Constructive Conscious Control in Relation to Health

CONSTRUCTIVE CONSCIOUS CONTROL
IN RELATION TO HEALTH

 For the purpose of the following exposition, I will attempt to give a definition of good ‘physical’ health.  The word ‘physical’ is in parenthesis because it is not possible to isolate ‘physical’ health from the psycho-emotional aspects of health.  A truly healthy person would enjoy a positive state of being, where the mental, the physical and the emotional would be in harmony and balance.

Good ‘physical’ health, then, I define as an organism in which all of its various systems are functioning with optimal efficiency in their distinctive, specific way to produce an interactive, holistic process that creates an effect of overall efficiency.  F.M Alexander defines health thus, ‘Health in living may be defined as the best possible reaction of the organism to the stimuli of living’.

 These systems are those such as nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, lymphatic – to name a few – and most importantly for this discourse, neuro-muscular, structural, mechanical and sensory: not forgetting in the sensory systems to include the vital role of the kinaesthetic or proprioceptive sense.  When these systems are functioning in harmony with each other the organism will work as an integrated, co-ordinated and healthy whole.

It is generally believed in society that people are more healthy nowadays than in the past.  This belief has developed because of the tremendous advances in medical science that have wiped out numerous serious diseases we have suffered from for thousands of years.  But is this real progress?  Is the prevailing idea now one where we expect the doctors to come up with a cure for everything and then we will be happy because we are healthy?  This mind-set seems to be on the increase as evidenced by such disorders as obesity and addiction to drugs and alcohol.  Many modern people seem to think that they don’t need to keep themselves in a good state of health, because if something goes wrong with the body, all they have to do is go to the doctor and get a pill that will cure the ailment.  This attitude shows that most people do not want to – and/or don’t know how to – take responsibility for their own health and welfare.

Sportsmen and women and people who pursue a fitness regime are generally regarded as healthy.  They perform prodigious deeds that many other less endowed people admire and wish to emulate.  This way of being healthy involves following a program of exercises etc. that the person must regularly maintain to remain healthy.   Such exercises are eventually dropped as the person becomes older and loses interest as the drive to stay up at the competitive level diminishes.  Many such people then become overweight, over-relaxed and paradoxically too tense.  The lively tonus that the muscles enjoyed earlier has vanished.   All this shows that, unless the person can keep their enthusiasm up, such an approach to health is not sustainable.  There exists, however, a fundamental process of maintaining good health and fitness that the vast majority of people know nothing about.  This process is that of constructive conscious control in the use of the self, as discovered and expounded by F.M Alexander.

His process of conscious control is based on knowledge of not only how the body functions as a mechanism, but also primarily how to think it into the naturally, dynamic and physically appropriate movement it is designed to perform.  Such good use of the body is something that the vast majority of us have forgotten.  For example, the common way to pick something up from the floor is done by bending the back too much – which is mechanically inappropriate and particularly harmful to the lumbar spine – instead of bending at the hip, knee and ankle joints and allowing the whole spine to keep its natural length and shape.

Alexander’s procedures also demonstrate how to bring the self and the environment into a unified field of awareness in order to integrate and harmonise them.  Too often in life our awareness is ‘out there’ in the world around us and the environment is given all our attention as we carry out our daily tasks. In this habitual way of being and  doing the general use of the body is not considered. We simply  do things without giving any thought  to  how the  body should  perform  these  everyday  tasks.  In  all these  activities  we misuse ourselves so badly that – among other things – we habitually tighten our necks, pull our heads back harmfully, shorten and narrow the back, displace the pelvis and severely  restrict  the breathing mechanisms.  All  this  misuse  results,  in  particular,  in shortening of the spine, which in turn  imposes  harmful pressure on the vital organs in the torso, thus preventing them from functioning at their maximum capacity.  They become sluggish and this condition leads to all kinds of ailments.  We usually consider that as long as someone has no physical pain and no apparent mental disorders, they are in good health.  Remembering the definition of “good ‘physical’ health” given earlier, such a situation would mean – that no matter how fit an individual may appear to be – he or she cannot be truly healthy.

