Alexander technique: relief from involuntary muscle tension

I may be wrong, that you're doing it wrong

but in this case you can continue to do things right

without taking me into consideration.

(F. M. Alexander)

The technique F. M. Alexander – a set of exercises that can help you correctly use your own body to harmoniously use their own muscles.





The method is based on the view that each person throughout life, develop habits of misuse of your body, expressed in the way you hold your posture and to produce movements of the body, inevitably leading to additional excessive stress on the musculoskeletal system, which is one of the main causes of dysfunction of the body and processes occurring therein.

The main danger of these habits lies in the fact that the person eventually gets used to them and begins to perceive them as natural processes (in this aspect, observed the similarity with the “muscular armor” of W. Reich).

Thus, if a physically healthy person who had made a habit to hold your posture, suddenly begins to slouch, then this habit will become the norm for him, and bad posture can lead to disorders of respiratory function, poor oxygen supply to the brain, disorders of the bowel, spinal curvature and premature aging, muscle and headaches, poor concentration, etc.

The technique F. M. Alexander is acknowledged by many professionals working with the human body as a phenomenal technique that enables one to enjoy life as he wants the man himself, and not, as he allows his own body, after all, no matter the person is aware of it or not, the status of his body is mirrored by the quality of his life.

With the technique F. M. Alexander used by thousands of professional actors, TV presenters, politicians, teachers, musicians, psychologists, and writers all over the world. This represents the authority considered technology among other technologies of bodily therapy that gives you the right to call the technique F. M. Alexander real world discovery.

 

Who was the author of this discovery?

 

Frederick Mathias Alexander was born on 20 Jan 1869 in Australia, the city of Vineyard located in the North-West coast of Tasmania. The author of the wonderful art was born with serious health problems, and none of the doctors could not guarantee that the boy will live more than a few weeks. However, largely due to the boundless love of a mother, F. Alexander survived, but continued to experience severe illness, the head of which were diseases of the respiratory organs.

Due to health problems Frederick could not attend school together with other children, and my parents had to hire a child a private tutor, so it was a lot of free time in the evening, which he used in helping father in the stable. It was there that he gained experience of non-verbal communication, it later turned out priceless for him.

Due to financial problems in the family of seventeen-year-old boy was forced to get a job in the tin-mining company, in parallel, in his spare time, he took lessons of playing the violin. However, all the money earned by hard work, Frederick has managed to spend to visit art exhibitions, museums and performances – so strong was his craving for art.

He soon started his own one-man show in which he read the works of Shakespeare.

When her acting career was on the rise, Frederick once again faced with health problems that haunted him since childhood – he was hoarse, his voice completely vanished during one of their performances. For the sake of your own voice, Frederick was ready to undergo any treatment, however, preventive measures give only a temporary effect. One of the doctors advised him not to talk for a couple of weeks in order not to strain the vocal cords. At first, it gave results, and he held a show almost “in the same breath,” but at the end of one of the final scenes his voice disappeared again. At this point, he realized that acting career he should say goodbye...

 

The origin of the Alexander technique

 

Losing the voice that F. Alexander is in despair came to his physician, advised him not to talk for a few weeks, and asked why at first everything was fine, but then the voice failed him. And not waiting for from the doctor more or less plausible explanation, Alexander decided to fight with his illness, which he began to study himself, his deep features.

The study of himself, Alexander was based on the law of cause and effect: every action must cause a reaction.

If a person is suffering from any ailment, be it headache, insomnia or arthritis, this corresponds to some internal cause.

The opposition to Alexander is precisely the loss of voice.

 

The healing process

 

Then Alexander realized that the main reason for the loss of the voice are incorrect movements of the head and neck, which, in turn, lead to a wrong location and posture, causing other diseases (including probable loss of voice). The disease appeared due to excessive stress on the various muscle groups of the person with whom the organism was not able to cope.

Thus, uncontrolled and with the running condition of the muscles and the randomness of their movements can undermine human health, as the muscles of a person experiencing an unrealistic load, even when the person is resting.

The idea of the methodology is contained in the phrase written personally by F. Alexander:

“Attempting to improve the function of their own organ of speech, and taking as the basis the different methods, I noticed that a certain position of the head and neck relative to the torso... performs the primary control over the human body as a whole.”

The main cause of the incorrect position of the head and neck F. Alexander considered the habit of man to slouch, which originates from the time of human learning in school. If we observe the position of the head, neck and torso of children in the classroom, you will notice a variety of different poses:

• some of the children head down almost to the end,
• others, on the contrary, the head is excessively raised up.

Both cases are examples of the incorrect position of neck and head, which under the influence of strong muscular exertion can lead to the deformation of posture and the adoption of this improper position of posture for natural. And only a few children hold the posture smooth, and monitor the position of the head and neck.

