The Principles of the Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique Principles
What each lesson teaches you to apply…
…to everything you do!
As my Home and About page describe, folx come to Alexander for a wide range of reasons. No matter why you’re taking AT, in every class, you are being shown how to apply the Technique’s foundational Principles to yourself (in everything you do) as a way to address your goals or issues.
Don’t worry about memorizing; we learn through doing 😊
However, it may be helpful for you and your learning style to have an overview or map of what you’re learning as you experience AT. This page is intended only as a reference or supplement to your lessons. If that’s what you’re looking for, scroll down.
If you’d like to read about all of these in detail, I invite you to visit my online Resource Library (links to peer-reviewed articles, videos, books).
Alexander Technique Principles
1.The Unity of the Self (the Whole Person):
we Humans (like all animals) each Function as an integrated, psychophysical (mind-body-emotion) whole.
Body <---> Brain work together, 24/7 (for better or worse)
nothing we do is purely physical or purely mental or purely emotional or purely _____
the reality of humans’ natural, integrated whole-person Functioning vs. the compartmentalization of human need through societal institutions
Medical, legal, educational, (etc.) frameworks still treat us as a collection of disparate parts when we do not function that way. We learn to view ourselves through a series of compartmentalized lenses.
our learned (conscious & unconscious) adaptations to such external constructs impact our internal/ whole-self functioning.
our capacity to be aware of ourselves in action (motor movement) is naturally limited even before imposed compartmentalization.
2. Use effects Function:
Condition(s) of Use (illness, injury, genetics, disease, syndromes, etc)
Manner of Use (Habit/Choice)
my Manner of Use can improve or worsen or even create a Condition of Use, which likely will impact my ability to Function as well as I’d like
3. Unreliability of Sensory Perception:
most of us have been trained to become unaware beginning in early childhood (esp. once school starts)
our Conditions and Manner of Use can interfere with both our awareness and its accuracy (i.e.: proprioception, interoception, exteroception, etc.)
example: “people keep telling me my head is pulled forward, but I don’t notice it until I’m in a lot of pain; the chiro and massage gets me out of pain for a day or 2, and then I’m back in the same place. Now I’m losing my voice.”
we can’t change what we don’t notice; however, we can learn how to become more aware and more accurately aware (“brain plasticity”). AT then shows us what to do with our new awareness.
4. “End-gaining” vs. “Means-whereby”
assuming I know what I want, how do I go about getting it? How do I respond to a sensory perception or the next thing on my To-do List.
do I go for immediate result/ “try harder”/ “work harder”/“Concentrate”/ “get it right”
can I center process to achieve the result I want?
can I allow for shifts in process and in result (“work smarter”) as I get more info?
5. “Non-Doing”
the pause before action that allows for checking-in or sensory awareness
giving myself time to quiet my nervous system
“Non-doing” is NOT not-doing
6. “Primary Control" (a.k.a. the Head-Neck-Back Relationship)
human movement (internal & external), like that of every other 4-limbed vertebrate, is organized around a naturally lengthening and widening relationship between bones and all gravitational forces
as we engage in the acts of living, a central, stabilizing relationship of bony parts occurs, primarily between Head-Neck/Spine-Pelvis
we can observe this relationship working easily and well in most 4-limbed animals and small children
the dynamic oppositions involved in maintaining upright posture are primary for a general, healthy “Manner of Use” and long-term healthy functioning
most of us are born with this working well and learn to interfere (unconsciously)
putting AT principles into action (which we learn how to do through lessons and through applying what we do in class to Life activities) helps to restore our Primary Control to better working order and helps prevent future issues.
7. “Inhibition”/ inhibiting
saying “no" to habitual reaction/ contracted motor coordination you don’t want
nerves are either “excited” or “inhibited” – this is the flavor of the word (vs. the Freudian sense of it)
8. “ Direction”/ directing
Specific way of constructively guiding/talking to your body to remove impediments to PC coordinating well. Inviting oppositions to release into length and width vs. forcing/ pushing/holding a position.
Analogy: conductor or band leader working with an orchestra to make music = you conducting yourself and your motor habits to walk or run or swim or talk or sing or dance or listen or sit or _________