Glossary of Alexander Phrases
As with all fields of human interest there are special words and phrases that we use when talking about the Alexander technique.
So here is a list of words and phrases, used by Alexander teachers and students, with a brief pointer to their meaning. To understand the full meaning will often require a commitment to studying the technique.
F M Alexander wrote four books:
‘MSI’
Man’s supreme inheritance - Alexander’s first book
‘CCC’
Constructive Conscious Control - Alexander’s second book
‘Use of the Self’
Alexander’s 3rd book
‘UCL’
The Universal Constant in Living - Alexander’s fourth and final book that looks in detail at his assertion that ‘Use affects functioning'
Various Alexander concepts:
‘Use’
The way you use your mind and body
‘Use affects functioning'
The way you use your mind and body affects the way they function
This is central to the technique
‘The self’
The whole person, the mind, body, emotions and spirit
‘Primary Control’
The relationship between the head and the spine
It has a global effect on all your activity.
We are looking to allow the in-built head-righting reflexes to be active in this relationship
‘Atlanto-occipital joint’ (AO joint)
The joint between the head and the rest of the body, at the top of the spine; the Occiput is a section of bone at the bottom of the head the Atlas is the top vertebra of the spine.
‘Psycho-physical unity’
The concept that the mind and body are one functioning unit not two separable parts
‘Faulty, (Unreliable or Debauched) Sensory Awareness’
The state of our sensory feedback when we feel we are doing something different to what we are actually doing
‘Anti-gravity reflex’
A term used for the person’s inbuilt response to gravity
The reflex that lengthens the spine in response to gravity’s downward influence
‘Sensory awareness’
Feedback from your senses of which you are conscious
‘Kinaesthesia’
Your sense of movement in your body
The sense of acceleration and deceleration in movement
‘Proprioception’
Your sense of position, relative angles and balance within your body
‘End-gaining’
When you are more interested in the result or end than the ‘means whereby’ you might achieve that end
You become an ‘end-gainer’, in Alexander terms, if you are focused on the goal and not choosing how you do things
‘Means-whereby’
The method or way in which you might best achieve your goals
‘Doing’
End-gaining
Not allowing things to happen but making them happen
Doing or trying tends to be less efficient, less coordinated
‘Non-doing’
Choosing your modus operandi with the ‘means-whereby’ in mind
Allowing your unimpaired coordination to work for you
‘Inhibiting’ of the habitual modus
‘Lengthening’
This implies a release of muscles that are unnecessarily tightened. As muscles work less they get longer (and thinner); this allows bones to move fractionally apart, creating more freedom in the joints and allows the body to lengthen
If the extensor muscles work, they organise the spine into a lengthening condition
‘Downward Pull’
The opposite of lengthening – this is usually a habit with a negative emotional source
Created by pulling the head down or back and down or forwards in space and down
‘Widening’
This happens when you release muscles that are narrowing your body
‘Narrowing’
The opposite of widening – muscular tension that is often expressing lack of confidence
‘Deepening’
Releasing that creates an expansion or more space between the front and back of the body
‘Spiralling’
The concept of turning that includes lengthening
Phrases that refer to applying the principles:
‘Recognition of habit’
This is simply what it says on the tin – it is usually referring to identifying negative habits that you will then intend to change
‘Inhibition’
A moment of consciousness before you go into action when you acknowledge to yourself that you have choices
You ‘inhibit’ or decide to stop negative habitual or automatic behaviour
You can apply inhibition continuously to avoid a negative habit when you are playing your instrument – it becomes part of your awareness
‘Direction’
A willing or wishing of parts of the body to move on a certain journey
The act of ‘directing’ affects the motor and balancing systems that predispose your body to change in the desired way
You can also direct your attention, emotions or awareness
‘Opposition in direction’
A reference to putting directions in a larger context
e.g. the head moves up as the sitting bones connect with the chair
The hands move away from the back as the back moves away from the hands
‘Send your head up’ or ‘Think up!’