In the absence of control over the location of the neck it formed a hump and, with the aim of preserving equilibrium, the remaining part of the body takes uneven posture, a person begins to experience the early stages of deflection of the spine. In this situation, pain in lower back caused by irregularities in the upper back, and therefore the treatment of problems of the spine should begin with the treatment of the upper part, or the cause of the pain is not eliminated and the disease will manifest itself again.

For proper operation of the organs of respiration, speech, and digestion requires a correct position of the spine, because near the area of the spine are very important nerves and blood vessels that have a direct effect on the functions of breathing and heartbeat.

Alexander believed that many health problems people could solve one simple rejection of habits whenever the irritation to abruptly recline your head back. To abandon this addiction Alexander sought himself and tried to instill this desire to their students.





In order to preserve his own posture a person is not able to carry out continuous monitoring of the position of parts of the body, and FR Alexander understood this, and therefore demanded that his disciples do not have as much control over the position of the head and neck, how harmonious coordination of human-produced movements in the process of life.

He believed that even the most hunchbacked people do not despair and lament the fate, as the body has physiological “wisdom”, thanks to which after any violations it seeks to return to equilibrium, posture tends to take a natural from birth right shape.

However, this will never happen without the desire of man to achieve the natural posture to bring your body correct form, as this process requires hard work.

The same principle applies to the functions of internal and external organs of the human body – with the normalization of the shape of the posture is normal and natural function of organs.

The degree of “wisdom” of the body, its ability to return to a natural state is directly connected with man's dependence on drugs aimed at giving the body the correct form – the higher the dependence on drugs, the lower the “wisdom” of the body.

Frederick Alexander is sure that, in addition to extreme cases of neglect of the disease, a person is able to deal with it alone, opting notto drugs, but to a complex of physical exercises.

For efficient operation according to the technique of F. M. Alexander from the person requires a high level of self-discipline and self-control, but the effort and contribution will be rewarded with excellent health and excellent condition.

For a better understanding of methods let us consider the action of the man from 10 up to 500 times a day – sitting down. When the man slowly sits down, his kneecaps slowly move forward and down, and heel bred in different directions. When the human body starts to fall, most people are purchased a habit to push the pelvis back, tilting the head up and the lower part of the chest to press forward. These habits of people causes a significant (if not catastrophic) damage their posture. Natural human movements should be smooth movement of the pelvis, the direction of the housing straight down. In any case it is impossible to prevent the extension of the lower part of the chest forward and pelvis backward. Take your posture!





Fig. 1. Movement sitting down on the chair person

Figure 1A clearly shows is detrimental to posture, however, usual for many people, the manner of squats.

Figure 1b shows the opposite of natural, but, as a result of false habits, forgotten style of squats.

Balanced head position violated that provides undue stress on the neck and reflected on his posture.

Most people, unfortunately, extremely difficult to maintain an even posture in the moment when they sit on the chair. As a rule, people are so busy with everyday Affairs that don't even think about posture and the consequences of poor manners sitting at the table. They sit down quickly, rotting the back and bulging chest.

To save the posture, a person must not bend the back forward, arching the neck down, and align the back and direct the body forward from the hip joints to the pelvis moved along with his back.

Also you should not throw one foot to another, as this will lead to excessive muscle tension. The best option would be dilution of the knees in different directions, in order to avoid further back pain and muscle tension. The pelvis of a seated person should be as pressed to the back of the chair.

Another problem with keeping your posture in the normal state is the unequal distribution of tension in the muscles of the body (the so-called dystonic voltage). Dystonic voltage can be observed even during rest. Some people don't monitor the position of his body, experiencing dystonic voltage even when performing such simple actions as lifting the spoon, turning on lights, opening doors, etc. Dystonic voltage is caused by inability of the person under the influence of the stimulus to return to a calm state. After some similar situations, excessive muscle response becomes a human norm, and he loses the ability to restrain the activity of his muscles and return the body to a restful state.

Under the effect of excessive muscular exertion the human skeleton becomes deformed and unnatural shape.

What can you do in this situation, how to get rid of excessive stress?

F. Alexander offers to do the following – using relaxation to restore the body to a balanced state.

However, many people manage to achieve only a partial relaxation, and muscle tension, albeit implicit, remains. As if a person is in a state of subdued tension, and the slightest repetition of the stimulus returns him to a state of muscle tension. This situation is called “permanent deformation”.

There are two main ways of getting rid of involuntary tension of the muscles:

complete disregard dystonic tension, a return to a balanced state of peace.

The first way is less labor-intensive and consists in taking the human condition of passivity after work or in the use of alcohol or drugs. The person in this case not only that may cause muscle tension.

The second way is much harder but far more effective is to change motor habits with the aim of creating correct posture.

