Breathing is the cornerstone of good health. When we inhale, we take in oxygen, which is not only essential to life but allows us to thrive and grow healthily. If this intake is obstructed we become prone to infection and illness. Exhalation too performs a vital function, expelling stale air from the lungs and toxins from the body. Weak exhalation retards this cleansing process: as well as leaving old air hanging around in our lungs it prevents the full and satisfying uptake of fresh air. As a result, the internal organs have to work harder to compensate for the lack of nourishing oxygen and to dissipate the toxic build-up. Common effects of shallow breathing habits include persistent skin conditions, an unhealthy complexion, poor digestion, and fatigue.

The pressures of modern life mean that most of us breathe in a less than efficient manner – too shallowly, unevenly, and with excessive effort. Breathing disorders such as asthma and emphysema are widespread among both adults and children. While these may be attributed to factors such as environmental pollution or diet, they are exacerbated by the effects of misuse. The improvement of overall use through the Alexander Technique (AT) can alleviate and sometimes eradicate such problems. The effect of good use is to enable a healthier way of breathing through freeing up the operation of the diaphragm and ribs. The numerous benefits include increased energy and endurance, reduced stress, and improved circulation. The steadier flow of oxygen to the brain also helps to regulate mental functioning. ‘Take a deep breath and count to ten’ is sometimes proposed to help us calm down and allow ourselves to think clearly. In a state of relaxation, such as when we are asleep, our breathing naturally tends to be slower and deeper. Regular, unimpeded breathing of this sort has a marked positive effect on our emotional and intellectual well-being.

Equally, we know that our manner of breathing can be negatively affected by strong emotions. Under conditions of stress we breathe faster and more shallowly -in our upper chest rather than deep into our lower torso. Several automatic responses combine to affect our breathing mechanisms when we feel afraid or under threat. Another is the involuntary tightening of the abdominal muscles which often accompanies the startle pattern. The contraction of these muscles, designed as a kind of armoring to help protect internal organs from physical attack, forces the breath to stay fixed in the chest instead of flowing deep into the lungs. Our nervous system also reacts to fear by triggering an increased flow of adrenalin into the bloodstream. Such reactions are characteristic of the fight-or-flight syndrome, the evolutionary mechanism which enables mammals to face a potential threat or danger with a burst of unaccustomed strength or agility.

Fight-or-flight is of little value in most situations we encounter nowadays. This unconscious pattern of behavior, like the startle response, is more likely to be an obstacle to efficient functioning under normal circumstances. Even where special strength and agility are required it may hamper an effective response: martial arts such as Tai Chi stress the importance of full, diaphragmatic breathing for access to vital energy. Our inherited automatic reflexes do not differentiate between situations of danger and moments of emotional stress. It’s hardly appropriate to react to criticism or embarrassment as if we were facing the prospect of a physical assault. But all too often we allow ourselves to overreact physically to circumstances in which our mental equilibrium is affected. The constant repetition of fight-or-flight reactions is detrimental to both health and clarity of thought. The cumulative effect is to dull our sensitivity and make us tired and edgy. Learning to breathe efficiently under normal circumstances is a vital step in reversing the tendency to get caught up in this negative cycle.

Breathing is one area where the intervention of conscious awareness can have an immediate impact.

What are you doing as you read these words? Are you becoming more aware of your breathing pattern? When you think about the need to breathe deeply, do you sit up or try to change your posture? Do you recognize the relationship between the way you sit or stand and how you breathe?

Under different circumstances the pattern of our breathing alters automatically. When engaged in high levels of activity we require more oxygen, and our breathing rate increases accordingly. Our hearts pump faster to allow the oxygenated blood in our veins to feed our working muscles. We produce a greater volume of carbon dioxide, a waste gas that has to be expelled from our body by more rapid exhalation. Conversely, when we sleep, our heart rate falls and our breathing slows down. A similar metabolic change takes place when we swim with our faces in the water. This is the effect of the dive instinct, a factor which, if we allow it to, naturally affects our breathing rate when we swim. It works to slow down our breathing along with our heartbeat, helping to reduce stress and promote a sense of calmness and well-being. Of course, this can only be experienced if we are confident and relaxed with our faces submerged in the water ¡ª another good reason for mastering this requirement of the swimmer’s art.

