The senses, sensory processing, and the Alexander technique

This article provides information about our senses, the sensory processing differences or problems that we can have, the effects these may have on us, and how the Alexander technique may help.

Contents

Our sensory system

The senses

Sensory processing differences

Types of sensory processing differences

Other related problems

Why can sensory processing differences be important?

How can the Alexander technique help?

The senses and sensory processing in the Alexander technique

What happens in an Alexander technique lesson

The benefits of the Alexander technique for those with sensory processing differences

Interested in trying the Alexander technique?

Our sensory system comprises the brain, spinal cord, and sensory neurons (nerve cells), including sensory receptor cells. It is the neurological wiring through which we perceive and process sensory information (or stimuli) coming from both outside and inside our bodies.

Our understanding of the senses has changed over time and is still changing, particularly in regard to our internal bodily senses. While there is some disagreement, we are commonly understood to have eight senses. We have sensory receptors for these eight senses in our head and body.

Five of these senses are exteroceptive (external in focus) and relate to how we perceive information from our environment. Three senses relate to how we perceive information from inside our bodies. The job of our senses is to merge and integrate sensory information for our survival, discrimination and learning, enjoyment of life, and to enable us to do what we need to do.

All the senses work together to provide us with an ‘optimal level of arousal’. This means we are able to perceive, process, filter, and react to sensory stimuli efficiently and in order of perceived importance.

The senses are listed below. More detail is included on the three internal senses that you may know less about. Briefly, the senses are:

1. Tactile (touch) – this sense provides our nervous system with information about touching and being touched. It also includes information about pain, temperature, and pressure. Anything we touch or feel is part of the tactile sensory system. We receive messages through skin receptors, all over the body.

2. Visual (sight) – this sense provides information about what we see. Our visual sense includes our eyesight (eg, we see black lines on a whiteboard) and our visual processing (eg, we interpret those black lines to represent the letter A).

3. Auditory (sound) – this sense provides information about what we hear and refers to the information we receive through the ears. Our auditory processing helps us recognise individual sounds and filter out unwanted sounds that we do not need to attend to.

4. Olfactory (smell) – this sense provides information about scents and is all about interpreting information received through the nose. Smell travels directly to the emotional brain (limbic system) and can cause comfort or alarm depending on the smell. For example, if something smells bad, this sends a warning that we may not like it or that a food is dangerous to eat.

5. Gustatory (taste) – this sense provides information about flavours. This sense helps us interpret taste and flavours and process the information we receive through our mouths.

6. Vestibular (balance, movement, and spatial awareness) – this sense provides feedback about how our body is balancing and moving through space. Receptors in our inner ears tell us if we are balancing, where our head is relative to the ground, and detect changes in relation to gravity. The vestibular sense is the first sense to develop and respond to sensory input. It coordinates other senses and is linked to tactile, proprioceptive, auditory, and visual processing concerning balance, coordination, eye control, and attention. It also promotes our bodily sense of self and sense of personal space. Vestibular and balance problems can interfere with our ability to think. When our brains are expending energy keeping us balanced, there is less energy for other cognitive (thinking) processes. We can struggle with attention, concentration, and memory, and may feel disorientated, dizzy, and confused. Anxiety, fear, and panic can be triggered and may make the physical symptoms worse.

7. Proprioceptive/kinaesthetic (proprioception/kinaesthesia; perception of body position and movement) – this sense provides information about where our body is in space, where our joints, limbs, and body parts are relative to each other, whether they are relaxed or in tension, what they are doing, and how much force or pressure we need to use for a task. Receptors in our joints, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue give our brain feedback. (Note: sometimes ‘proprioception’ is used to mean our sense of joint position, while ‘kinaesthesia’ is used to mean our sense of joint movement.)

8. Interoceptive (interoception; awareness of internal body states and needs) – this sense provides information about what is happening inside our bodies and sensations from internal organs (eg, hunger, needing the toilet, fear). Our interoceptive system helps us stay in a state of optimal balance called ‘homeostasis’. Receptors all over our bodies – including our internal organs, bones, muscles, and skin – send information to the brain. The brain uses this feedback to determine how we feel. For example, if our body needs energy, we feel hungry, so we eat. As most emotions are linked to physical sensations, the interoceptive system also allows us to feel emotions. For instance, if our muscles tighten, our fists and teeth clench, our heart starts racing, and our face flushes, we might realise we feel angry. Our ability to read our physical signals directly relates to how accurately we can identify and balance and normalise (or ‘regulate’) our emotions. This also affects our ability to read others’ physical and emotional cues. As our interoceptive sense is central to physical and emotional regulation, it also affects areas including self-regulation and awareness, flexible thinking and problem solving, and intuitive social skills, thinking, and participation.

