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Everyone knows how to run – or at least they think they do. Surely, it’s just a case of putting one foot in front of the other and turning occasionally, right?
Yet, you need only glance at the joggers slogging round our streets to realise that many runners don’t, in fact, know how to run properly. There they are, fists clenched, arms locked by their sides, eyes staring at the ground, shuffling along at six or seven kilometres an hour. The look on their faces is not one of pleasure, but of penance – as if to say through gritted teeth, ‘I wish I was somewhere else, doing something more exciting, but I (gasp!) need (pant!) the exercise.’
Like any physical activity, you’ll only keep it up if you enjoy what you’re doing – not just the endorphin high that envelops you at, the end of a good session, but also the actual process. With running, this means a greater focus on technique, which encompasses how your body moves and – most importantly – how it feels to move with the least amount of tension. One of the very best ways of achieving this is through practising the Alexander Technique.
The founder of this method, F.M. Alexander (1869-1955), was an Australian actor who cured himself of chronic laryngitis. While battling his inability to speak, Alexander recognised that, when he even began thinking about speaking, let alone when he actually tried to speak, he became very tense throughout his upper body. He especially noticed tension in his head, neck and back, which in turn, put a significant strain on his vocal cords. His difficulty was not merely physical, but what he termed ‘psycho-physical’ – in striving for an end result, he had been ignoring the correct means of getting there. He discovered that if you adopt a typical speaker’s stance, shoulders pushed back, head and chest thrust forward, and chin pointing upwards, your upper body becomes very tense. Alexander was able to eliminate this destructive tension, and thus re-learned a natural, relaxed posture in which he could speak freely.
The technique Alexander developed is now taught in small group workshops and individual classes, all over the world. The sessions concentrate on activities like sitting, standing, lying down, bending and carrying. It sounds simple, but this method actually re-teaches you how to perform everyday activities, with the least amount of strain on your muscles. The Alexander principles apply equally to different kinds of exercise, such as swimming and running. One recently published book, The Art of Running, explores this idea with the view that, running should be considered an art, because the skills it requires can be constantly practiced and improved upon.
According to co-author, Malcolm Balk, ‘When running becomes a means to an end, and not your primary focus, it loses the features which elevate it from just another mundane activity.’
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