Why relaxation changes habits

 In Alexander Technique people often talk about habitual tension and how you can release the tension in your neck, in your shoulders, in your back, and learn to do the ordinary things or whatever it is that you do every day without this tension. Dr. Bates, the creator of the Bates method, was also writing how most difficulties with vision come from excess tension, and we can only relax the eyes, our vision will, in many cases, become very good. This makes sense for myopia if we assume that the eyeball is elongated because of the excess tension in extrinsic eye muscles. Similar explanations can be constructed to explain why double vision, or lack of binocular vision, or poor night vision also come from excess tension. However, there is something unsatisfactory about this explanation.

It seems that "excess tension" often denotes "poor use", where the word "use" is to be understood in the context of Alexander Technique. "Tension" just refers to an effort, conscious or subconscious, to interfere with the natural course of things to gain some end. In many cases what is called "tension" is really an adaptation.

I've been recently thinking about breathing and relaxation and, particularly, why is it that when I take a lunchtime yoga class in a fitness club at work, it is as I noticed more difficult to breathe freely during that class, than when I take a yoga class at some other time, perhaps during a weekend. Even though the fitness club in question is underground, I thought that perhaps I picked up some tension from other people at work, or even tensed myself, and so it affected my breathing.

On another occasion I was looking myself in the mirror while at work and noticed with disappointment that one of my eyes again turned away. Then I somehow recalled what I had been thinking about breathing, and started to breath deeply, trying to slow down and relax. To my amazement, the eye started turning back to the aligned position.

I think now I understand it. The eye turns away as an adaptation, when there is a contradiction between the input from both eyes that is difficult to resolve. If the situation is urgent and requires an immediate action, it is essential to provide as accurate visual input as possible, thus the eye turns away. However, if I am more relaxed as there is no immediate threat, the need for adaptation will be less, and the eyes may be able to work together, and this ability will develop further and further.  A change of habit, and learning in general, is only possible when the situation is not critical for survival, and imperfect functioning is acceptable. Relaxation allows for the habits to change and for learning in general because it decreases the need for adaptations.


Every time you are learning to do things in a new way, there will be a transitional period during which the old way will be more efficient than the new way. For example, you have used a certain computer program as your text editor for years, and now you are switching to a new one. The new one may be better in every imaginable way, but since it is different, you will have to struggle for some time until you eventually become as productive and later even more productive than you were with the old program. The transitional period will be shorter if you make the change instantly and fully commit to using the new program. However, if you keep using the old program when you need to do something quickly, because you really need it, you may never complete the switch. Furthermore, you will be much more successful with the new program if you embrace the philosophy of the new program as if you have never seen a text editor before. Most people, however, will start learning the new program by finding ways to do things that they often did in the old program.

People who develop and sell computer software, as well as engineers in general, have to acknowledge this human tendency, if they want their products to sell. If they come up with something radically new, it will either result in complete success as was the case with Apple iPod, or in complete failure, as happens with most other projects.

Why is it that people are frustrated when a program takes forever to load? Why is it that people are annoyed when they install a new program and all buttons are in different places, and they cannot find anything in the menu? Most people use computers because they want to accomplish something: write a poem, edit a picture in Photoshop, check train schedule in the internet. They are preoccupied with action out of doing, rather than out of being, and their way of acting will be necessarily habitual. They will keep doing things for years the same old way, because it works. You know how people say that they are bad at computers because they cannot accomplish XYZ. The most successful computer users are young kids who are using their computer without any intent to accomplish something, it is just their way of being.

When a computer user is trying to accomplish something, the immediate need or desire to finish the task prevents him from seeing other possibilities. Learning is prevented by the need to accomplish. If you want to learn, you have to be fine with failing, even if you know you can succeed the old way. Now, if we are talking about a survival scenario such as a war, then it may be inappropriate to learn to shoot in a new way and better to rely on the established skills of shooting in the face of an immediate danger. A computer user may also have a survival situation if he is, for example, a flight dispatcher. Then he will naturally use his established skills to deal best with his immediate environment, sacrificing any chance for learning. Similarly, if you are undergoing vision therapy, but your environment strongly requires you to see as clearly as possible, you will probably rely on your established visual skills, and there may be little progress. Evaluate every task, situation, and environment that you encounter. Either classify it as critical and use your best abilities as of now, or classify it as non-critical, relax, stay present, and allow for learning. Choose wisely: sometimes it may be better to sacrifice learning.


If you are interested in the subject of software and frustrated users,  read this blog post by Joel Spolsky: Controlling your environment makes you happy This post is included in his excellent book "User Interface Design for Programmers". Even if you are not a programmer but merely an active computer user, you may enjoy reading this book. For example, this is one thing that I learned from that book. If you are using Windows, you are probably familiar with the Recycle Bin. In Windows 95 when there was something in the Recycle Bin, it looked messy. Even though it was meant to allow people to recover the files that they accidentally deleted, research has shown that most people emptied it on a regular basis, because they wanted their computer desktop to look neat and organized.


Coming back to the original discussion: this is the other side of the coin. Not forcing people to change their habits too much or to learn too much when they are trying to accomplish something allows them to relax a little bit. Then, once they relax, a little bit of learning may be possible. This is why, when you teach, say, how to dance salsa to somebody who has never danced before, it is essential to first create a comfortable and supportive environment so learning can take place, for otherwise they will focus very hard on looking their best in this embarrassing situation, and no learning will take place. Clearly, during the transitional period they will have to look like they don't know that they are doing, and people like to feel in control. On the other hand, if you are that person who is trying to learn some salsa, understand that this is probably not a survival situation, and without reframing it, simply let go of the need to be in control.