This problem of faulty use of the self is rarely recognised and, therefore, rarely addressed.  We go around in life functioning well below our best potential.  Even without any apparent health problems in our younger years, the body will gradually develop malfunctions such as damaged hip-joints, high blood-pressure, lassitude, fatigue, aches and pains, heart problems, sluggish circulation, inadequate breathing, nervous disorders etc.  These ailments cause us to grow old far too quickly.  A vital point to note is that ill-health does not suddenly occur at some late point along life’s highway: it began way back around three or four years of age, which is the time that we started to misuse ourselves.  When it comes, however, to making a diagnosis of the illness the person is suffering from, this condition of misuse usually goes unrecognised.

So, how does one come closer to really positive, dynamic and sustainable health?  The answer is that not only must proper study be made of the body as a unified mechanism, but also a parallel study of the power of thinking and directing the body into co-ordinated ways of using it that will not harmfully violate its laws of functioning and moving.  This is what Alexander did over a period of ten years, during which he made remarkable psycho-physical changes in himself.

He discovered that the do’s and don’ts of movement must be learned.  This may appear to be a trite statement, but the appalling use of the body by the modern-day person is tragic evidence of the gross lack of understanding that prevails about the good use of it.  For example, the over-bending of the lumbar spine in almost everything we do in daily life, whether this entails sitting slumped at a computer or television, or in exercise where we are under the illusion that the abdominal muscles pull the torso up when performing sit-ups, are common misconceptions.  A multitude of such illusions exist in most people.

Let’s consider a few more of the ailments that can arise through misuse of the body as a mechanism, such as arthritis, scoliosis, lordosis, prolapsed discs, rheumatism, heart problems, digestive problems, damaged hip and knee-joints, foot disorders – such as fallen arches and deformed toes from wearing narrow shoes and high-heels – liver and kidney disorders, prolapsed uterus, high blood-pressure and breathing difficulties.  These are ailments that are really dis-eases arising as a result of misusing the body as a mechanism.  If we include our wrong beliefs about the use of the body, then most modern human beings are in a state of psycho-physical misuse.  We compound misuse by imposing on ourselves such things as smoking, drinking, taking drugs and eating to excess.

The medical profession does not usually recognise – except in extreme cases such as the prominent stoop in the elderly person – that misuse of the organism exists in nearly everybody.  People are given a clean bill of health when this harmful state of misuse still exists.  Remembering again the definition of “good ‘physical’ health” given earlier, and remembering also the dire conditions caused by misuse, this would mean that no diagnosis could be complete if it does not take into account and address this condition of misuse.

Let’s look now in more detail at what these forms of misuse are, and in what way they cause the malfunctions and ailments mentioned earlier.  Leaving aside the psychological and emotional aspects, we can look purely at the physical effects and consequences.

The most important area where we go wrong is the neck.  Very early in life – two or three years old – the child stiffens and shortens the muscles at the back of the neck.  Consequently, the back of the head is harmfully pulled back and down and distorts the neck by increasing the curve in the cervical spine and shortening the neck.  This situation becomes a seriously habitual one, which – if not attended to – will persist for a whole lifetime.

This disturbed and distorted head-neck relationship has a knock-on effect that adversely tightens and shortens the muscles and spine of the thoracic region.  This situation, in turn, has a further knock-on effect that adversely tightens and shortens the muscles and spine in the lumbar region.  So, now we have a drastic situation where the three curves in the spine have become more pronounced and the overall result of this is that the distance along the length of the spine from the top of the pelvis to the underside of the skull has decreased by 6 centimetres – and sometimes more – by the time the individual becomes a teenager.

How does the overall shortening of the spine affect our health?  Let us make the bold statement that the vast majority of ailments suffered by the human race are caused by this simple, tragic fact that, because of our misuse of the body, the overall length of the spine has decreased.

The next logical question is, “In what way does the shortening of the spine cause these ailments?”   The answer is that because the spine has sagged, the torso is no longer functioning as a suspension system.  (A detailed description of this system is not possible here, and the reader is advised to consult my book, ‘GOING MENTAL’ to find out how it works).  The result is that the vital organs in the torso, which are designed to hang from the head, neck, spine and rib-cage, slip down and cause harmful pressure and stagnation in the system.  This means that many dangerous malfunctions occur, the most important being that the heart is displaced, making it less efficient as our habitual misuse becomes evermore firmly entrenched in the neuro-muscular system as we grow older.

