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

The body does not need to be taught to stand, move, or breathe. We simply need to stop interfering with our natural capabilities. Therefore, awareness is key. To embody this new understanding is the next challenging frontier. Being a self-correcting system demands that we shift our focus and intention away from doing it “right” to gaining awareness

skill development is characterized not by adding new muscle contractions, but taking away the unnecessary ones. In the context of everyday emotional life, inhibition allows you to make measured responses to stressful events. When a car cuts you off in traffic, there is a flash of excitement in the muscles and heart rate, but the spread of excitemen

Although most of us are not consciously afraid of falling as we walk or squat, there is always some degree of unconscious nervous system activity devoted to preventing a fall. This may involve excess tension and restriction of uncontrolled mobility. To the extent that a developmental position can reduce this protective activity, it can facilitate t

Good positioning always includes a: Stable pelvis (see Chapter Three, Centering the Pelvis) Centered joints (see Chapter Four, Connecting to Bone) Released, supple psoas (see Chapter Two, Engaging the Psoas Muscle) Anchoring