In the book 'The Face Game' (written in 1968, published in 2017) the English philosopher Douglas Harding made some interesting remarks on the Alexander Technique. Douglas Edison Harding (1909-2007) was an English philosophical writer, mystic, spiritual teacher and author of a number of books, including 'On Having No Head – Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious'.
"... F. M. Alexander was an advocate of walking tall. A therapist who treated successfully many famous people for a great variety of complaints, he got his results by very simple means. He urged his patients to get what he called their head-neck-back (h-n-b) control going—thinking the head forward and up, relaxing the neck, and widening and lengthening the back. In effect, the patient was to get home and take charge, consciously inhabiting this ruling upper region from which he had disastrously strayed. He was to leave the body’s members to carry on with their own business free from his direct interference, almost as if they were cut off. This homecoming, Alexander claimed, by withdrawing attention from the abnormally functioning parts to their controlling centre, corrects their functioning automatically, and often swiftly. In addition, there is a tendency for eyes to brighten, complexions to clear, the head to be held higher and at a better angle, and general health and happiness to improve. The effect of treatment was in some cases for the patient to feel airborne. Alexander was never clear why his technique worked. Significantly, its results are very much like the results of seeing one’s facelessness or headlessness. This isn’t surprising, for in practice the maintenance of the h-n-b control means clearly locating and concentrating upon a presence here which, though very real and potent, is quite empty of content. At their best, Alexander’s disciples were faceless without fully recognizing it. This was sufficient to produce many ‘miraculous’ cures. ..."
This statement fits my experience with the Alexander Technique.
