Alexander technique

The Alexander technique, named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, sets out to teach people how to avoid unnecessary muscular and mental tension during their everyday activities. It is an educational process rather than a relaxation technique or form of exercise. Most other methods take it for granted that 'one's awareness of oneself' is accurate, whereas Alexander said that people who had been using their musculature wrongly for a long time could not trust their feelings (sensory appreciation) in carrying out any activity or in responding to situations emotionally. Practitioners say that such problems are often caused by repeated misuse of one's musculature over a long period of time, for example, by standing or sitting with one's weight unevenly distributed, holding one's head incorrectly, walking or running inefficiently, or responding to stressful stimuli in an exaggerated way. The purpose of the Alexander technique is to help people unlearn maladaptive psychophysical habits and return to a balanced state of rest and poise in which one's musculature is functioning as an integrated whole.

Alexander

Alexander (/ˈæləɡzˈændər/, /ˈæləɡzˈɑːndər/) is a common male first name, and less common surname derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros). The most famous is Alexander the Great, who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.

Origin

Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), meaning "Defender of the people" or "Defending men" and also, "Protector of men", a compound of the verb ἀλέξειν alexein, "to ward off, to avert, to defend" and the noun ἀνήρ anēr, "man" (GEN ἀνδρός andros). It is an example of the widespread motif of Greek (or Indo-European more generally) names expressing "battle-prowess", in this case the ability to withstand or push back an enemy battle line.

The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek feminine anthroponym 𐀀𐀩𐀏𐀭𐀅𐀨, a-re-ka-sa-da-ra (transcribed as Alexandra), written in the Linear B syllabic script.

The name was one of the titles ("epithets") given to the Greek goddess Hera and as such is usually taken to mean "one who comes to save warriors". In the Iliad, the character Paris is known also as Alexander. The name's popularity was spread throughout the Greek world by the military conquests of King Alexander III, commonly known as "Alexander the Great". Most later Alexanders in various countries were directly or indirectly named for him.

Technique

A technique is a procedure to complete a task :

Technique may also refer to: