Life is full of repetition and is often fast-paced and full of distractions. It’s easy to get into the mode of operating unconsciously - we don’t even think about it, we just do it. The mind is often several steps ahead of the body and we talk about being ‘on automatic pilot’. We are no longer using conscious thought, we are simply responding to the stimulus of life habitually. Without thinking about it, we tend to do things in the same way again and again—how we sit down, stand up, how we walk, how we laugh or how we respond when someone ‘presses our buttons’. It is as if we have no choice. We don’t have habits. Habits have us.
When we respond habitually, we use an inappropriate amount of muscle tension. We distort the body by overworking some muscles (so they become shortened and ‘tight’) and under-using others (so they lose their tone). Gradually, the spine becomes shortened, we become lopsided, we develop a hump in the upper back, our joints ache and become stiff and we lose mobility and become fatigued. The effortless dance becomes a chore, a daily slog.
The Alexander Technique helps us to wake up, to become more alert, more present. Our habits come about because of our tendency to end-gain—that is, to be constantly thinking ahead to the next event or task instead of being in the present moment. The next time you sit engrossed at your computer, stop for a moment and consider what you are doing. Are you holding your breath? Staring without blinking? Have you been drawn towards the screen as if magnetized? Are you sitting lopsided or hunched over? Where are your feet? It is surprising what we do to ourselves when the mind is elsewhere.