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Fear is all around us. We go through life being afraid, of people, events, death, the unknown, ourselves, and of fear itself. One effect of fear is that it stops us reaching our full potential, by getting in the way of our acquiring new knowledge and skills. This can result from those around us, even if they mean well, themselves being afraid of our growing, changing, and discovering our potential as individuals. Their fear on our behalf reflects their own fear of change. Life, however, is a constant process of change. While change can make us feel vulnerable, the alternative to embracing it is to live in a narrower world, surrounded by walls of fear and uncertainty. As this image suggests, by attempting to reject change we become restricted both in our bodies and our thinking. Fear disembowels us, making discovery of the new less appealing than repetition of the known. Whilst we may thus acquire a superficial sense of security, ultimately it leads to further insecurity, the consequence of stagnation and inflexibility. It stops us from thinking creatively, both in what we’re doing and about how we want to experience our lives. We restrict ourselves through fear of humiliation, ignorance, solitude, society, pain, disease, or dying. And confusingly, sometimes through fear of growth, success, freedom – even love. At least we need to understand more clearly what we’re afraid of if we wish to overcome the fear and move forward.

Systems of education and social and parental pressures insidiously encourage the development of fear. Trying to do something ‘right’ – that is, in a way pleasing to those in authority – is the flip side of the fear of making mistakes. E M. Alexander noted ‘If you could stop the tremendous effort of trying to be right, you might actually be able to achieve your desired end!’ Making mistakes is an inevitable and useful part of the learning process. When learning to speak a foreign language, if we’re concerned with speaking it correctly all the time we are likely to remain tongue-tied. When you catch yourself doing something incorrectly, you shouldn’t just be frustrated or annoyed with yourself – you should take credit for recognizing it. Even if criticism itself can be constructive, fear of criticism is likely to be unhelpful. To learn, we need to be able to accept advice in an open and uninhibited way. For this to be possible, we need to feel safe about making and noticing our mistakes. Children who are brought up in an environment where the response to making a mistake is ridicule or punishment are unlikely to allow themselves to think or act freely and creatively. A secure and supportive framework is essential for learning.

In dealing with fear, physical contact can be an important means of reassurance. Manual support and guidance is an effective teaching tool in swimming, but conventional teaching methods offer little constructive advice or training in such techniques. The usual environment for teaching swimming is one in which the teacher is an authority figure. Teachers and coaches have most commonly carried out swimming instruction standing outside the water, shouting orders to groups of pupils with whom they have limited or no physical contact. From a child’s perspective, the coach towers above, teaching by command rather than by example. The teacher’s apparent aloofness can seem unsupportive and intimidating. Children may also be swept along by competitive peer pressures, thereby missing out on valuable lessons of confidence and safety. Group dynamics can mean that individual children are forced to suppress their own fears and inadequacies so as not to be singled out.

Much depends on the teacher’s own skill and perceptiveness. There is no doubt that in many circumstances group teaching can be effective, as well as time-saving and cost-efficient. However, responsible one-to-one physical assistance in the water may be invaluable in imparting a feeling of confidence and safety both to children and adult learners. Traditional methods of swimming-teaching do not provide instructors with the rationale or explicit techniques for giving pupils constructive physical support in the water. Concerns about abuse of children in particular have led to a climate in which swimming-teachers are discouraged from any kind of physical contact with young pupils. In teaching the Alexander Technique (AT) (in or out of the water) the primary emphasis is on the head-neck-back relationship and the use of the teacher’s hands for guidance in this area means that swimming instruction with the AT is hands-on as well. The formulation of explicit guidelines on touch makes both teachers and pupils more aware of appropriate boundaries.

