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Modern Man Stoops Low
by Tasha Miller
Recent Articles in the press have described how modern
life is causing us to revert to a prehistoric state.
They claim that the time we spend hunched in front of
the computer or the TV, or the hours we spend sitting
in the car each week has made our shoulders droop like
our distant ancestors. And they say that eating too
much junk food has caused us to get fatter, with that
extra weight pulling us down into a prehistoric stoop.
According to Professor Grey of Nottingham Trent University,
'Millions of years after man became upright, Millennium
man is stooping lower and lower'. If it is true, that
our modern lifestyle is contributing to poor posture,
then this is more serious than you might think. For
poor posture can be linked with serious health problems:
bad backs, neck pain, coronary, respiratory and digestive
diseases to name a few.
But these are not new observations. An Australian named
F. Matthias Alexander, who founded the method now known
as the Alexander Technique, wrote nearly a hundred years
ago about the need for a new science in living because
of, "? the appalling physical deterioration that
can be seen by any intelligent observer who will walk
the streets of London or New York, for example, and
note the form and aspect of the average individuals
who make up the crowd". Alexander was concerned
not only with this gradual physical deterioration, but
also with a noticeable increase in psychological and
behavioural problems which he concluded were both symptoms
of the same problem. Yet he did not suggest giving up
civilisation to return to a more 'natural' or primitive
way of life. Rather he advocated moving forwards. He
claimed that man is at a critical point in his development
where he needs to take conscious control of the way
he uses himself in his daily activities. That is, he
can no longer rely upon instinctive direction to control
the mechanisms that co-ordinate him in his activities.
The instinctive mechanisms or reflexes that are responsible
for ensuring good co-ordination, balance and poise in
action and reaction operate beautifully in wild animals.
Yet, in modern man they have become unreliable due to
the process of civilisation, the rapid development of
ways of life for which we are not instinctively adapted.
We have created tools and technologies to help us gain
control over our environment but in some cases using
them has led to a disturbance of our natural balance
and poise.
Alexander discovered that our balance, poise and health
depend upon maintaining an ideal relationship between
our head and our body. He called this relationship the
'Primary Control'. The head must lead forwards and up
in a way which co-ordinates the other parts of the body
into a smooth, integrated, and balanced whole. Habitual
tensions or misuse can distort this relationship and
will have harmful effects right throughout the body,
due to the way all our muscles, joints and ligaments
are interconnected. If we stop for a moment and realise
that the head weighs around 16 to 18 pounds and that
the pull of gravity is downwards, then this forward
and upwards direction of the head can be seen to be
critically important. However, this relationship is
not a fixed one and the idea of 'good' or 'bad' posture
needs to be understood in a new way. There is no such
thing as a 'right' position, but there is such a thing
as a right direction or relationship between the head
and the body.
This relationship is controlled by very delicate postural
reflexes which in primitive man and animals operate
automatically and unconsciously. But modern man needs
to consciously learn how to not interfere with these
mechanisms in the process of adapting to new and 'un-natural'
environmental conditions. He needs to learn to maintain
this relationship during his long periods working at
computers, watching TV screens or driving his car. And,
he needs also to learn to attend to his primary control
while engaged in more natural activities such as walking.
The solution to our modern problem is not more exercise
or more dieting or more therapies. It requires knowledge
and skill in learning how the postural mechanisms work
and this requires the aid of an Alexander Teacher.
The Alexander teacher uses their hands to gently direct
the student's head into its proper relationship to the
body, and the student gains the experience of what this
feels like and learns how to maintain it. The teacher
also introduces some simple anatomical and physiological
principles and procedures concerning movement and breathing
to help the student learn how to think in a new way
about what they are doing in their activities. They
are taught to recognise this relationship and to recognise
when they are interfering with the proper working of
the postural reflexes that align the head to the body
so that they can learn to move and react to stimuli
more efficiently and constructively. Over time, as knowledge
and skill develops, movement becomes more fluid and
posture improves. There comes greater freedom in muscles
and joints and better breathing, digestion and circulation,
all of which contribute to being more poised and relaxed.
This leads to better interpersonal relationships and
better general standards of health and well-being.
F. M. Alexander's discovery offers us a unique chance
for a healthier and happier future. But in doing so
it asks us to abandon the search for a quick fix or
miracle cure and move instead towards a reasoning attitude
of investing in a long term programme of re-education
to learn to undo the unconscious and deeply ingrained
habits that are damaging our health. However, every
journey begins with the first step, so why not arrange
for your first introductory session and discover what
many others have discovered, a sound method for developing
good habits of movement, control and poise in everything
you do.
Many thanks to Tasha MIller for permission
to use this text on the Alexander Technique from her
personal website:
www.alexandertechniqueatlantic.ca
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