique is named) discovered that muscular tension was the cause of his recurring voice problem, he also realised that looking after the relationship between the head, neck and back was the key to solving the problem. Heads are heavy, but can be supported with ease by a lengthening spine. When slumping, however, the head is not easily supported. Its weight as it falls forward contributes to shortening in the spine and it has to be held by the muscles of the “hump”. When looking forward (watching telly or riding a bike, for instance) rather than down (as in writing or reading) the neck falls down but then the head is tipped back in order to raise the eyes.
If you have the opportunity, look at the way that young children achieve an easy balance of the head, even though their heads are heavier, in proportion to their bodies, than are ours. Or think of graceful images of African women carrying loads on their heads. That's the kind of poise and ease and lengthening to which we can all aspire.
So I'd like you to think about the connection between what you do to yourself when sitting and the ache in your neck and shoulders. And when you consider how much time you will spend, or have spent, in a sitting position today, including the occasions when you're busy doing something like typing, writing, eating etc, it becomes a significant portion of the day. Being aware, thinking about what you are doing, is the first step to changing it. Your growing awareness of yourself and the connection between what you do and how you feel may make you wish to change the way you do things. That's what Alexander Technique lessons are about.
Making connections is an important part of the process of using the Technique in everyday life. It does not consist of a series of instructions (like a car manual): how to sit, how to stand, how to bend. Instead, it teaches you to stop using your habitual patterns of tension so that, amongst other benefits, you can have ease in the neck, shoulders and back whatever your position and whatever you're doing.
You may no longer be able to say “my neck's killing me”, because you'll recognise that you are “killing” your neck!
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