All teachers agree that a sense of confidence in water is essential to swimming. However, insufficient attention is paid to the specific issues that must be addressed if the learner is to acquire confidence. This neglect partly stems from thinking of swimming as a purely physical activity. It’s assumed that the development of swimming skills alone is enough for the learner to become confident about the water. This is rarely the case. When skills are acquired without first establishing a sound basis of confidence, a crucial aspect of swimming is bypassed. This omission is at the expense of a whole dimension of sensitivity to being in the water and a more profound enjoyment of swimming.

It’s true that acquiring competent motor skills leads to greater confidence in water, which in turn encourages the further development of such skills. The better you’re able to move through water, the more confident you’re bound to feel about being in the water. But your confidence will not be well grounded if it is treated merely as a by-product of skills, as the model illustrates. Supposing an unexpected situation arises – an attack of cramp or water splashing unexpectedly in your face. Well-practiced motor skills can become inadequate or irrelevant. In the face of such an occurrence the left-hand arrow swings round, and the pathway leads straight back to the initial situation, inability and fear. The fact that your swimming skills are based on inadequate foundations means there is a sense of precariousness and unease about the whole question of being in the water.

Far better, then, that teaching should include explicit instruction to establish confidence, both prior to and parallel with the development of motor skills in the water. This requires a shift of emphasis.

This model is a useful basis for thinking about the learning of any skill. The educationist John Dewey saw the AT in a similar light, as being an essential preliminary to the acquisition of learning. He wrote that the AT ‘bears the same relation to education that education bears to all other human activities’.

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The fitness enthusiast and the competition swimmer as described above demonstrate instances of the attitude which in the Alexander Technique (AT) is termed end-gaining’. Focusing on the attainment of a distant goal prevents us from paying sufficient attention to the processes involved. This both impedes our ability to attain the desired end and does nothing to enhance the quality of our experience. Exercises that are performed in sets, such as weight-lifting, sit-ups and press-ups, are particularly conducive to an end-gaining mind-set. If we are concerned about getting to the end of the set of exercises without collapsing, we are less likely to pay due attention to the way we are using or misusing our body.

We have seen how the pursuit of fitness itself offers a prime example of the drawbacks of end-gaining. Although modern culture advocates strenuous exercise to improve our mental and physical condition, there is little critical debate about the benefits it is alleged to provide. In fact, even a little more sensitivity to the working of our organism as a whole enables us to notice how fitness regimes can work against our natural balance. Exercise programmes tend to reinforce bad habits and misuse, and the tendency to stiffen the neck and pull the head back is exaggerated as the speed of movement or the effort required increases.

Some routines deliberately treat us like machines whose component parts can be worked on and built up in isolation from the functioning of the whole. Mechanical activity which isolates individual muscle groups in this way is bound to ignore the integrated nature of a healthily functioning musculo-skeletal system. It can result in our developing some areas of our body disproportionately, thereby reducing our overall flexibility and impeding the smooth functioning of the joints. Furthermore, such routines smother our sensitivity. The body’s signals of misuse, such as persistent aches and pains, are ignored in the drive to improve our ‘form’. It’s not surprising that the incidence of exercise-related injury grows year by year, and that sports-related therapies – virtually unknown a decade ago to all except professional athletes, have become a regular feature of the modern fitness scene.

Sports medicine has identified a wide range of specific injuries sustained by competitive swimmers, such as a form of tendonitis referred to as ‘swimmer’s shoulder’, and disabling pain caused by the erosion of cartilage around the knee (‘breaststroker’s knee’). Much more common is the unpleasant experience of cramp in the water. This is most often due to the inadvertent over-extension of less-used muscles in the legs and torso. Although swimming is alleged to be innocuous, it clearly presents risks of this kind if pursued in an unconsidered way. It’s important to be aware of the potential hazards, and to know how strain and injury can occur despite the fact that the water acts as a cushion against ‘high-impact’ injury.