Exercise correction of posture

Turn your back to the wall so that the heels were at a distance of 5-7 cm from the wall, and his feet were placed apart by approximately 25 to 28 cm (as shown in Fig. 2A).





Fig. 2

 

Then, without changing the position of the legs, slightly tilt the base of the trunk back to the wall (Fig. 2b).

It is very important that the buttocks together with the blades simultaneously touched the wall.

• If one part of the body touches the wall sooner than the other, it witnesses about the curvature of the spine.
• If before all to the wall to touch the back of your head, it will signal about the presence of habits tip the head back.

 

If you are too much and push the pelvis forward, so the wall will only touch the blade, and buttocks – no. In such a situation you should move your buttocks to the wall.

You can find the education between the lumbar region and the wall a certain gap, which will disappear as soon as you make a bend both legs at the knees, while bring the abdomen forward a little and push the buttocks (as shown in Fig. 2C).

• If after some time the body will become exhausting for you, this will signal that you have serious problems with posture.

 

While in this position, be sure to not fall if you stop. If the foot is compacted, it can be fixed, apart knees bent.

Similarly occurs and correction O-shaped legs.

Straighten knees, but don't let their complete rectification. In a standing position feet should be a slight bend. While in the lumbar region should remain a slight deflection.

Next, you should push the torso away from the wall, without moving the feet. To start a movement is with the head, not the stomach or chest.





Fig. 3

 

Apart feet, possible non-detection of errors, manifesting during walking.

Put on the left and right sides of the chairs with high backs (see Fig. 3A), and touch my thumbs, backs of chairs, putting the elbows out.

Start walking with the right leg: lift the heel, slightly bend your right knee.

In this position the body weight should shift to your left leg in order to be able to raise the right. Many may notice that they produce a raising of the right leg with the bend of the right knee, and by lifting the right side of the pelvis (Fig.3b). In the future you can tell, sensing the tension in the hand touching the back of the chair.

Passing exercises should be remembered that the arms and upper torso should not participate in the initial flexion of the knee (correct position of the body shown in Fig.3c).

At a later stage of the walking should bend the knee until to the floor will not touch only the end of the thumb (Fig. 3d).

At the time of movement of the torso forward, the leg will be off the floor, after which she is obliged to touch his butt. Only thereafter, the floor should drop the whole sole completely. The knees should not fully straighten (Fig. 3c).

In that case, if the floor will touch is the whole sole, that bend in the lower back area will be significant. With the introduction of the heel and the toes this way, you will be able to reduce the risk of a significant bending of the spine forward in the lumbar part.

Is it possible to start using the technique yourself Alexander?

Of course you can!

First, choose a place to study that is comfortable for you where you no one can stop it. Next you need to lie down on the floor, putting his head under a book. Bend your legs so that your knees are pointing toward the ceiling. Your thoughts must be free from external, you should not change the position of the body. Mentally say the phrase: “Neck free, head up and forward.” Thereby you will focus on the neck and head. Next, mentally say the phrase “Back to expand and pull”. You will start to feel your back, shoulder blades and straightened. Uttering the second sentence, we should not forget about the neck and the head. If it happened that you forget about them – go back to the first sentence and concentrate on the head and neck, and then go to work with the back muscles. Keep in mind that you do not need to produce any action by repeating these phrases alternately for several minutes, your body will individually reach a state of relaxation.

In the future, when performing any action and the test of muscular tension you should alternately repeat the phrase, and your muscles will be in relaxed state.

Every man is accustomed to perform certain actions one particular way, even without taking into account the fact that the same action can be done in several different ways. While before the actual action of the person goes through the stage of “waiting action”, when the perception of actions consistent with his expectation.

Therefore, when a person performs any action, even the smallest external stimulation can cause premature beginning.

When the person will be able to control their reaction and react at the right moment in time, it will get rid of dependence of the tension of waiting.

The new design of the body to which the person is committed, applying the method of Alexander, there is nothing like the subjective feeling of the correct “posture of waiting”.

Due to the fact that the typical person's perception of their preferred reactions to stimuli occurs at the level of the unconscious man, according to the methodology Alexander, must consciously work to design your own body with the purpose of inhibition included in the habit, but they don't feel natural reactions.

Initially you should plan a new, correct response to stimuli. Over time, this habit becomes a deliberate action. Then there is no need to think about every action – they will occur spontaneously.

When actions are considered, applying the method of Alexander, people will be able to monitor your posture and get the most from a lot of unnecessary problems related to their health.published

 

Author: Anton Yasir

 

The materials are for informational purposes. Remember, self-life-threatening, for advice regarding the use of any medicines and methods of treatment, contact your doctor.

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: telo.by/bodytherapy/kompleksi_dvigatelnih_uprazhneniy/