I’ve had a recent bout with flu and other ailments so I haven’t really done much lately. It’s a shame because I thought I was getting back into running, but then had to stop. Apart from the flu, which I’ve still got, one problem seemed to be some sort of rash that would emerge when I got too hot. So there’s not much to report, and I’ll hopefully shrug off this flu and get on with exercise soon. I’ll just concentrate on weights and strength exercises until the cold weather passes. Apparently it will snow in many – if not all – parts of the UK this week, and I’ve heard more than enough about “The Big Freeze”.

Apart from worrying about work, I’ve spent a bit of my time reading about The Alexander Technique. A lot of it initially didn’t make sense to me, but I’ve condensed it below to something that does. I’m particularly interested in it because of the “points of interest” towards the end. Perhaps anyone who reads this would like to send me their comments.

What is it?
The Alexander Technique is a system of mind and body re-education that reduces stress and muscle-tension.

How does it work?
It works by creating awareness of unnecessary excess tension – and in doing so, creating a correct head-neck relationship, developing a conscious thought-association of this new physical sensations, and maintaining these thoughts to recreate a correct head-neck relationship.

There is a gentle manual adjustment of the pupil by the teacher, in order to coax misused muscles to a better co-ordination. The pupil has to project a sequence of thought which matches closely the co-ordination which his teacher is inducing in his musculature.

The pupil learns to project this thought not just in the lesson, but when he is on his own as well. In doing so, he not only prevents misuse, but also builds up a new vocabulary of “use”.

What’s wrong with our sense of our own “use”?
Our sense of our own use is flawed. Over time, our sensory perceptions are numb from bad postural habits which result from factors such as work, fatigue, and poor concept of what constitutes good posture.

So isn’t the technique just to do with maintaining the correct posture?
The Alexander Technique is concerned with the means to achieving the end, and not primarily in the end itself (“End-gaining”).

In achieving what may outwardly seem like the correct posture, some parts of the body may overcompensate or be under-used. In aiming to maintain correct posture through muscular alignments, when the muscles of the body are fatigued, the sense of the “correct” position of a muscle may be flawed as well, resulting again in misuse.

In the Alexander Technique, the pupil has to develop a sense of co-ordinated musculature and learn to project a sequence of thought which leads the body to adapt this position. This involves giving directions that the motor nerves are trained to be familiar with to bring about a state of proper use.

The Alexander Technique is not about aligning body parts to achieve a perceived state of good posture, but in developing the motor nerves (which affect these body parts) and good sensory perception to achieve this good posture.

How can you tell if someone has bad use?
The region where the back of the neck joins the upper back reveals fundamental misuse of the self.

In what way does this reveal misuse?
A bad head/neck/back relationship causes physical unease and overcompensation in other physical muscles.

It is vitally important to maintain a good head/neck/back relationship. The head itself contains the structure which carries man’s most important sensory equipment of sight and hearing, taste and smell and balance.

Blood vessels and nerves of great importance and complexity pass through the neck area - nerve ganglia which affect breathing and heart rate and blood pressure; nerve roots which become liable to compression; and mechanisms of speech and swallowing and breathing.

So the Technique is about developing the motor nerves and good sensory perception to achieve good use of the self. How does it really work?

A muscle can either contract or lengthen.

55% of each motor nerve is devoted to contracting a muscle. During contraction, nerve impulses, from the brain and spinal cord, are sent to the main muscle fibre. The molecules in the muscle fibre get a signal to shorten, and the muscle contracts.

The remaining 45% of each motor nerve, which is concerned more with lengthening of a muscle, do not go directly to the actual muscle itself, but each pass through a complex muscle structure called the muscle-spindle. Muscle spindles are encapsulated, specialized fibres within muscle bellies.

Each muscle spindle has its own set of internal muscles. In addition to the motor nerves which go to it from the brain and the spinal cord, it has sensory nerves which go back from it to the brain and spinal cord. The spindle is a much more sensitive adjuster of muscle than is the actual over-lying muscle itself. It dampens excessive oscillations during muscle activity and also induces a lengthening of contracted muscle after activity.

Over contraction and shortening of the anatomical muscle may result in the muscle spindle going silent. Lengthening of the anatomical muscles can be brought about not just by stopping the activity which causes contractions, but by learning to voluntarily lengthen muscles until they achieve a better resting length.

In other words, in a balanced resting state, we can train motor nerves to eliminate contraction (affecting 55% of the nerve) while inducing them to lengthen (affecting 45% of the nerve) by an act of conscious will.

Sensory feedback is initially provided while a teacher is doing physical adjustments, and the student learns to develop this.

If our use is to be accurately balanced, four things at least are needed:
First, we need to get adequate information from our muscles (and from the other parts concerned with movement).
Secondly, we need to receive this information accurately in our brains without obscuring it.
Thirdly, we need to activate our muscles to do what we want, with a minimum of misuse.
Fourthly, we need to know how to maintain and come back to a balanced resting state which will interfere least with our functioning.

So what’s this business about lying down then?
Practising the technique involves lying down (with bent knees) and giving directions. Lying down creates a generally-relaxed state for the body, which then allows one to focus on eliminating inherent tension and work on lengthening the nerves.

So what’s this business about giving directions?
Motor nerves react to nerve impulses sent by the brain. As one is lying down, giving directions (such as “neck free, head forward and out”), one is actually sending out nerve impulses to the 45% of each nerve that deals with lengthening.

There is no apparent movement as the nerves are being trained to lengthen. The whole point about this is to strengthen the sensory and motor feedback from the brain and spinal cord to the nerve, and to continually coax the nerve to mute unnecessary oscillations resulting from tension (contraction by the other 55%).

If I tell myself to “lengthen and widen”, and feel this happening instantly, why shouldn’t I be pleased?
An immediate reaction is likely to be caused by tension in an opposing muscle group. For example, if you feel your back lengthening immediately, you would probably have contracted your stomach muscles to a certain degree to achieve this instead of working on lengthening the muscles in the back (“end-gaining”).

Inhibition
Inhibition is a key element of direction-giving. It is particularly important in the early stages of practising the technique. On the receipt of a stimulus – in the form of a nerve impulse, the brain is quick to recall its habitual reflex, which involves misuse through preparatory tension. Inhibition is necessary to eliminate this.

Is the Alexander Technique all about lying down?
Lying down is normally the first position in which students begin the study of the technique, as it is (hypothetically, at least) the position of least tension. Students should also work on incorporating the technique into their daily life – sitting, standing, etc – to achieve efficient use of the selves through minimizing excessive tension.

Points of interest
Muscles have been classified as opposing and having a “push/pull” relationship, just like the triceps “opposes” the biceps. Is this classification still correct, or is the opposition an inherent feature of individual motor nerves, rather than of muscle groups?

Fibres have generally been classified as “fast-twitch” (producing explosive power), and “slow-twitch” (aiding in stamina). Is this classification still correct, or are “fast-twitch” fibres actually the 55% within a fibre that deals with contraction (and in so doing, generating power) while “slow-twitch” fibres the 45% of a fibre that induces lengthening to minimize tension and assist in stamina?