The support offered to the body by water, with its dual property of both yielding to and resisting our actions, certainly offers us the opportunity to increase strength and stamina while moving more freely and fluidly than is possible on land. Swimmers intent on achieving a goal of fitness rarely appreciate these advantages to the full. Their ease and enjoyment are reduced by the sheer effort of trying to swim a given distance in a set time, in an inflexible way. If their system is already out of balance, even the advantages of buoyancy in reducing the requirement for effort are not realized: the unhealthy imbalance is merely reinforced.

Excessive effort and poor technique can actually do more harm than good. Swimming awkwardly can reactivate old injuries, aggravate disorders, and result in neck, shoulder and back pain.

End-gaining thus serves little purpose apart from providing a distraction from performing the activity in hand. Those who swim with the overriding intention in their minds to get fit, strengthen their muscles, or lose weight – typical examples of end-gaining approaches – usually have fixed ideas of what they should do to achieve their aims. Little thought is given to the way they move through the water; attention is switched off and automatic habits take over. This tendency can be a major obstacle to learning to be free and feeling at home in the water.

Even though the buoyancy of water in principle reduces the need for effort and can accordingly have a positive effect on our use, in practice few swimmers have sufficient awareness of their use to develop a style for themselves that exploits this advantage to the full. So if you have specific goals, be aware of how focusing on the end can actually hinder you from attending to the most effective way of achieving the desired result. You can take the first step to a new and healthier way of swimming simply by reconsidering your motivation for being in the water in the first place.

The method proposed by the AT of overcoming the drawbacks of end-gaining in practice is to learn to pay attention to the intermediate steps. This was called by F M. Alexander ‘attending to the means-whereby’. By eliminating the unnecessary pressure caused by trying to attain a particular end, one can become more aware of the moment and thereby achieve greater command over one’s thoughts and actions – in other words, greater control of the whole self. The removal of an automatic end-gaining response makes it possible for a more mindful attitude to emerge, resulting in more effective learning.

A mechanical routine which smothers awareness by setting artificial goals is apt to suppress unarticulated anxieties in the process. This is another way in which the blind pursuit of fitness goals can be dangerously counterproductive. Anxieties remain obscure to their owner, only to emerge in awkward symptoms such as stroke defects and strained breathing. In the urge to achieve a stronger or faster stroke, swimmers develop awkward movements without realizing it. In addition, problems of style which swimmers already display may be exacerbated as they plough ahead unthinkingly. Often only when fears are revealed clearly and explicitly can they be systematically addressed and overcome.

For example, the involuntary twisting round of one leg in the breast stroke (known as the ‘screw-kick’) sets up a negative chain of movements throughout the body. This places uneven pressure on the hips, lower back, and ultimately the entire spinal column. The tendency is very hard to eradicate, and can only be effectively countered by careful attention and the mindful practice of moving both legs symmetrically when lying on front and back, both in and out of water. Swimmers who remain excessively focused on fitness goals are unlikely to be able to correct this often deeply ingrained and potentially harmful stroke defect.

A screw-kick affects the whole body, not just the legs. By not turning both feet out evenly, serious injuries can occur, especially to the knees, hips and lower back. A symmetrical kick not only maintains good alignment, it also enables a powerful thrust through the legs to be achieved without damage.

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The dynamic relationship between the head, neck and back plays a crucial role in the way we orient ourselves. The main element of use that determines our ease of movement is the poise of our head in relation to the rest of the body. With the head as the leading element of a forward-and-upward orientation, there is a freeing of the spinal column and a consequent lengthening and widening of the torso which facilitates good breathing and generally balanced movement. In the Alexander Technique (AT) the head-neck-back relationship is seen as the main element in good use, which is why F.M. Alexander termed it the primary control. The operation of the primary control can be clearly observed in the easy poise shown by infants.

