Why Combine Your Yoga Practice With The Alexander Technique
From Tension To Healthy Attitude & Free Movement
Figure 1. If you prefer to watch a slideshow video version of this article, click on the youtube link on the left.
After finishing Alexander Technique teacher training course I restored my previously on and off Yoga routine. Both of the disciplines are body-mind oriented, whole in their own and can be beautifully integrated. But why would a total system of Yoga need additions from other disciplines? And what has Alexander Technique (AT) got to offer to someone who is engaging in other disciplines?
I have enjoyed Yoga for various reasons - it helps me build strength, have more movement in my life, feel embodied and challenged. The relaxed and connected feeling at the end of the class makes me smile. Learning skills when conquering new fun poses is also welcomed, as well as having a hobby and like-minded people around as a community. However, I’ve always struggled with many fundamental concepts in Western Yoga studios that trigger my current understanding of healthy movement and body-mind connection.
The complete system of Yoga in itself doesn’t need any additions from other disciplines, but ideas that reach the average practitioner in a studio do benefit from being looked through the lens of Alexander teachings. AT offers no series of exercises but concentrates on how we use ourselves in action. I chose Yoga but the principles apply to literally anything. It’s the how we do things, the way of looking after ourselves in any activity.
Being interested in injury-free Yoga and natural movement of the body, I’m also curious about what my mind is up to during the practice. Supposedly Yoga is offering the answers, except that the language around the practice is not delivering the message. That would be fine if it was a little misunderstanding of verbalizing things, but because the way of thinking is deeply integrated in the whole business, in the industry and Yoga culture, I find it just the right juncture between these two disciplines.
The misleading language I talk about is of course the pushing, pulling, holding, engaging, lifting, tucking and so on. I haven’t yet accomplished to push or pull without compromising the back of the neck or the lower back and causing the vertebrae of the spine to go into extreme extension. Anatomically things get complex very quickly, but forceful self-talk is above all an attitude issue. How do you get where you wish to be?
Before learning AT I had a lot of questions about balance and coordination that weren’t addressed in a class. What does it mean to stand upright? How much effort is required to stay in a Warrior II? Is deep breathing really beneficial and am I developing strength via contracting muscles in a pose? Isn’t it restricting my movement if I rigidly hold myself upright or still? Why would I contract my already chronically shortened muscles? What about the muscle groups that are overstretched in order to compromise, etc… I got my answers from the Alexander Technique.
1. The Stretch Myth
Flexibility can be the benefit, advantage or obstacle in Yoga practice. It’s worth looking into the stretch myth and more specifically in the context of overall health. Mechanical increase in muscle length for flexibility is a poor understanding of how muscles actually work. And why do we even wish to be more flexible? “It feels good to stretch” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily beneficial to your musculature and Alexander has a lot to say about it. He called it “faulty sensory appreciation” which means that unless we restore our sensory system’s accuracy of registering information, it’s so often not reliable. What feels good or right is so just because it is known to us, not because it’s actually good, beneficial or right. For example - if we are told to push the chest forward and it feels like opening the heart, then is it really?
2. The Core Strength Myth
Another bone of contention is the core strength myth. Do you even know what the core muscles are? Why would we want to strengthen them? To build resilience, change posture? To look slim? Resilience comes from the coordinated functioning of the total organism, not from one group of core muscles. Fortunately some yoga teachers seem more open to leave the core strength idea behind. The idea which has some interesting historical (to do with corsets!) and cultural (hold yourself together to act strong!) reasons rather than reasons of health or anatomical accuracy.
3. Training Different Muscle Groups
Skilled complex movement does not involve training muscle groups separately. Normal movement does not consist of isolated actions that are consciously controlled. In fact this training method is becoming widely criticised. It’s the support from natural reflex activity that produces natural functional movement.
4. Better Balance and Coordination
Balance mechanism and coordination is an incredibily delicate system so it doesn’t do justice to put all focus on strengthening, breathing and stretching. It wasn’t easy for me to find balance in a conventional Yoga class. When I eventually did find it, I had changed my thinking from compression and pulling to opening and expansion. Watch out for the opening and expansion VIA compressing and pulling. I won’t trick myself into that one any more…
5. Chronic Tension
When muscles are working, they are being contracted. The contraction is also happening during any mental activity and even in dream states. This is why Alexander teachers find it incomplete to ask people with chronic tension (=chronically shortened muscles) to mechanically stretch the shortened muscles via pushing and pulling in order to bring about release or let go of the tension and find balance.
I am not assuming that everybody in a yoga class has chronic tension. However, visual observations of postures and rigidity of movements is a proof enough if you’ve learned to see. Just as we tend to appreciate the beauty of poses, the attractiveness of the visual side of the asanas, we see the contracted bodies as a norm in our fitness culture. According to practitioners themselves, chronic tension is one of the main reasons that brings people to Yoga.
