Page 83 - Total War on PTSD

Veteran told me that the things he learned about himself in his lessons helped him become more aware of himself and then everything started to change. Are you aware of unnecessary tensions that you hold in your body?
Most of us are unaware of how we move. Fredrick Matthias Alexander, the founder of the Alexander Technique, tells us that our sensory perception is “debauched,” or faulty. This was one of Alexander’s first discoveries. Alexander was born in Australia in 1869. His passion was acting, yet he frequently struggled with the loss of his voice while on stage. He sought medical attention and was advised to rest; however, shortly after returning to the stage he would again lose his voice. His determination to continue acting led him to begin a process of self-observation. His doctors agreed with his thinking that he must be “doing” something to cause the loss of his voice yet they were not able to tell him what it was. Using a three-way mirror, he observed himself astutely and noticed several things. When he took a breath, he sucked his air in loudly and lifted his chest. Having been instructed to grasp the floor while acting, he tightened his feet. Until he took the time to see himself in the mirror, he had been unaware that he was creating muscular interference (tension), in his body. But, if he tried to move in the opposite direction from the way he was positioning himself in an attempt to reverse or undo what he was doing it did not provide a solution. He concluded that he needed to “not-do” what he was doing.
“Non-doing” is another basic premise of the Alexander Technique. Alexander realized that he needed to not suck in air, not lift his chest and not tighten his feet to grasp the ground. These interfering activities that he thought would improve his acting were, in fact, contributing to muscular constriction in his neck and around his vocal cords. This muscular tension was interfering with his voice. He later realized these habits were present all the time, not only while acting. These are two of the guiding principals of the Alexander Technique. One, we are unaware of what we do and two, the concept of “non- doing” — we need to “not do” that which is interfering with our natural movement.
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