An example of a ‘direction’
You think of your head moving in the direction your spine is pointing – this encourages a coordinated lengthening of the spine
‘Head forward and up’
Two directions relating to the desired tendency in the head’s movement; ‘forward in this context is a tipping, rotating or rolling forward of the head on the ‘atlanto-occipital joint’ (AO joint – see above) where your head balances on the top of your spine – it is not bending the neck forward so the head moves forward in space. The ‘up’ element is simple; it is whatever direction in which your spine is pointing.
‘Conscious control’
Developed awareness of what you are doing that makes choices available and the application of ‘inhibition’ and ‘direction’
‘Constructive Conscious Control’
The conscious setting up of a framework of how to work on changes in your life, e.g. ‘the recognition of habit, the concepts of ‘primary control’, ‘inhibition’ and ‘direction’
‘Thinking in activity’
The conscious application of the Alexander principles to any activity
‘Body mapping’
A conscious appreciation of your functional anatomy
Barbara and William Conable devised this approach
‘A Turn’
When an Alexander teacher works with you for a short time, i.e. shorter than a lesson
‘Hands on work’
The practical, hands on, part of an Alexander lesson or turn
‘Work on yourself’
Personal work, consciously applying the principles, as you have understood them from lessons or your reading
Your Alexander thinking in practice, performance and everyday life
‘Monkey’ – ‘a position of mechanical advantage’
Somewhere between standing and sitting or squatting
A coordinated state that is balancing equally on two feet, unlike lunge
‘Lunge’
An approach to organising the transfer of weight on the feet in relation to the hands, arms and back
‘Wall work’
1) Making use of a wall as a reference of perpendicular flatness in relation to the back of your curved body
2) Making use of a wall as an unmovable flat surface to put hands on whilst changing position and orientation of your body’s weight, ‘direction’ and energy
‘Saddle work’
Working on your ‘use’ with or without a teacher whilst sitting on a saddle
The horse is usually a wooden construction rather than a live animal
You experience the hip joints and legs free from the weight of the upper body
‘Wobble board’
A wobbly platform used to develop more subtle balancing possibilities
Three Alexander ‘procedures’:
‘Semi-supine’
A position that we choose to adopt to restore coordinated use, recharge our batteries and find a neutral state. In an Alexander context it implies that you will be thinking directions whilst lying down. You lie on your back with your head on a book and your legs bent so your knees are up. If your legs were not folded up you would be in supine
‘Hands on the back of a chair’ or ‘Hands on a chair’ or ‘HOBC’
A procedure, described by FM in his second book, ‘Constructive Conscious Control’
This is a dynamic exercise to improve breathing and connect the hands to the back, preparatory for all manner of activities. The procedure can be performed standing or sitting with a suitable chair in front of you, on which to put your hands.
‘The Whispered Ah!’
Another procedure, this one involving the breathing and vocal mechanisms
You ‘inhibit, ‘direct’ and aspirate the ah vowel (the most open vowel sound)
Everyone can benefit from its practice as it improves breathing and vocal coordination
Common health issues for musicians:
‘RSI’
Repetitive strain injury; a condition suffered by musicians (as well as others) caused by repeated gestures with poorly coordinated ‘use’
Application of Alexander principles is a solution to the symptoms but also a preventative strategy
‘CTS’
Carpal tunnel syndrome; this is manifests as reduced capacity in the hand with numbness in the thumb and fingers caused by pressure on the nerve passing through the wrist. Improved use of the hand, wrist and arm can solve the problem
‘Curvature of the spine’
There are various named distortions of the spine, e.g. kyphosis, lordosis and scoliosis. All people are susceptible but the problem can develop for musicians who adopt less than optimal postures to play their instrument.
‘Focal Dystonia’
A neurological problem that affects a localised muscle or group of muscles
This condition has been known to be misattributed to musicians who develop the symptoms from repeated strong movements when playing their instrument