As we grow older, the, delicate balance which characterizes the natural relationship between head, neck and back deteriorates. We acquire the habit of contracting our neck muscles as a defensive response to unpleasant stimuli. This stiffening of the neck causes the head to be forced back and down, which works against the natural extension of our spinal column. Our vertebrae become compressed like a line of railway carriages being shunted together when the brakes are applied. This is the first in a chain of reactions which combine to create tension throughout the body and interfere with our ease of movement. Ultimately the spine is connected by nerves and muscles to every part of the body. When the spine loses its upward orientation and contracts, the back loses its function as our basic support structure. This creates undue strain on other parts of the body, and we seek to compensate for it by holding ourselves up. Consequently, our whole musculoskeletal structure is affected. The ribcage becomes compressed, constricting the breathing mechanism. The shoulders are narrowed, hampering the freedom of the arms. The pelvic region is put under pressure, affecting the ability of the legs to move with ease.

The first step to reversing all these effects is to stop the unnecessary contraction of the muscles of the neck so that the head-neck-back relationship can begin to improve. By freeing up the point at which the head is connected to the rest of the body, the muscles of the torso are reorganized to interact in a more efficient and balanced manner. Tension is redistributed, reversing the contraction of the musculoskeletal system that narrows and compresses the body. Because the system of muscles and bones involved is not normally under our direct conscious control, establishing the primary control is less about doing something to change than allowing internal musculoskeletal structures to release. This is not a purely physical process: it also involves changing the way we think about ourselves. This connection is clear when we consider how emotions such as fear are regularly reflected in posture. A habitual attitude of worry or anxiety causes people to adopt a hunched, defensive stoop, while a positive, confident attitude has corresponding effects on use. We all know from experience how physical strain or discomfort affects our general outlook. Equally, emotions such as anxiety or anger produce muscular responses which increase tension throughout the body.

The AT respects the fact that mind and body form a psychophysical whole. Change in one is reflected by change in the other. True flexibility in our physical aspect helps us to be more flexible on every level. This is not to be mistaken for the limited kind of flexibility which arises from training muscles to ignore pain when the body is distorted into extreme positions, as in certain kinds of Yoga and stretch-and-tone routines. Learning to change one’s use is itself a dynamic process. It’s not merely a question of readjusting one’s posture so sis to hold oneself in a different position. The quest for a better posture can all too easily lead to increased rigidity, and the adoption of a fixed stance cannot be achieved without muscular tension. For this reason F. M. Alexander cautioned against talking about ‘posture’, and words such as ‘position’ and ‘stance’ are also generally avoided in the AT. The classic ‘upright posture’ of the regimental sergeant-major – head and shoulders back, chest out, tummy in- was justly dismissed by Alexander as ‘an abomination’. It cannot be sustained without causing lasting injury to the spine. Constantly varying demands are made on our minds and bodies by the changing environments in which we find ourselves. In this context, no fixed posture can be appropriate. What is required is an orientation that allows for a truly flexible response.

Establishing the primary control is not a one-off action. Good orientation involves a living awareness of use that is renewed from moment to moment. Unless we’re aware of our use, the inevitable tendency is to slip back into familiar patterns of thought and action. Most of us make far too much effort in our daily lives. Think of the range of our repeated daily activities: standing up and sitting down, walking, bending, dressing ourselves, brushing our teeth, lifting things up and putting them down. These actions can usually be performed with an appropriate minimum of muscular effort. But how often we find that they’re done with an unnecessary level of accompanying strain and muscular tension. In focusing on a desired result, we all too often ignore the actual process which produces what we seek to achieve. The single-minded pursuit of goals elicits in us an automatic response to overexert ourselves. We rarely stop to ask how much effort is really needed, or how it might best be directed.

