28/04/2026
Alexander Technique teaches you to use less effort and yet achieve greater effect from your actions. Useful for performers!
Here's an example that proves the point. A student of mine applied the technique to his golf. At the end of the backswing he reminds himself not to try too hard on the stroke – “60% effort” he says as he gives his Alexander directions (I don't know why he picked those words but it works for him). He finds his swing is easier and more fluid. Has it improved his scores though? No, he tells me. Why? Because he is hitting the ball so much further that he keeps overshooting the green! On 60% of the effort!
The overshoot can be easily corrected once he gets used to his new found efficiency. The main point is that he is achieving greater distance through using less effort, not more. How is this possible? To make a perfectly efficient swing, hundreds of muscles need to shorten and lengthen by the correct amount at the precise point of the arc of the club. If the timing or amount of contraction is wrong, muscles will end up opposing each other making the movement stiff and inefficient. When we 'try hard' we tend to interfere with the ideal coordination by over-contracting. We are better off staying out of the way and allowing subconscious mechanisms to organise the co-ordination for us. A movement that is coordinated in this way feels effortless - sometimes it even feels as though the movement has 'done itself'. And the results can be extraordinary!
