Body Learning: 40th anniversary edition: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique

He knew that the balanced relationship of his head, neck and torso would organize the rest of the system and that this balanced relationship could only be achieved by indirect means. Instead of going directly for his end (speaking the sentence), Alexander first had to stop and inhibit his habitual response.

It is interesting, however, that the most successful form of treatment, that provided by Alcoholics Anonymous, sets out to put an individual in touch with his own sense of responsibility and integrity and to give him enough support to enable him to face facts and use his power of choice.

A pupil might be asked, for example, to visualize his head floating like a helium balloon or to think of his back smiling.

Alexander employed the word Use to describe the process of control over all those actions that he seemed to have the potential to control.

Tonight when you brush your teeth, or the next time you pick up a pen to write, observe the way you distribute your energy. Is it really necessary to tense your neck and interfere with your breathing in order to do these things? If you do not notice anything unusual, you should refer to the chapter on Unreliable Sensory Appreciation (here).

In the final chapter of The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski wrote, ‘We are nature’s unique experiment to make the rational intelligence prove itself sounder than the reflex.’ Bronowski implied that the success or failure of this experiment depended on the basic human ability to interpose a delay between stimulus and response.

Alexander does not suggest that we should return to more primitive, ‘natural’ conditions of life but rather that we should take more care about the manner of our reactions.

His experiments taught him that the best conditions of Use were brought about when he released the tension in his neck, so that his head could go forward and up and his back could lengthen and widen.

Alexander worked out a plan. First, he would inhibit his immediate response to speak the sentence, thereby stopping at its source the habitual uncoordinated direction. Second, he would consciously practise projecting the directions necessary for his improved Use of himself. Specifically, he would think of letting his neck be free and his head go fo