This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Using a Computer, is published on this website in a PDF format. It will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create an effortless and accurate keyboard and mouse technique.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
Primary Control is the basis of organized coordinated computer usage in the Alexander Technique. When a person is using the computer with the organized easy typing and mouse technique, then the head is leading the computer user’s spine into lengthening, as the arms and fingers move from a decompressed, vertically balanced, and aligned spine, supported by a padded vertical chair back.
This means that all of the nerves that radiate from the spinal cord have no pressure on them. So, the nerves can send the signals from the brain for movement and/or muscular support, as you type or use the mouse, without being slowed down by the vertebrae and muscles pinching the nerves.
The brain and spinal cord always organize the movement that the body produces, but when the Primary Control is interfered with by muscular tension and compression and poor posture, then that organization is poor organization. THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IS ALL ABOUT THE QUALITY OF A COMPUTER USER’S POSTURE AND TECHNIQUE.
The Alexander Technique recognizes that a huge amount of wear and tear and physical pain on the computer is caused by how you type and use the mouse, not by how long you use the computer.
The assumption in the Alexander Technique is that we are born with an innate ability to move with beautiful Primary Control, and that babies crawl with the head leading a lengthening spine naturally, given that the baby is healthy in a healthy environment.
If you were to observe a 1,000 computer users at the computer, you’d be hard put to see one computer user with beautiful Primary Control (given that none of them had done any Alexander Technique work). What does using the computer without a compromised Primary Control look like?
The computer user sits fully upright with a completely mobile body (not trying to sit straight), supported by a vertical padded chair. The computer user’s neck is free and the computer user is aware that the head is leading a lengthening spine upward, which means that the computer user is able to see the keys, his or her fingers, and the screen, as the head continues to lead a lengthening spine upward.
This means that the computer user is completely engaged in using the computer without hunkering down into the computer. This fully upward mobile posture balancing on the sit bones, gives the shoulders and arms of the computer user a balanced torso to float on, so that the computer user can effortlessly type and use the mouse with effortless accuracy.
When the computer user’s shoulders are floating/supported by a fully upright torso, then the shoulder girdle is free to back up the arms and hands as the computer user types or uses the mouse, and the shoulder girdle doesn’t have to tense up to support itself.
When the computer user’s body is organized by the Primary Control, then the computer user is free to place all of his or her awareness on a typing technique that isn’t being compromised by a compromised Primary Control. In other words, if the computer user’s body is collapsed or over-tense with poor head/neck/spine organization, then the pure specific effortless typing technique of the computer user can never be what it would be, since it is not backed up by a balanced body.
WHEN THE FOUNDATION OF COORDINATED HUMAN MOVEMENT IS COMPROMISED, THEN THE SECONDARY TECHNIQUE OF A SPECIALIZED ACTIVITY, LIKE USING A COMPUTER, WILL NEVER BE AS EFFORTLESS OR AS ACCURATE AS IT COULD BE.