Many of us have some problems processing the sensory information from our senses in different ways. Or we may have sensitivities or differences in the way we process sensory information from the norm. These sensory differences or problems may affect one sense – or a number of our senses – and these differences can occur for a variety of reasons.

For diagnostic reasons, when we have differences in the way we process sensory information, we may be told we have sensory processing disorder, or SPD. (This diagnostic label is then broken down into different categories and subtypes to describe the type of sensory processing differences that someone may have. In reality, people don’t tend to fit into neat boxes.)

There are different types of sensory processing differences.

• Sensory modulation differences (diagnostically: sensory modulation disorder, or SMD) make it difficult for people to regulate the information coming in through their senses. Subtypes include:

  • Sensory over-responsibility or overexcitability – this where sensory stimuli and sensations are experienced more intensely and in a more heightened way than the norm. This can also be referred to as ‘sensory processing sensitivity’. It is seen in people who may be called ‘highly sensitive’ because they are more sensitive to sensory stimuli and sensation than most people. They can experience sensory stimuli and sensation as too intense and struggle to tolerate certain ordinary sensory stimuli and sensations. People with sensory over-responsibility tend to be ‘sensory avoiders’.

  • Sensory under-responsibility – this is where there is a lessened or more deadened response to sensory stimuli and sensation than would normally be expected. People who are under-reactive to stimuli do not experience and react to ordinary environmental sensations strongly enough; they may appear withdrawn, difficult to engage, and/or be ‘checked out’ and day dreaming. People with sensory under-responsibility tend to be ‘sensory disregarders’. Those with autism may be sensory disregarders in some instances.

  • Sensory craving – this is where there is a craving for intense and frequent sensory input. This is seen in people who actively seek sensory stimulation. They have an insistent desire for sensation and tend to be constantly moving, crashing, bumping, jumping, and/or need to touch everything. These people are ‘sensory cravers’. Sensory cravers are often thought to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). (A key factor with sensory craving is that when the person receives more input, it does not regulate them as those with true craving disorders become disorganised with additional stimulation.)

• Sensory-based motor differences (diagnostically: sensory-based motor disorder, or SBMD) make it challenging for people to move through the world around them. When people have sensory-based motor (muscular) differences, their bodies simply don’t do what their brains tell them to do. Subtypes include:

  • Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also called dyspraxia – this is where there is difficulty conceiving, planning, and executing motor movement (ie, there is tendency to fall over, lack coordination, bump into objects). People with DCD can be disorganised in doing everyday tasks and can be dismayed by novel challenges with multiple steps. People with DCD are ‘sensory fumblers’.

  • Postural disorder – this is where there is low muscle tone and a lack of coordination through the torso musculature. People with postural problems have difficulty coordinating upright posture, balance, and staying alert. They tend to be ‘sensory slumpers’.

• Sensory discrimination differences (diagnostically: sensory discrimination disorder, or SDD) interfere with a person’s ability to correctly identify sensation and interpret the characteristics of information coming in from their senses. This can affect any of the senses, and often involves more than one sensory system. People with sensory discrimination differences tend to be sensory ‘jumblers’. A few examples are presented below.

  • Someone with vestibular discrimination problems tends to have difficulty determining and interpreting stimuli experienced through movement of the body though space or against gravity (eg, they may not know where their own body is in space without looking).

  • Someone with proprioceptive/kinaesthetic discrimination problems tends to have difficulty interpreting the characteristics of stimuli experienced through use of the muscles and joints (eg, they may use too much or too little pressure or force in different physical activities, and possibly break or overdo things as a result).

  • Someone with interoceptive discrimination problems will have difficulty interpreting the characteristics of sensory stimuli from internal organs and inside their body (eg, they may not know when their heart is beating rapidly, how fast they are breathing, or how much tension they are carrying in their shoulders).

Sensory processing issues are common, particularly in modern 21st century life where we all live at a frantic pace and are constantly bombarded with stressful stimuli far removed from the natural world. We are spending more and more of our lives online, at least somewhat divorced from our animal bodies. As a result, we spend less time, particularly in childhood, in activities that move our bodies and help us develop our sensory systems (eg, jumping, hopping, skipping, and climbing).

One related issue is auditory and language processing dysfunction – where there can be problems with locating sounds, identifying people’s voices, discriminating between different sounds and words, filtering out background sounds to concentrate on what one person is saying, difficulty attending to, understanding and remembering what is said or read, difficulty putting ideas into words, and difficulty articulating and speaking clearly.

