Proprioception

Proprioception is your body’s internal sense of position, movement and orientation. It allows you to know where your limbs are without looking, and how your joints are moving in space. It’s sometimes called “body sense”—the ability to detect muscular effort, joint angle, and balance from within.

In movement, proprioception helps you adjust coordination, respond to subtle shifts in load, and navigate transitions like rising from a chair. Alexander Technique teachers often work to refine proprioceptive awareness, encouraging students to notice habitual patterns and develop more responsive choices.

Proprioception relies on specialised sensory receptors located in muscles, tendons, and joints—called muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs. These receptors detect stretch, tension, and positional changes, sending continuous signals through sensory nerves to the spinal cord and brain. Much of this information is processed unconsciously by the cerebellum and other sensorimotor areas, allowing for real-time coordination and balance. When consciously attended to, this system provides the basis for refined movement awareness, as developed through practices like the Alexander Technique.