I was curious if you have any exposure to this system of proprioception. I don't know much about it, but it appears there might be some application to the golf stroke and specifically Homers dictate to "look, look, look". It is based on the simple theory that as unbalanced movements are repeated, they become subconscious habit and can create tension. The system teaches you to recognize the movement habit and retrain it if necessary.
The system was invented in the 19th century and has a network of teachers worldwide. You can learn the system on your own, but is difficult to master without a trained instructor. Sounds familiar and intriguing.
I have had a LOT of Alexander Training as it happens, Bagger. Two 13 week courses and 2 weekend seminar brush-ups.
The Alexander Technique was developed by a Tasmanian non-devil as a system to teach relaxation and body tension awareness to actors. It takes a couple years of intense study to get accredited as a trainer-- and once you have the certificate that is usually enough in most states to also be a licensed physical therapist. I took courses not to become a trainer, but because I took a lot of theatre training.
For a person with the right temperament, it is an excellent training. Reduced to it's most simplistic level, Alexander Technique is all about: hey, my foot's starting to fall asleep, I'd better move it. Awareness of tension, release of tension. The kind of tension actors deal with is commonly called stage freight....
I'll get back later with more, but I have to go now.
Alexander Technique, like many other techniques, is quite ethical and useful and based on sound primiciples.
redan is correct and obviously more educated than I. There is also a technique by the name Feldenkrais that works much the same way. They are both very useful, very intricate in their application and great in effectiveness. It takes not only a well trained technician but a patient and communicative teacher to take you from assessment to design and then to application. If you can find the right teacher you will have found some very useful training, indeed. I have studied both along with kinesthetic training and incorporate them into my practice to varying degrees. I think they are great adjuncts to a broader fitness regime. Good job Bagger, as usual. Vickie
The intriguing question for G.O.L.F.er's is how to modify habits. Carey Mumford has a great systematic approach to creating a positive habit. I'm thinking that it would be valuable to have a system that once "wobble" is identified in the swing by a knowledgable instructor, that the component in question could be systematically changed through habit "rehabilitation". There are 24 components in the golf swing to synchronize into a compatible whole, so there is certainly an opportunity here for habit breaking/creating.
Bagger and all, For all the effective, established, and emerging techhniques that continue to come across our paths the secret to complete control over mechanical function comes down to creating a balance of muscular tension around your joints (and the spine is a collection of 27) and reprogrogrammig your body to comply with your mental requests. It gets really complicated when your life movements have created movement patterns that aren't compatable with your mechanical capability. If you could negotiate between your muscular components the proper agonist / antagonist relationship to keep the spine neutral you would have accomplished proper and positive involuntary reactions to any physical request your mind desires. Now there's the trick. Every single day with almost every single client we are working on this physical relationship. If you can accomplish it in voluntary and controled conditions then your body will learn (over time) to choose that same preferential behavior in conditions that are less controled, like walking, and playing golf, and sitting at a desk, and everything else you can think of.
The simplest secret I can offer, second only to the fact that people that use the rhythm method are usually called parents, is that you need to learn to feel your bodies movements and interrupt the neurological and mechanical failures that contribute to the demise of your function.
Vickie, that was marvelously vague! The most important thing I learned from Alexander method was how to stand up from a sitting position without grabbing the arm of the chair! Once I could do this I "got" what the thing was all about.
and intriguing.
as a system to teach relaxation and body tension awareness to actors. It takes a couple years of intense study to get accredited as a trainer-- and once you have the certificate that is usually enough in most states to also be a licensed physical therapist. I took courses not to become a trainer, but because I took a lot of theatre training.
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