Pauliina Lievonen

When one thinks of lifting an arm, that idea alone will make a change in the activation of various muscles. So the idea of a movement will already activate the pattern that one usually uses for that movement. Now if you want to change that pattern for a more efficient one, it can be very helpful to think of the movement in a different way (like "I'm not going to use my biceps at all to lift the arm" or all the other examples Janet gave earlier). That is the benefit I see in all these sometimes wacky instructions. It's a very effective way of changing habits that shouldn't be dismissed too lightly I think.

But one shouldn't mistake it for a description of what is actually happening. It's an instruction, not a description. OTOH an anatomically correct description isn't always the most effective instruction.

Something else that I see happening in the internal strength etc discussions is something I also see in my own Alexander technique teaching practice. Our kinesthetic/proprioceptive sense isn't absolute - it always compares to how things were just a moment ago. And what you end up being aware of is an interpretation of the brain of the messages coming from muscles and other tissues.

New movement patterns can feel very odd, because the brain struggles to interpret something new. And using less muscle can feel like using none - but really what the proprioceptive sense is trying to say is "youre doing way less than a moment ago".

Comments I've often heard from Alexander technique students:
"Wow, it felt like someone else lifted my arm"
"My arm just floated up"
"But, but, you lifted my arm, I didn't do it!" (I was guiding with two fingertips touching lightly)

Mind you these were people who hadn't done any kind of conditioning their fascia or anything like that. They just succesfully changed one movement pattern, and the result felt confusing because it was a new experience.

So I would be vary of making up theories about how or why things work based on what one feels in one's own body. The proprioceptive sense isn't an accurate enough tool to do that.

Pauliina