Another related issue is dysgraphia, where there are problems with language processing, writing, and fine motor skills. This tends to affect how a person organises information and puts thoughts on paper. It can lead to discouragement, frustration, anxiety, and communication problems with others.

There can also be related social and emotional issues, and issues with emotional and self-regulation related to sensory processing issues. Sometimes these issues and others’ responses to them can also have negative and traumatic outcomes that may only add to the sensory overload.

Those who have sensory processing differences are also often neurologically a bit different from the norm.

As discussed above, the way people process sensory stimuli can vary in diverse ways. This can lead to a variety of knock-on effects and related problems.

Many people with problematic sensory processing differences tend to be sensitive to sensory stimuli and may respond intensely. They can be more reactive and more easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli than others as they may not be able to process their experience at the speed at which it can be happening. Sensory overload leads to cognitive and brain overload and over-stimulation. This can lead to chronic stress.

Many of us with sensory processing differences can respond to stimuli in ways that may be seen as ‘over the top’ by others. Our reactions may be seen as too intense, too frequent, and lasting for too long because they vary from the norm.

People with sensory processing differences can have increased anxiety. When overwhelmed by sensory stimuli, they can be triggered into fight or flight, be impulsive, or respond with aggression. They may become ‘hypervigilant’ to threat. Hypervigilance requires a person to give all their attention to their senses. They are unable to tune out unimportant stimuli and to subconsciously categorise them as ‘safe’ as normally occurs. Over time, this can lead to post-traumatic stress. (I talk more about these sorts of issues on my page on trauma and the body.)

Obviously, many sensory processing differences have knock-on effects. For example, sensory overwhelm, reactions to it, and the reasons behind these reactions may not be understood by others. Those of us with sensory processing differences might avoid social and group activities. We may then have difficulty forming relationships. We can be very cautious and anxious about trying new things. Likewise, we can be upset by transitions and unexpected changes.

The Alexander technique is a hands-on mind–body mindfulness and re-educational method. At its core, it is about changing overly quick, and potentially harmful, automatic reactions to stimuli – stimuli that we receive through our senses, both internal and external. When we can stop harmful habits and automatic reactions to stimuli in our daily lives, it allows us more freedom and choice in how we can choose to respond in the moment. It allows us to develop more considered and thoughtful responses to difficult sensory stimuli.

The senses, sensory information, and sensory processing have always been seen as important in the Alexander technique.

When developing his method from the late 19th century onwards, FM Alexander used the term ‘sensory perception’ (or ‘sensory appreciation’) to refer to the information we get from our senses. This concept includes sensory information from both our external and internal senses. Our external senses give us feedback from our environment, while our internal senses tell us about our physical condition and the way we are using our bodies and whole selves (our ‘use’) in relation to our environment. (To remind us, our internal senses include our vestibular sense, interoception, and kinaesthesia/proprioception.)

In the Alexander technique, faulty sensory perception or appreciation is understood to come about in two main ways. Firstly, we do not receive accurate information from our senses, so we do not get accurate sensory feedback from our environment or about our physical condition. Alternatively, we interpret sensory information inaccurately. Both are common – and can happen for various reasons. Faulty sensory perception leads to an unreliable sense of sensation or feeling. This is where what feels right is actually incorrect or wrong. (For example, when someone slumps habitually, their slumped position feels right, even while they see their ‘bad posture’ when looking in a mirror.)

This faulty or unreliable sensory appreciation occurs when our sensory systems are mis-attuned. This happens through a lack of full sensory development, misinterpreting sensory information, developing unhealthy habits, and/or habitually overriding information from our senses (particularly overriding interoception).

In Alexander sessions (or ‘lessons’), with an Alexander teacher’s help, a person’s sensory appreciation is slowly re-educated. As a result, it becomes more accurate and they gain increased understanding about how they use their senses and their bodies over time.

In an Alexander lesson, the Alexander teacher uses verbal instruction and hands-on work to teach the client (or student) its core principles of stopping (or ‘inhibiting’) automatic reactions and sending directions to the body. The Alexander directions work to re-coordinate and prevent misuse of the body by preventing unwanted extra muscle tension and contraction. They particularly focus on improving head–neck–back alignment and the physical startle pattern (and related fight–flight–freeze and fawn stress responses). Over time, working with the directions strips back layers of physical stress.

As part of teaching inhibition of reactions and the directions, we retrain movement, bodily coordination, and how we use ourselves while performing everyday activities in an Alexander lesson. We may work with walking, rising from a chair, bending to pick up an item or how we sit at a computer, work in the kitchen, or play an instrument. Movement and activities are broken down into a sequence of non-threatening small steps, and are worked with as individually needed. We also use table work to help with the teaching of inhibition and direction.