Because the intermediate steps to our goal – the process of action ~ is where effort is unnecessarily expended; one way of ensuring that we save our energy and only exert ourselves appropriately is to be constantly aware of our use during the action. The only way we can do this effectively is to be aware of our use even before we act. In this way, good orientation is the essential preparation for the efficient performance of any action. The specific method proposed by the AT to help us prepare ourselves so that we avoid slipping into unhelpful habits is to address instructions to ourselves which guide us towards better use. F M. Alexander devised a series of messages or ‘orders’ to be given in a continuous sequence, both as a prelude to and in the course of performing an action. The sequence of orders runs: ‘Let the neck be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen.’ This is not an instruction for performing a finite course of tasks, but acts as a running prompt for achieving all the elements of good orientation simultaneously. It is phrased in a way (‘let’ rather than ‘make’) which emphasizes that this is not about trying to perform specific actions. Rather, it’s a way of stimulating us to stop interfering with the processes which allow us to be free. The projection of these messages ‘one after the other and all together’ (in Alexander’s words) makes us conscious of our use, and offers us a means whereby we can direct attention to improving our orientation.

Thus ‘good orientation’ should convey the idea of a continually flexible for-ward-and-upward alignment of the head, neck and back, as a foundation for all further action. Patrick MacDonald, a graduate of Alexander’s first teacher training course, illustrated the concept of orientation with the following image: ‘Even though a piece of steel does not move in space towards the magnet, every particle of the steel will be oriented towards it. While keeping the orientation of the particles towards the magnet it is possible to move both the magnet and the steel in any direction, including the opposite direction to which the particles are orientated.’ For instance, when we squat down to pick something up from the ground, we can continue to direct our body forward and up even while bending at the hips and knees brings us nearer to the ground. Even as we descend, we continue to extend. This is how we can apply what we have previously called ‘thinking in activity.’

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‘Fitness’ is the explicit goal of most people who pursue a regime of regular exercise. But do we really know what we mean by it? Are we doing the kind of thing that is truly conducive to achieving our goals? A fuller understanding of fitness and a clearer idea of what to look for in exercise might make us adjust our view of what to do and how to do it. While exercise brings indisputable benefits, fitness is not synonymous with health. We know that we can appear very ‘fit’ but be quite unhealthy. When we do strenuous, repetitive exercise for the sake of fitness, are we aware of what is really happening to our bodies? The value of a fitness regime which is boring, painful, and may result in chronic injury is surely questionable. We are encouraged to think that a trim, muscular or athletic image should make us more attractive (or at least make us feel more attractive). But insight into what we do to ourselves when we exercise can provide the catalyst for radical change in our approach to the whole question of fitness and health.

Take a moment to ask yourself what ‘fitness’ means to you. Knowing what you assume ‘fitness’ should involve can help to throw light on how and why to pursue it. By learning to make the best use of your time and energy, you ultimately stand to enhance immeasurably the value of the exercise you take, as of any activity you choose to engage in.

So what is a healthy approach to fitness? A good reason for staying fit is to be able to take vigorous activity for a reasonable period of time without feeling unduly breathless, strained or exhausted. This has clear benefits for all sorts of activities we regularly engage in ¡ª climbing stairs, running for a bus, carrying heavy objects. Healthy circulation of the blood also helps us think clearly, and acts to ward off illness. Furthermore, cardiovascular fitness obtained through regular aerobic exercise increases the chances of longevity. But long life is only something to be desired we remain in a condition to enjoy it. Staying fit through regular exercise can help enhance the quality of our lives by sharpening our faculties and allowing us to enjoy a wide range of physical and intellectual activities into old age. All these are valid enough reasons for wanting to undertake a balanced regime of physical activity.

A useful first step, then, is to form a clear idea of our aims in taking exercise. Secondly, before embarking on a fitness routine we are customarily encouraged to be aware of our overall physical condition. You may not be suffering from any medical condition or physical deficiency which prevents you exercising. But are you sufficiently in touch with yourself, even when simply sitting or standing, to know that the way you choose to exercise will bring the desired benefits? Can you be sure that it doesn’t pose risks to your health in ways that you have overlooked?

