The Thumb: Key To Unlocking The Hand?

I've been thinking recently about the role of the thumb recently, after working through some of the ATMs in Honing. In particular, the one about moving the thumb and feeling the breeze that the movement creates has been incredibly illuminating. Doing that makes all of the excess tension in my hand dissipate immediately. The fact that the thumb is able to generate the arch of the hand by itself seems important, too. I guess what I'm proposing is this: I'd like to get other people's thoughts on this - whether along similar lines or to the contrary - it's all interesting and all something that can be learned from.

I've been thinking recently about the role of the thumb recently, after working through some of the ATMs in Honing. In particular, the one about moving the thumb and feeling the breeze that the movement creates has been incredibly illuminating. Doing that makes all of the excess tension in my hand dissipate immediately. The fact that the thumb is able to generate the arch of the hand by itself seems important, too. I guess what I'm proposing is this: I'd like to get other people's thoughts on this - whether along similar lines or to the contrary - it's all interesting and all something that can be learned from. Definitely agreed. I think the sense of reaching out with the thumb is virtually all that is required- as long as habitual tensions are not repressing the natural responses to that. When the thumb reaches out and the fingers dangle down, the arch forms itself. I've recently been experimenting with a type of thumb extension where the thumb is the end of a perfectly straight line down the forearm- but where the fifth finger is pretty much completely aligned down the other side. I know Alan has moved away from thumb alignment slightly, but I think there's a way of doing it that doesn't involve ulnar deviation and which automatically places the fifth in a very good position too- with no droop at all. I judge it more from the thumb but it only makes the position of the 5th stronger. With this type of position, there's no need to make a choice between aligning to the thumb or to the 5th, as it serves both. Just the basic intention of reaching out seems to trigger a wealth of other responses-including the rotation that puts the knuckle for the 5th into prime position.

Hey Nick, what are you trying to do, steal the theme for my next book? A large part of will expound upon exactly what you just said. You express it very well and it's such an important factor in the whole picture that there will soon be a whole book about it! Congratulations on zeroing in on this and thanks for giving me an opportunity to tout my own upcoming publication! AFF

will expound upon exactly what you just said. You express it very well and it's such an important factor in the whole picture that there will soon be a whole book about it! Congratulations on zeroing in on this and thanks for giving me an opportunity to tout my own upcoming publication! AFF Cool, I await the new book with anticipation! I've been experimenting slightly further with this and have found what Andrew says about the thought triggering the reaction to be more and more relevant. I guess after a while of such kinaesthetic learning, the body integrates the action (and reaction) in such a way that the thought becomes the action, or perhaps more specifically, the thought can function as the action if we want it to.

Exactly. This is what Moshe Feldenkrais meant by saying there is no mind-body split at all.

I couldn't agree more. Everything I've done in the Alexander Technique has worked on this principle. It shows we're all working towards the same thing, just from slightly different angles, doesn't it? Slightly deviating from the topic, but thinking about the shared principle above, I've noticed that people who are at top of their chosen skill or profession tend to share the same principles and language. Quite often my singing teacher or Alexander teacher will say something and I'll think to myself, "Hmm, sure I read that in Craft of Piano". I've had similar experiences with martial artists and even with a friend of mine who is a brilliant furniture repairer. I'm sure you've had conversations with people in completely unrelated fields, Alan, and found that they describe something in the same way you would in your teaching?

I'm sure you've had conversations with people in completely unrelated fields, Alan, and found that they describe something in the same way you would in your teaching? Do you play snooker or pool? Something about the way great players can simply stroke through the ball effortlessly and with seemingly little power or speed (then have it screw all around the table) is very similar to the way of moving a piano key, I believe. This might sound a little bizarre, but I think the timing is extraordinarily similar. It's something to do not just with absolute speed but rather the pacing of acceleration through the full duration of contact with the ball, I believe. I think that much the same principles are involved in countless other sports and physical activites- but they're very hard to convey exactly. One thing I've heard many snooker players say is that you should always play the acceleration throughout the contact (rather than simply trying to move very fast). I think that all of these contradictory explanations are trying to convey one and the same thing.

One thing I've heard many snooker players say is that you should always play I only play pool very occasionally, but I understand what you mean. I remember being told the same about throwing a punch or kick when I did Ju-jitsu, strike through the target. I guess it's the concept of finishing a movement, too, since any attempt to stop it short will likely utilise counter productive muscular contractions and confuse the issue. Something that contradicts this is the idea that any efficient movement should be reversible at any point. But I doubt the pub level pool players are working to this principle, just of the movement they've watched on TV, or been demonstrated by a friend.

Something that contradicts this is the idea that any efficient movement should be reversible at any point. But I doubt the pub level pool players are working to this principle, just I'm not sure if that premise ought to be extended to anything that relies on higher speeds- although I definitely agree in slower movements. I'm just speculating perhaps, but I think the premise about movement being reversible is that it shows control. If you're lifting a weight and swinging it, you're not controlling it and it may be that an initial burst overrides productive muscular activation through much of the range. If you can change direction at any time, your muscles are always in direct control of the whole movement. The problem is that when a large amount of momentum is involved due to necessity of faster speeds, it takes time to change the direction- just like how you can't suddenly go from 30 mph to reversing in a car. However, I do like the idea of attempting to make a movement fully reversible as much as possible in practise- before finally just letting it fly only when it becomes necessary and productive. I suspect that it's generally rather late that the movement becomes truly irreversible for good players, and flies straight through without repression. Bad players often start a real swipe before they've got anywhere near the ball- leaving no scope to continue to accelerate through. Actually, it's interesting to think about "coasting" too. If a finger is just coasting, the key's resistance will slow it down a great deal. Similarly in pool. If you're coasting, you can't provide something additional to go through that resistance, so energy will be lose. Just because something is already moving fast, it doesn't mean it transfer energy well- unless it has that extra impetus through the moment where something is trying to slow it down. I think this does relate to the idea of being able to keep movement reversible- even if not in the most strict sense.

Also, regarding the original topic, by the way, I've written a post including some thumb exercises (related in principle to Alan's thumb push-ups but rather different in details) that I hope to get posted soon. I just need to finish doing some videos to illustrate the movements. I've been experimenting both with using movements of the rest of the hand to passively trigger rather extreme thumb activity and support, as well as with more conscious thumb movement. In particular there's an exercise for scales that gets the thumb working extremely hard to support.