{"id":17641,"date":"2010-03-11T16:16:04","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T00:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=17641"},"modified":"2010-03-11T16:16:04","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T00:16:04","slug":"the-startle-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=17641","title":{"rendered":"The Startle Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m reading Freedom to Change<\/em><\/a> by Frank Pierce Jones<\/a>, a professor of Classics at Brown University and a teacher of Alexander Technique<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From page 178: The pattern of startle (which has been studied by high-speed photography) is remarkably regular. It begins with an eye-blink; the head is then thrust forward; the shoulders are raised and the arms stiffened; abdominal muscles shorten; breathing stops and the knees are flexed. <\/p>\n

The startle pattern is a model of other slower response patterns: fear, anxiety, fatigue and pain all show postural changes from the norm which are similar to those that are seen in startle. In all of them there is a shortening of neck muscles which displaces the head, and which is usually followed by some kind of flexion response, so that the body is drawn into a slightly smaller space. As in startle these postural responses cannot take place without the prior displacement of the head and the shortening of neck muscles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m reading Freedom to Change by Frank Pierce Jones, a professor of Classics at Brown University and a teacher of Alexander Technique. From page 178: The pattern of startle (which has been studied by high-speed photography) is remarkably regular. It … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10268],"tags":[21643,31647,21640,21641,21642,21644],"class_list":["post-17641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexander-technique","tag-abdominal-muscles","tag-alexander-technique","tag-high-speed-photography","tag-neck-muscles","tag-postural-responses","tag-response-patterns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t