ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IN PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH: USE OF THE SELF
Alexander teachers talk about how we 'use ourselves', and on first hearing, this expression may seem strange. Although we talk about using a tool or an instrument for a specific purpose, we do not normally talk about how we use ourselves, except when we say things like 'Use your head!'. Alexander did talk about 'using oneself in the sense of using a piece of equipment, but he did not mean it in the limited and mechanical sense of how we use a specific part of the body, such as an arm or a leg. He meant it in a wider sense that encompassed the way we use the whole of the human organism -including the way in which we think and feel. It is the way we use ourselves in everything we do - the way we breathe, talk, eat, walk, sit and stand up. It is the way we live our lives, our very approach to life, and it goes on constantly, for better or for worse.
Use Affects Functioning
Alexander's initial discovery, that when he was reciting he pulled his head back strongly and that this was causing hoarseness, was to have far-reaching implications. Naturally, when he corrected this tendency his voice improved, but that was not all. He was rewarded with an improvement of his general functioning. He felt better within himself, he breathed much more easily and movement was altogether much freer. He concluded that it was the use of himself that determined whether he functioned well or badly, and from this observation he established the principle that 'use affects functioning'. (It is important to remember that 'functioning' encompasses the person as a whole, which is the way we function mentally and emotionally as well as physically.)
That 'use affects functioning' is something we all know intuitively from our everyday lives. For example, if we drive a car with the handbrake on (i.e. with misuse), first of all it will not go so fast, and second the brakes will be damaged (i.e. its functioning will be impaired). Although the analogy is not quite accurate because human beings are far more sophisticated than machines, it still holds true that poor or faulty use - or misuse - is bound to cause poor functioning.
Alexander's radical idea, then, is that the way we use ourselves will influence a whole range of functional problems such as tension headaches, breathing and circulatory disorders, backache, sleeping problems, general stress and wear and tear on joints. Of course, there are many other causes of illness and poor functioning - Alexander did not claim that he had a miracle cure - such as hereditary and environmental factors, trauma and injury. Yet the unique thing about use is that it is a factor over which we can have control. We are the person who operates the equipment: we 'use' ourselves.
In keeping with Alexander's philosophical point that it is the whole body that needs improving upon, a teacher will always encourage an overall improvement of use over and above focusing on specific symptoms. The idea is that if poor use is the cause of a problem, then improving general use often helps the specific problem that the pupil has. Even if poor use is not the direct cause of the problem, improved use, which has a beneficial effect on all our body systems, will often aid recovery.
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Womens health