Body MappingThe method of Body Mapping (i.e. mapping the body) was invented and created by William Connable, professor of violoncello at the University of Ohio.

 

A body map is the picture we bear in our mind about our own body. This picture includes on the one hand common aspects like how tall, chubby or slim we are, and on the other hand more specific and complicated aspects like how do our finger joints look like and where exactly are they located.

 

The picture we bear in our mind about our body has a decisive influence on the use of our body. This means that a faulty image of certain parts of our body or of their functioning has a negative influence on the functioning and moving of the relevant part.

 

Our body map is in a lifelong change, just like as we ourselves change: we grow and we understand more and more about the functioning of our body. However, most of the people only have some blur imaginations about their body and its functioning.

 

W. Connable – being an educated Alexander teacher as well – noticed that the struggle of his students with seemingly insolvable difficulties concerning their instrumental play was often due to their faulty “body map”. He discovered that this faulty “map” can be easily corrected and that the correction immediately causes significant quality changes in the body use and therefore also in the standard of the instrumental play.

 

His method – based on the principles of the Alexander Technique and together with the Alexander Technique – is educated in numerous countries of the world, amongst others in the US, in England and Finland.