Working with the Alexander technique’s principles of inhibition and sending direction to the body has positive benefits for those of us with sensory processing differences.

• An Alexander lesson is a low-stress environment in which to learn how to stop automatic reactions to stimuli. We work with simple stimuli during a lesson. We begin by learning to stop or prevent habitual automatic responses, forms of movement, and unneeded tension. This same process is then applied to more diverse stimuli, both within the lesson and outside it. Over time, an Alexander client learns to change responses to difficult sensory stimuli that previously put them wrong, and may have led to sensory overwhelm, related emotional meltdowns, and/or panic attacks.

• Learning to inhibit automatic reactions and to send directions to the body leads to more conscious, considered responses, starts to lower bodily stress, and begins to both lessen and prevent fight–flight responses. This gives the potentially overwrought nervous systems of those of us with sensory processing differences the chance to quieten. It also gives the chance for long-held anxiety to begin to calm. Reduced stress leads to fewer panic attacks or stress meltdowns from sensory overwhelm.

• The principles of stopping and directing provide tools for coping with sensitivities or overexcitabilities. An Alexander client’s sensory sensitivities can also be channelled so sensitivity becomes a strength enabling increased bodily, sensory, and overall self-awareness and learning, rather than a weakness to be compensated for.

• The directions, together with the inhibiting of automatic physical reactions, help re-coordinate the body, leading to improved postural behaviour, bodily alignment, and stability – resolving any postural disorder and helping expand body awareness. In a lesson, activities and movements are broken down into sequential, non-threatening, small steps. Each step is slowly worked with as individually needed.

• Breaking down activities and movements into steps enables those of us with sensory issues to learn to plan and execute movement. Both fine and gross motor control gradually increase and sensory motor integration (the relationship between the sensory system, or the nerves, and the motor system, or the muscles) improves. This helps us overcome clumsiness and improves any coordination issues or dyspraxia.

• The movement and activities worked with in a lesson involve different orientations of the head and body. Working with different orientations of the head and body refines balance and vestibular sensory function, and leads to enhanced spatial awareness. For example, an Alexander teacher will work with pivoting a person over the hips from vertical, bending to pick up objects, lunging, and involving them in tablework.

• Using inhibition and direction to work with postural behaviour, movement, and activities in an Alexander lesson gradually refines the proprioceptive/kinaesthetic sense. It enables us to learn where our body is in space, and where and how parts of our body are relating to other parts in a way we may have not experienced before. (For example, we may become aware of the dynamic between freedom of movement in the arms supported by strength and stability in the back.)

• Alexander lessons include ‘heavy work’. Heavy work refers to weight-bearing activities, involving pushing and pulling, and activities involving joint compression and decompression. Activities involving joint compression and joint decompression develop proprioception/kinaesthesia. Experiencing joint compression – that is gentle joint loading (eg, during chair work) – helps an Alexander client perceive where their body is in relation to both itself and the environment. Experiencing joint decompression – that is gentle stretching throughout the body (eg, during table work) – helps the Alexander client gain a new and greater range of motion through their muscles and joints.

• Over time, Alexander lessons lead to an increase in general awareness and enhanced sensory feedback. The touch received enhances tactile discrimination as Alexander clients perceive increased subtleties and different graduations of touch.

• Alexander touch enables someone with sensory processing differences to become accustomed to receiving touch in a safe environment. The touch can vary between light touch and deep pressure and is beneficial in itself. Receiving deep pressure from hands-on work (eg, from table work) tends to be soothing. It can make us feel more secure in our bodies. This helps the chronically stressed or those of us who may feel unsafe, whether this is from sensory overload or from traumatic experiences.

• Alexander lessons tend to lead to an enhanced overall integration of sensory information. (For example, some people report better eyesight or improved discrimination in hearing.) As well as gaining increased awareness of our external senses, we also develop enhanced awareness of our internal senses. We become more aware of what is happening inside our bodies – and how we relate to our own selves – even as we become more conscious of how we relate to our environment.

• We become aware that improved general coordination and more effective responses to stimuli or situations coincide with improvements in balance and the vestibular sense and proprioception/kinaesthesia.

• Alexander lessons also lead to improved interoception. We refine our interpretation of interoceptive signals from our bodies as we become more aware of internal sensations. We get better at interpreting our internal signals (eg, muscular tension, fight–flight stress response, etc) and the emotions linked to these signals and physical responses. Refined awareness of interoceptive signals, including emotions, enables improved reactions to stressful stimuli and situations. This has the flow-on effect of bettering relationships – something of benefit to all of us.

If you have sensory processing issues or sensory processing disorder and would like to explore using the Alexander technique to work with these issues, please do reach out. I would love to help.