Alexander identified this
tension as a major source of ill health. There is simply no need
to ask our muscles to do more work than is necessary to be able
to perform their assigned job. This forms the basis for what
Alexander describes as "release".
Learn to release your
muscles.
When I talk to people about
releasing muscular tension using conscious control I often draw
some very blank looks. Using examples is a good way to describe
the process.
Below, I give some examples
of the process of release and also talk about Alexander's 5th and
possibly his most influential rule:- Inhibition.
Exercise 1
Raise a cup to your mouth in
the normal way. As the cup approaches your mouth relax your arm
and shoulders to reduce tension as much as possible while still
keeping the cup in place.
So we can see that the
tension that was in the arm and shoulder before the conscious
act was really not necessary because the cup remained in
position.
We can see that the muscles
were not totally relaxed as the cup would drop, but the
technique is important as we can apply it throughout the entire
body.
For example many of us sit
at workstations for several hours a day holding a great deal of
tension in our bodies.
Try writing something about
your day today, as you are writing, focus on the tension in your
neck and shoulders. As the tension eases, you should notice that
your shoulders drop and you feel less tired.
As you hold your pen can you
reduce the tension that is in your hand and fingers?
As you are writing think
about the position of your feet, and your legs. Are you holding
extra tension there? Make a mental effort to reduce and ease the
tension in your feet and legs as you sit at your desk.
The problem at this stage
will be that the second you shift your focus the tension
returns, but this is a temporary situation as your body will
begin to appreciate the state of reduced tension and will do it
automatically.
One technique that people
find useful is to look on the tension as a type of constant
annoying chatter, and reducing the tension as quieting the
chatter.
The rules for effective use
of body:
Combining the first 2 rules
for effective use of body helps the spine to maintain length
throughout the spinal column.
Lengthening the spinal
column helps to maintain curvature and flexibility as oppose to
compression caused by tension throughout the posture.
The Autonomic Nervous System
of modern man is being over-stimulated on a daily basis.
Walking through your town or
city, relaxing in your own home, whatever your daily life
entails, your Autonomic Nervous System is massively
over-stimulated in comparison to the level of stimulation it is
genetically designed to cope with at an evolutionary biological
level.
Remember specifically that
the industrial society we have developed into has largely come
about in the last hundred years or so.
The motor car, the
widescreen TV, the subwoofer hi-fi stereo, the neon lighting and
advertisements, the telephone and its mobile version all these
have appeared in a blip of time in evolutionary terms.
Examined from the
perspective of an evolutionary timeline, human beings have gone
from living on a peaceful, relaxing tropical beach to being in
the loudest brashest nightclub in
New York
in the space of a millionth of a second.