6. The Force of Habit
Yoga does bring about release to a certain degree. I’d just like to raise awareness that there’s even more behind free movement, balance and presence. We do Yoga the same way we do everything else. The way we know how to do it. Here comes to play the force of habit. We have developed habitual use of ourselves not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
It’s not the movement that is the problem. It’s not the muscle tension or inability to relax that is the problem. Even the back pain is not the problem. Instead, it’s the habitual way of thinking, feeling and moving that might cause some issues.
7. The Way of Thinking
These days I give a lot of thought to the thinking part of our functioning. This of course is not new to Yoga either. What is your mind up to? With a non-trying mind you’re able to move in a more flexible and free way because your muscles are in the state of non-contraction.
Yes, it starts from awareness of your thinking patterns. One of the common patterns is the “trying hard” mentality. Mostly we try hard to do things: to get it right, to improve, to reach our goals, to develop. No pain no gain, right? AT gives you exactly the opposite. Working hard on your wellbeing is an important pattern to break. Once realizing that our strong will doesn’t allow the natural lengthening and tone of muscle to happen, we will be more willing to let go of the trying mind. This is what has made most difference to my Yoga practice. It also illustrates how well AT and Yoga work together, as the Yamas and Niyamas (codes of conduct and personal disciplines) are very much alike to Alexander’s principles and vice versa.
8. Self-Control
Yama means self-control — prevention, which is similar to “inhibition” in Alexander’s work. In practice, in means stopping a habitual response, so that a new and more conscious response can manifest. One of Alexander’s written books is titled “Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual”. Although a fascinating read, the actual experience in an Alexander lesson is where the idea comes to its full effect.
Expanded Awareness In Practice
How is AT combined with yoga in practice? Try it yourself. Expand your awareness further than the body part being stretched or engaged. Sometimes I imagine that I could start a friendly conversation with somebody across the room in Warrior III pose. I am much more likely to be aware of what’s happening around me, what’s the music playing, where am I located in space. These days my intention at the beginning of the practice is to connect with others around me. I don’t try hard to focus on the asana.
In a pose, I don’t deliberately contract. Even in the Crow, instead of pressing the hands down, I let them be supported by the gravity. Legs just happen to be in contact with the arms and back is opening up because it’s not held in contraction. I allow the breathing to happen, I don’t breathe deeply. Balance is not an issue anymore. There is movement in stillness and stillness in movement. My mind is calm. In a Savasana I prefer to lie down eyes open, because I enjoy to be present in the room and not go inwards. I don’t separate alertness from relaxation or movement from stillness.
Ahimsa In Practice
I feel more comfortable in my body, I’m less prone to injuries. In the end it just feels less violent towards myself. I have integrated ahimsa, the principle of nonviolence to my practice. Alexander calls it simply “non-doing”, other disciplines have other words for the same thing. Once you learn experientially about “means-whereby” and “no endgaining” in an Alexander lesson, it becomes easier to stay with the process and avoid violence in Yoga or any other practice. It brings a sense of spaciousness and ease, flow of life energy, free movement without rigidity.
Relaxation
We can consciously control the use of muscles by contracting them. Letting go of the contraction is a different thing. Alexander doesn’t use the language of “relaxation”. “Relax your muscle” doesn’t really have a functional meaning. It’s the well balanced nervous system that is able to self-regulate the relaxation of muscles. Your intention of not contracting is the conscious part.
We struggle with flexibility and breathing with ease because of the general state of our condition. This is what AT aims to restore. For finding balance in a pose I want to restore elasticity and tone of both the musculature and connective tissue. To do so, I’m not trying to achieve it, yet I’m confident in asanas without hurting myself. I use the practice to develop strength, fluidity and efficiency in movement, without wasting too much energy.
Often we use excessive muscular tension as a means to get somewhere. It’s the opposite of what we need. The experience you want is the process of getting it. The whole Yoga practice becomes an experience, not a way to reach somewhere where you’re not. The interesting part is not the asana itself, but how you’re coordinated in your asanas. Are you doing the stretch or is the stretch happening because the muscle is in a challenged position attached to bones? Do you trust body’s intelligence in movement?
By applying the Alexander Technique to the practice of Yoga, the student’s experience of wholeness, non-violence, freedom of movement and balanced way of being can be greatly enhanced. Restored energy held in tension can be released. Mind and body can be connected. Habits can be changed and injuries prevented. What’s more, the combined practice can skyrocket your personal growth in totally unexpected ways. Find yourself an Alexander teacher to learn more.
Read More:
“Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness” by David Moore
“Neurodynamics: The Art of Mindfulness in Action” by Theodore Dimon Jr. and G. David Brown 2015
“Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual” by F.M.Alexander
