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.").
Sword swallowing Sword swallowing is a skill in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. This feat is not swallowing in the traditional sense; the natural processes that constitute swallowing do not take place, but are repressed in order to keep the passage from the mouth to the stomach open for the sword. The practice is dangerous and there is risk of injury.