If the heart becomes less efficient and the muscles more tense, the circulatory system will not flow as freely as it should.  The thoracic region will collapse and restrict the breathing mechanisms.  The liver will be under pressure and will struggle to produce a balanced amount of bile so vital to the successful digestion of food.  The peristaltic movement of the alimentary canal will be retarded.  Constipation will occur more frequently and, in turn, will make defecation difficult.  In women the shortening of the spine frequently causes prolapse of the uterus.  In men it can cause the testicles to drop too early in life. In both sexes the increased pressure on the bladder can cause incontinence.

It is well worth repeating here that general ill-health does not occur suddenly at a certain stage along life’s road.  As I said earlier, it began way back around three or four years of age at the point when the individual began to misuse the body as a mechanism.  Poor health is an accumulation of small, unnoticed disorders that, because of constant misuse, become large ones.

THE SHORTENED LONG-SUFFERING SPINE

Let’s look more closely at what ‘shortening of the spine’ means:  firstly the cervical spine in the neck.  When the young child starts to misuse the body the cervical spine distorts as follows.  The inner curve formed by the front faces of the vertebrae and the edges of the intervertebral discs becomes longer.  The outer curve formed by the spinous processes of the vertebrae becomes shorter.  This means that the erector-spinae muscles running up the back of the neck become shorter, and as we get older and continue to increasingly misuse the body, they will become evermore stiff and fixed in this deformed situation.

Moving on to the thoracic region, we find that – using the same reference points as the cervical – the curve lengthens on the outside and shortens on the inside.  This means that the erector-spinae muscles in this region become longer, and fixed in this deformed situation. The lumbar spine is affected in the same way as described above for the cervical.

This is a simplified explanation of distortion of the whole spine, as it deals only with problems on the median plane. A combination, however, of median, lateral and torsional distortions are usually present at the same time, which causes further complications.

In addition, there is a curious and dangerous misuse of the lumbar spine that is adopted in life by the vast majority of human beings.  This phenomenon is excessive bending of the lower back backwards and forwards.  The belief that if you can bend the torso forwards keeping your legs straight to touch the toes indicates that you have a healthy lumbar spine is a total fallacy.  There are also various other aspects of the prevalent misuse of the spine by the modern human being to consider.

If you have an occupation, hobby, sport, recreation or art where you bend your lumbar spine very often, then your erector spinae muscles in this region will initially become overstretched and flaccid.  As a reaction to this some of these muscles – in an attempt to protect the lumbar spine – may tighten excessively and become shortened.  The upshot of all this is that a combination of imbalanced flaccidity and rigidity exists.  I have found this chronic situation in varying degrees in every single back of the many thousands I have – as a teacher of constructive awareness – ever had my hands on.

Another harmful consequence of over-bending is that the intervertebral discs will become deformed and weak, and this can lead to prolapse and even the complete flattening of them.  When this occurs, the vertebrae will fuse together in an attempt to give the spine some stability.

A very important point to note here is that this over-worked lumbar spine – even though it has stretched to accommodate the wish of the naïve mind to bend it to a harmful degree – collapses down on itself when the body is standing, sitting or walking.  This is caused by the fact that the majority of the lumbar erector-spinae muscles and ligaments have become too long.  Indeed, most of the ligaments have become so overstretched that they have gone past their elastic limit and are suffering from plastic deformation, which means that they can no longer hold and stabilise the lumbar spine.  I know of one expert in spinal engineering who – although he understands the dangers given above – advocates, that to cure disorders of the lumbar region, the erector-spinae ligaments should be cut and shortened to the proper length: a horrific solution indeed!

Considering the use of the body in walking, most people are unaware that the power for doing so comes from the lumbar back.  If it is weak and distorted, the act of walking will be negatively affected.  This is why we see so many curious and inefficient gaits in different individuals.  Other people usually view each individual’s manner of walking as ‘his way’ or ‘it’s unique’ or ‘it’s how she is and moves’ or ‘it’s a part of him’.  It certainly is a part of him, but is nothing more than his peculiar way of misusing himself in movement.

