https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/ Wed, 13 May 2026 10:32:14 +0000 en Please read — The Alexander Technique Forums https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/76/question-pain-in-the-sitting-bone Fri, 25 Nov 2011 07:35:16 +0000 Please read the student 76@/index.php?p=/discussions
when i sit i usually lean back on the back support when i sit like i should with the AT i get a pain feeling in my sitting bones - i feel like they are sitting on the chair and there is no muscle under them like just the bone and it hurts]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/68/research-into-alexander-technique Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:08:07 +0000 Please read Matty30 68@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/61/lack-of-facial-and-cranial-development Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:50:16 +0000 Please read Michael 61@/index.php?p=/discussions
Could poor use be related to poor cranial development (evidenced in facial features) and to failure of the middle third of the face and the lower mandible to develop properly? This must surely change the whole balance of the head, and have knock-on effects throughout the body.

Why do so many people in "developed" countries need dental braces and have impacted wisdom teeth?

There's an American dentist, who was chairman of the research committee of the American Dental Association in the 1930s who had an interesting answer to this one. At the time it was thought that this must be due to "racial mixing" -- people thought almost everything was down to "race" in those days. They thought maybe a individual might have got his teeth from one "race" and his jaw from another, so that they didn't match. Price said not. He toured all around the globe looking at hunter-gatherer populations, even then disappearing, and found that living in the traditional state they had perfect, or near-perfect teeth, well-formed dental arches, and broad well-formed faces. As soon as they begun to get hold of modern foodstuffs, such as sugar and white flour, their children started to get rotten teeth -- and more than that dental arches that didn't form properly, thin narrow faces with constricted nostrils, and receding chins where the jaw hadn't developed. So it couldn't be "racial". Price said the problem had to be dietary. He found, in fact, that contrary to today's wisdom a diet high in fat-soluble vitamins (A & D) -- and hence in animal fats -- seemed to be a good thing nutritionally. All over the world wherever there were hunter-gatherer groups living on traditional diets, he found the levels of the fat soluble vitamins in the diets of *all* these groups were *ten* times as high as in the American diet of his day. (The levels of A & D are probably even lower in the average Western diet these days.)

So how about this as an explanation for some of the bad use around?

As a footnote to that, why is eyesight so much poorer with us than it is with primitives? (E.g., notice what Darwin says about the eyesight of the Tierra del Fuegians in _The Voyage of the Beagle_ -- but one could multiply references here)

Here is what one dentist says:

"Another sign of poor facial development can be detected in the eyes. When someone is looking straight at you and you can see the sclera or white of the eye, that is a tip off to a very, very under developed upper jaw and mid-facial area."

Here's an article specifically on cranial development (or the lack of it) and what the author says is its relation to general physical health and what Alexander people would call "use".

http://www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/facial-development.html

Here's Weston Price's original book:

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/pricetoc.html

Some startling sets of pictures in there -- such as the pictures of the little Swiss girls from the remote Loetschental Valley with perfect teeth, broad strong faces, and large open nostrils. (The people were, apparently very strong and well formed in the body -- and no wonder the Popes chose to have a Swiss guard!) Girls from a valley a little nearer to what we fondly think of as "civilization" show rotten teeth, narrow faces, and pinched nostrils.

So what thoughts have people got on this? It looks like there's something there to me.]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/75/at-oobe Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:55:46 +0000 Please read Matty30 75@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/1/questions-and-answers Sat, 14 May 2005 07:17:44 +0000 Please read dod 1@/index.php?p=/discussions
I think it's important to remember that while there are 'right' responses to objective questions such as 'how long does it take to train to be a teacher' or 'are there any teachers in Moscow', there are only opinions, informed or otherwise, as to 'how to direct' or 'does the Technique help with lumbago' and I would encourage everyone, no matter what their qualifications might appear to be, to speak their mind.

Opinions don't have to be 'new'. If you have something you've written elsewhere about the Alexander Technique and would like to make it public, for others to read or make comments on, go ahead and post it. Also, please add details of any events, seminars, workshops, teaching exchanges, etc, you might be organising or have heard of.

Feel free to add any site or sites you know of to the links section. If you have a comment to make concerning an existing link, go ahead and make it.

Forums and email groups can become confrontational. Usually, this is a case of a tiny minority alienating the majority. In my view, there is a clear dividing line between vigorous debate and what amounts to a slanging match. Crossing that line, posts that have no connection with the Technique and, of course, junk, are all I will endeavour to moderate.]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/73/the-lost-sixth-sense Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:13:34 +0000 Please read Matty30 73@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/72/10-myths-about-alexander-technique Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:30:25 +0000 Please read Matty30 72@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/71/mrcp-ii-made-easy Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:46:48 +0000 Please read kay halloway 71@/index.php?p=/discussions My husband who is a musician loves it as well as my two kids as each story is like a series of House MD. He describes the FRMI ( long before SALT ) and the importance of mindfulness in one's posture as well as the fact that the human body can pharmaceutically synthesize all the drugs needed on an organic basis. I hope that this is helpful and supportive of a field which has the patronage of The Prince of Wales.]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/70/alexander-technique-and-hormones Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:19:20 +0000 Please read Matty30 70@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/69/should-it-ever-be-painful Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:59:51 +0000 Please read harriet 69@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/59/footwear Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:17:10 +0000 Please read Michael 59@/index.php?p=/discussions
The issue of unsuitable running shoes seems to be slowly emerging into public consciousness thanks partly to the book _Born to Run_ by Christopher McDougall. This had some fairly good reviews in the press one of which, in the _Daily Mail_, was linked quite widely:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html