Take breathing, for instance. Efficient breathing is essential to good health and, a key element in the art of swimming. Ineffective breathing can significantly reduce, if not nullify, the positive effects of exercise. How aware are you of how you breathe? Do you know how your pattern of breathing changes during different types of activity? Or take the desire to look good. The single-minded pursuit of muscular strength and a ‘good figure’ can have particularly unwelcome side-effects. Are you sure that straining to extend your muscles is not placing dangerous pressure on your joints and tendons? Are you aware how excessive muscle build-up can reduce your flexibility, lead to rheumatic problems, and cause increasing discomfort as time goes on? Studies have shown that top athletes offer suffer from premature disease of the weight-bearing joints.

One reason why swimming is such a popular fitness pursuit is because it is thought to promote health and well-being without such injurious side-effects. It is recommended by doctors as a remedial activity for chronic conditions, and is considered a suitable form of exercise for all ages and physical types. The advantages of swimming over other forms of exercise are often cited as follows:

1. Water’s properties of buoyancy and density allow vigorous exercise in water with a low risk of injury.

2. Swimming requires the use of the whole body in a balanced and integrated manner.

3. Swimming allows a steady rather than a rapid increase in cardiovascular activity, so is often recommended for people with heart problems.

4. Water has relaxing and therapeutic properties which help make swimming enjoyable as well as beneficial.

The pursuit of fitness aims to address three areas of physical capability: strength, stamina, and suppleness. When charts are provided showing how different types of exercise rate in these respects, swimming usually heads the list. It emerges as the exercise which supplies the best overall balance of conventional fitness requirements, as illustrated by the chart opposite.

What such a chart doesn’t indicate is the level of risk presented by the different forms of exercise, their potential for strain, pain, and injury. In fact, any form of exercise, if taken to extremes, can have detrimental effects on health both in the short term and the long term. If we exercise without sufficient forethought or attention, there’s always some degree of risk. The growing incidence of sports-related injuries has led to increasing recognition of the dangers of highly strenuous types of exercise, such as those involving weights.

Swimming is put in a category of low-impact exercises which are supposedly exempt from such risks. But there are ways in which even low-impact exercise may cause harm, if the effect is to compound pre-existing strains, tension and rigidity. This is rarely given sufficient consideration, and here the Alexander Technique has an important insight to offer. ‘Fitness’ becomes a dubious pursuit if our system is out of balance. Unless we pay attention to their use, virtually any kind of exercise can cause harm or discomfort, and will be of limited benefit. An example is suggested by the fairly common sight of people swimming the breaststroke with their head held permanently out of the water. Whatever benefit they may obtain from the exercise may be more than offset by the strain placed on the spine and the shallow breathing necessitated by the arching of the back.

A similar objection applies to those who snatch their head back to breathe because their swimming rhythm is uncoordinated. Swimming with bad technique can do more harm than good.

It’s sometimes claimed that exercise needs to hurt to have any effect – the ‘no pain, no gain’ syndrome. Not only is this motto suspiciously masochistic, it creates a kind of psychophysical double-bind. To try simultaneously to inflict pain on oneself and to be indifferent to it is bound to be confusing. If we learn to enjoy the sensation of pain by deliberately straining to the point of excess, the body’s natural mechanisms, which normally seek to make us aware of discomfort so that we can take measures to reduce it, are thrown into turmoil. So, by pursuing fitness in this way, we risk setting up a conflict of feelings which leads to an active blocking of our awareness.

Nor do we help ourselves when the exercise environment itself is not conducive to sensitivity. The heavy beat of music in group aerobic sessions, the hubbub of the gym bustling with noise and activity, and a host of other distractions can overload the senses and divert our attention from our immediate experience. Equally distracting is the internal clamor – the desire to look good, to show off, to keep up with others, to conceal one’s figure, to avoid the tedium of exercise by letting the mind wander. The fact that exercise, and especially swimming, often takes place in a public environment makes such distracting thoughts hard to avoid, particularly when they are not recognized as potentially harmful and handled accordingly. One of the most unhelpful internal pressures is the urge to compete in the water, which is so common and widely accepted that it merits more detailed consideration.

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