F. Matthias Alexander developed an ability that avoided what negative bodily issue?
Alexander Technique The Alexander Technique (A.T.), named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that attempts to develop the ability to avoid unnecessary muscular tension by retraining physical movement reactions. Alexander believed the individual's spatial self-awareness was related to psychological conditioning; questionably trained foundation habits of posture can be unsuitably added into procedural skills. Alexander observed that those whose goals justified it necessary to have trained themselves to overcompensate could not trust their judgment of physical orientation and required effort, (their "sensory appreciation.").
Muscle reading Muscle reading, also known as "Hellstromism", "Cumberlandism" or "contact mind reading", is a technique used by mentalists to determine the thoughts or knowledge of a subject, the effect of which tends to be perceived as a form of mind reading. The performer can determine many things about the mental state of a subject by observing subtle, involuntary responses to speech or any other stimuli. It is closely related to the ideomotor effect, whereby subtle movements made without conscious awareness reflect a physical movement, action or direction which the subject is thinking about. The term "muscle reading" was coined in the 1870s by American neurologist George M. Beard to describe the actions of mentalist J. Randall Brown, an early proponent of the art.