Free Yourself from Back Pain

A Guide to the Alexander Technique

By Noël Kingsley

Published by Kyle Cathie Ltd,

February 2011

  • A staggering 80% of us will experience back pain at some point in our lives.
  • Over 60 million working days are lost each year to absenteeism caused by back problems.
  • In 2008 a major study by the British Medical Journal proved that one-to-one lessons in the Alexander Technique provide significant long-term benefits for chronic low-back pain.

Wouldn’t relief from back pain be bliss? It can affect almost everything we do, restricting our mobility and making us miserable. In this new book, professional Alexander Technique teacher, Noel Kingsley offers a practical and straightforward guide to overcoming postural problems and alleviating pain. We learn to regain the naturally free, upright poise we had as young children.

Most cases of back pain relate to posture – how we sit, stand, walk, bend and move around in daily life. The Alexander Technique addresses this by helping us to observe our patterns of movement and teaching us to avoid harmful strains, release tension and move more freely to perform tasks with the minimum of effort. As well as overcoming muscular pain, this re-educational self-help method can also be used to relieve tension headaches, stress, breathing difficulties and sciatica. It can even be adopted to overcome shyness and timidity by increasing our height and stature and promoting natural confidence and better stamina.

Free Yourself from Back Pain is designed to provide helpful advice, tips and further information to accompany actual lessons in the Alexander Technique. Starting with the causes of back pain, it guides us through each step of applying the technique to daily life, looking at poise, bad habits and balance, through to core strength and awareness of space, to helping with specific situations such as driving the car, carrying, running and pregnancy. The author includes step-by-step exercises to improve co-ordination and help the reader experiment with new ways of thinking and moving.

With full colour photography, illustrations and lively, informative text, this essential book will highlight the importance of good posture and help us to achieve healthy and correct ways of moving. Ideal for anyone who knows how painful a bad back can be, and want to eliminate pain for good.

Noël Kingsley, MSTAT, trained as a professional teacher in the Alexander Technique under Walter Carrington, a protégé of FM Alexander himself. After qualifying he continued to study with Walter Carrington whilst building his own practice in Central London, which he ran full-time since 1993. He is also the author of Perfect Poise, Perfect Life (Hodder & Stoughton 2005) Available from Amazon

1 Comment

  1. Free Yourself Back Pain Noel Kingsley on August 23, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    […] Free yourself from back pain – by Noel Kingsley – In this new book, professional Alexander Technique teacher, Noel Kingsley offers a practical and straightforward guide to overcoming postural problems and alleviating pain. We learn to regain the naturally free, … Free Yourself from Back Pain is designed to provide helpful advice, … […]