BENEFITS SPECIFIC TO PD  

After a randomized controlled trial of AT for Parkinson’s involving 24 weekly one-to-one classes, students with PD retained benefits even after one year. 

Below are some of the benefits of Alexander lessons that students with PD have reported and that research on Alexander for PD has shown:

• Increased self-management of motor symptoms and over-stimulation 

• Greater steadiness, uprightness, coordination, and mobility

• Decreased rigidity

• Reduced depression 

• Access to a calming strategy for the nervous system

• Less anxiety and fear of falls

• Restoration of some prior functioning

Below are some of the benefits based on an American Parkinson Disease Association ("APDA") article:

• Calm: Great for those looking to be more calm, collected, and controlled when dealing with the everyday physical challenges presented by PD.

• Posture: Can be helpful in dealing with pain, rigidity, tremors, and stooped posture because it places primary attention on the position of the head, especially its carriage by the neck and shoulders where so many people store tension.

• Control: Gives students a way of working on themselves through mindfulness and self-observation, providing them with more control of their own bodies.

• Neuroplasticity: Helps students learn new skills, drop unhelpful habits, adapt in new ways to their environment, thus enhancing brain neuroplasticity.

• Integration/Coordination: Can help students learn to pay attention to how their body is moving when exercising. This can be more important than many realize because when our mind and body aren’t working together, which often happens in Parkinson’s, we are more likely to fall, or push ourselves too hard, which can lead to injuries.

• Trust/Confidence/Capacity: Trains those living with PD not only to pay attention to their own body signals, but to adapt and move in new and more conscious ways. These techniques improve body organization, confidence, and trust in moving through life. Students become more body literate and learn better when to step up the pace or when to stop or slow down to prevent injury or damage to the body.