Then one finds out there's a fair bit going on. Some sports people are going barefoot or experimenting with the Vibram FiveFingers footgloves. Terra Plana, started by a "rogue member" of the Clarks family is actually (unlike Clarks) offering shoes that don't hurt the foot. (Interestingly, it turns out his "Vivo" shoes emerged out of a suggestion made by the Alexander teacher Richard Brennan to his son -- that he play tennis barefoot.)

And reading around and following links, one eventually finds there's a can of worms here. It's not just sports shoes. There's a fair bit of research out there implicating ordinary shoes in foot (and probably ankle, knee, and hip) damage. For example, there is this study from the University of the Witwatersrand:

http://web.wits.ac.za/NewsRoom/NewsItems/feet.htm

From the perspective of the shoes, not the feet, there are also some interesting articles from a Dr. Rossi, who seems to have been a podiatrist, a contributor to the Encylopaedia Britannica, and an advisor to the shoe industry -- and one has to wonder why they're not taking his advice.

This is perhaps his most enlightening article:

http://nwfootankle.com/files/rossiWhyShoesMakeNormalGaitImpossible.pdf

But there are more here (including "Children’s Footwear: Launching Site for Adult Foot Ills"):

http://nwfootankle.com/home/FootHealth/drill/2/110

Among the things I learnt were:

* that "toespring" (a device to compensate for inflexible soles) intereferes with gait;

* that most shoes are built on the wrong axis;

* that most are too narrow, forcing the toes in;

* that most lasts deliberately (and unforgivably) create a kind of dip intended to allow the middle of the ball of the foot to sink, so that narrower shoes can be worn;

* that most are too heavy (12 oz. for women 14-16 oz. for men would be better);

* that while women's shoes are worse and more foot-distorting, in some respects men's shoes are worse than women's, being more enclosed (thereby allowing less free movement and less circulation of air -- as well as interefing with blood supply if laced tight), heavier, and with thicker and less flexible soles;

* that "Relative to body height, a one-inch heel worn by a child of seven is the equivalent of a two-inch heel worn by an adult. So almost all children above age seven are wearing “high” heels the equivalent of two inches in height -- and neither the shoe industry nor the doctors has any idea of this absurdity occurring before their eyes".


I hardly know what to say. It's truly staggering. If people only knew, the rage against tobacco companies would be nothing to how they'd feel about the shoe industry. So far as they know, their feet hurt a bit. What they don't perceive is that their footwear could be causing bone damage (c.f. the South African study) and making natural gait impossible. The only acceptable shoe from the podiatric point of view, might be something like the North American Indian moccasin -- no heel, wide, soft material, flexible sole.

One thing that surprises me is that I've never heard much on shoes from Alexander people. There's the odd remark about ladies' high-heels, and there's the injunction to remove your shoes at the start of a lesson. That seems to be about it. I can't even recall any comments in any of F. M. Alexander's books.'

But it looks like shoes have a lot to do with how the natural gait becomes messed up -- in Rossi's words "Shoes Make 'Normal' Gait Impossible". If chairs are one of the worse things we do to children, I have to wonder if putting them in the currently available crop of shoes is perhaps *the* worst.]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/67/become-ambidextrous Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:19:33 +0000 Please read Matty30 67@/index.php?p=/discussions https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/63/arms-control-breakdown Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:56:01 +0000 Please read Michael 63@/index.php?p=/discussions
"... it’s really about a culture gone insane, favoring victory over health and ambition over balance. Our relationship with sports and youth sports in particular has become a cultural obsessive-compulsive disorder. We would be right to call it a form of socially-accepted child abuse, except that we, as adults, treat ourselves in a similar fashion, driving ourselves far past the point of balance."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09littleleague-t.html]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/58/dizzy-during-session Sun, 31 May 2009 18:12:29 +0000 Please read bradls 58@/index.php?p=/discussions fainted, had the sensation of blacking out preceded by a long moment of nausea.
We took a rest, I got flushed and began a cold sweat. Ok, I was freaked. My
teacher was surprised and said it was odd for a young person in good physical
shape and health to experience this but said not to worry, that it sometimes
happens.

Anyone ever have this happen before?]]> https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/16/site-improvement-suggestions Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:23:37 +0000 Please read Angel 16@/index.php?p=/discussions
We've had to change the software due to phenomenal numbers of drug sellers, sex crazies, ring tone enthusiasts, etc, clogging up the old membership mechanism. So now, the best and easiest way to follow discussions is for every individual to go to his or her "Account Options" and then "Notification" and click in one or both boxes. That way they'll be advised by email when new posts appear.

With this software, I'm not aware of there being a 'global default'.

Dod]]>