Output details

The Imaginal Body: Using Principles of the Alexander Technique to Release the Imagination

The chapter examines the role of somatic work in releasing the imagination and aims to identify an example of process. The writing details a hypothetical case study focusing and releasing the tension and following a process through to releasing the imagination. The case study gives attention to working on the imaginary Kate's tension in the arms and shoulders and how this impacts on her overall use, particularly of her voice. Combining the two major arm muscles, trapezius and latissimus, into the image of a wing, the practice begins by identifying habitual patterns, using hands-on, conscious thinking, anatomical images and visualizations and develops these into movement and eventually text.

The case study focusses on the practical session interspersed with contextualisation about the practice and theoretical clarification. An important distinction is articulated between visualising and imagining, and clarifying notions of imagination and memory. Whilst capturing the physical and experiential the chapter also defines a theoretical underpinning beyond the Alexander Technique by questioning the nature of the imagination and culminates in detailing some of the imaginative content of the text that has been revealed through the process.