Alexander Technique's "inhibition" does not reside exclusively within the realm of the Alexander Technique. Inhibition is universal and timeless. It was not invented by anyone. It just was, and is. Inhibition is used by people from every walk of life, and by animals in every walk, swim, fly, and crawl of life...
In Alexander Technique lessons, I often use the words let and allow, as in allow your neck to be free or let your head lead your spine into length. Alexander Technique teachers often say allow your entire ribcage to contract and expand as you breathe and allow your sit bones to release down into the chair. Let your torso gently spiral as you walk, allow your jaw to release, and countless other examples of allowing... letting... If we need to allow things to happen, perhaps we unconsciously disallow them from happening. The disallowing has become habitual...
Alexander Technique Directions I wish to free my neck ... so that My head can move forward and up...so that My torso can lengthen and widen and... My legs can move away from my torso and... My shoulders can release out the sides. Alexander Technique directions act as verbal, or neuro-linguistc cues. They tell us where we want to go, which is often upward, outward, into expansion. Up, down, and out. Head up, feet or sit bones down, shoulders out, legs away...
On my subway ride to teach some Alexander Technique lessons at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in Mahattan, I noticed a man who could not have been more stooped over. As an Alexander Technique teacher I was particularly aware of how he was seated, reading the paper, his head not very far from his knees. His face was quite tense, and had a scowl I suspected was habitual. He seemed to 'have the weight of the world on his shoulders...
