Review: Machover: A. T. Birth Book

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Alexander Technique Review 8.23.19

Reviews

The front cover of
the first edition.

Ilana Machover* + Jonathan Drake* + Angela Drake

The Alexander Technique Birth Book
(Pregnancy and Birth the Alexander Way)
- A guide to better pregnancy, natural birth and parenthood

2006 pb (1993), 204 pages, b/w photos and drawings, UK, Mouritz. 1854873946, 1854871862, 0954352254.

In print: Mouritz.

Review by Frances Oxford (Includes a review of The Alexander Technique For Pregnancy and Childbirth by Brita Forsstrom and Mel Hampson )

First published in The Alexander Journal, no. 14, 1995.

Between them, these five authors draw on very considerable experience of the Alexander Technique, pregnancy and childbirth. They are all, with the exception of Angela Drake, Alexander Technique teachers. They have run classes specifically for pregnant women (and their partners). In addition, Ilana Machover is an advanced teacher for the National Childbirth Trust, Jonathan Drake is a medical graduate and Mel Hampson is a trained midwife. We are fortunate that they have been able to bring together the insights of the Alexander Technique and their knowledge and understanding of the processes of pregnancy and childbirth.

For many women, childbirth will be one of the most powerful, intense and exciting experiences of their lives. It may also be amongst the most painful and exhausting, and is potentially dangerous. It is not surprising that it is often approached with fear. But, as Grantley Dick-Read recognized in the 1930s, fear, and the tension associated with it, is likely to make childbirth very much more difficult and painful. He began to teach women relaxation exercises and to teach them more about the birth process. The move towards “natural childbirth” (childbirth without the need for medical intervention) which developed from his work has gathered pace in Britain since the 1970s, challenging the increasingly technological approach of the medical profession.

The Alexander Technique is a very powerful tool for women who wish to take more responsibility for their own health in pregnancy and to play a more active part in labour; to be less dependent on the dictates of the medical professionals. It has the advantage over simple exercise or breathing regimes of a comprehensive understanding of the body’s co-ordination and, above all, teaches one how to have a degree of choice over how one responds to stimuli.

Like so many functions of the human body, the processes of pregnancy and childbirth are beautifully designed to deal with a very difficult problem. The human baby’s head fits the pelvis very exactly: other mammals (except monkeys) have much more room for manoeuvre. There is a lot of potential for things to go wrong, particularly when we interfere with the mechanisms. If we understand how the body is meant to work, we can learn how to help rather than hinder the “natural” process. Bipedalism presents us with a similar challenge.

Many of the problems encountered in pregnancy and childbirth are the result of poor habitual use and inappropriate response to the changing, and very considerable demands made on the woman’s body. An obvious example is the classic “sway back” of pregnant women: poor postural habits are exacerbated when the woman is having to carry a significant extra weight at the front of her body and can easily lead to backache. With improved use the baby can be carried well supported by the back, with much less risk of damage. Neither of these books claims that all problems can be avoided, but each makes a very strong and convincing case for the usefulness of the Alexander Technique.

The two books seem to be targeted at the same market: they are practical guides for women preparing for motherhood. They cover very similar ground, both in the information about pregnancy and childbirth and the “Alexander procedures” which they describe. Machover and Drake’s book is more detailed; puts the Alexander Technique into the context of other approaches to birth and also has two good chapters on looking after the baby and on child development. Forsstrom and Hampson are disappointing on these last areas, but do instead give a better introduction to the key ideas of the Alexander Technique. Drake has previously written an introductory book Body Know-how and perhaps did not feel the need to repeat the material here.

Most of the procedures described in the books would be very familiar to any Alexander teacher, but it is extremely useful to know, for example, how different positions influence the speed of labour or that various movements on all fours may assist a breech baby to turn spontaneously. Alexander teachers who are teaching pregnant women should find much here that is very helpful.

Both books emphasize the need for an Alexander teacher and the value of starting lessons before, or early in, pregnancy. But the way the procedures are described make them sound rather easy to carry out: I do not think that adequate attention is paid to the importance of inhibition and the difficulty of combating the force of habit. The picture sequences are useful to show one what should be happening, but most people, if working without a mirror, will not have very much idea of what actually is happening when they try out the procedures.

Although the main purpose of both books is to help mothers through pregnancy and childbirth, what happens after birth, to both mother and child, is also extremely important. The deterioration common in children’s use from a very early age is alarming and of great significance to health in the future. There is an urgent need for serious investigation in this area. I have always wanted to know, for example, what effect the car seats which are now widely used for young babies are having on their spines and postural development. Forsstrom and Hampson quote a study conducted by Alma Frank in 1938 on what influences affected upright posture in children. How much recent work is there in this field? Machover and Drake include some very interesting descriptive material on work which has been done with schoolchildren. The need for education of parents and teachers in the harmful consequences of bad use is pressing.

Given the enormous importance of the subject matter of these books, it does no harm that there should be two on the market. I find Machover and Drake more interesting and comprehensive, but for someone unfamiliar with the Technique, Forsstrom and Hampson may be more accessible and is presented very straightforwardly (if sometimes a little sloppily). I would hope that Alexander teachers will use them and certainly recommend them to their pupils. I am sure that, doctors and midwives could also learn much from them, but I hope that these authors will use their expertise to write more specifically for the medical professionals. Alexander teachers are producing more and more introductory books. I look forward to the day when we go beyond this.