THE PLIGHT OF THE VITAL ORGANS

If the spine is maintained at its optimal length, every organ in the torso will be hanging by connective tissue from something above it: for example, the hyoid bone, vocal organs, shoulder-girdle, rib-cage and diaphragm will be suspended from the head and the cervical spine in the neck.  The vital organs in their turn will be suspended from these structures.  Part of the liver is suspended from the diaphragm by a method similar to that where two pieces of glass are held together by a film of water in between them.  Other organs in the abdomen, such as the kidneys, ovaries and uterus are suspended from the spine and rib cage.

The efficient functioning of these organs is greatly reduced by the shortening of the spine, because they are no longer suspended from above, but are now being squashed by whatever is situated above them.  Obviously, the lower the location of the organ the more weight will be pressing down on it.  This collapsed and detrimental situation is the first and foremost reason for the general ill-health of the vast majority of the human race.  A specific example would be the prolific number of cases in women of a prolapsed uterus, which is usually only alleviated by cutting it out of the body – a hysterectomy.  Other significant consequences are incontinence and constipation.

It is a tragic fact of human existence that shortening of the spine goes largely unnoticed, and even if it does come to our attention, we don’t know how to lengthen it again.  This pulled-down state is something we seem to accept as inevitable in life, a consequence of growing older and older.  And yet, if I asked you – when you are still a young, vibrant and upright person – to wear a harness that ran from under the crotch up the back and front of the torso, up to and around the back of the neck, and then buckled at the front of the chest in such a way that your torso was harmfully hunched to the point where all your vital organs were being squashed and your breathing restricted, you would surely refuse to do so!  This harmful shortening, however, is what we cause in ourselves through misuse of the body.  Such is the awful plight of the vital organs.

Another factor to consider about misuse is the widespread habit that exists of people standing with the weight of the body to one side, so that most of the weight is taken on one leg.  If you do this often enough, you are in danger of wearing out your hip-joint to the extent that it will have to be replaced later in life.  The replacing of the hip-joint is now so common that surgeons can perform the operation almost as quickly as a dentist can pull a tooth!

Here is a fairy-tale that underlines the inability of most people to take responsibility for their own health and fitness.  Incidentally, to go to the gym and put your body through strenuous, mechanically inappropriate exercises for a few hours per week does not mean you are fit and healthy, in the fullest sense of these terms. Imagine you were born with an ethereal body – rather like a ghost-body – and you grew up in it.  Then one day you met someone who had a physical body and you were so taken by it that you wanted to have one. So you ask the person how she came by it. She tells you that you can buy one at the body shop. You see one that you love so much you are not put off by the huge price you have to pay for it. You purchase it gladly, slip it on and skip and run and dance and somersault and cartwheel and jump for joy and sing as you leave.

The person who makes these physical bodies is the Greatest Engineer in the universe, because there is no other organism that can equal the complexity of the human one. All goes well for some months – even years – then you notice that your hip-joint is paining you and is getting steadily worse as it wears out. Your lower back is also giving you trouble and you wonder why this is so. You become really upset because you paid an absolute fortune for this, the most magnificent, the most sophisticated mechanism of all creation and you decide to take it back and demand a new one. You confront this Great Engineer and tell her,

“I’m not satisfied with the goods and I demand a replacement!”

She looks you up and down and then asks,

“Have you been standing habitually with most of your weight on one leg, thus straining the hip-joint unduly and causing a very harmful twist in the spine?”

You reply heatedly,

“Well of course I have! It’s my favourite, habitual way of standing, of looking cool and really with it!”

To which she replies,

“Sorry mate, but it looks to me that you don’t know how to use this body properly. Your favourite way of standing has brought this on yourself and you have to take responsibility for the horrible consequences. You ain’t gettin’ your money back!”

As you stomp angrily out of the shop, you hear this Great Engineer call out,

“I have a helpful piece of advice for you! Go and find yourself a good teacher of constructive awareness and she’ll show you how to change your thinking in such a way that you can re-educate yourself and get rid of the trouble. Good luck!

This article was first published in Rock ‘N’ Ruminations by Daniel McGowan. You can download the PDF of this book for free here:  FREE DOWNLOAD