Mézières had taught anatomy, physiology and medical gymnastics at the Orthopedic School of Paris. The experiences she gathered contributed to the creation of this technique based on observation princeps, the principle observation. Mézières recounts that the origin of her method stems from observing a patient in 1947 who had dorsal muscles operating like an elastic, which triggered different cases of lordosis, lumbar or cervical, depending on the movement. The muscles acted like a single elastic, albeit one that was too short. She found this in all of the patients she visited from then onwards; this brought her to publish a book in 1949 - which ultimately did not obtain the hopedfor success - with the title Révolution en gymnastique orthopédique 9 . Antigym has allowed the Mezières technique to evolve to become an independent practice, one that is not limited to a mechanical approach solely aimed at observing the reactions and the implications for muscles, but also digging into the emotional aspects and the psychic interrelations between the unity that is represented by body and mind. Antigym, as proposed by Bertherat from 1976, removed the idea of a traditional gymnastics exercise, both in theory and in practice. Concentrating on minimal movement, extremely precise ones, the technique safeguards muscular phisiology and kinesiology, on top of awakening up the last nerve ending of the body, freeing it from any kind of rigidity and avoiding joint stress. Work muscles for themselves, and not against themselves, is the real secret to this approach. 8 Laura Bertelé, Ascolta e guarisci il tuo corpo, Mondadori, 2011. Thérèse Bertherat was disappointed by the dry and rigid teachings which studied the body muscle by muscle, bone by bone, and never as a whole. For this reason, she decided to go further and forever abandon the stereotypical models of movement and gestures. At the mechanical level, if the muscles that surround the body are contracted and rigid, they become a hindrance and cause a greater waste of energy; at the emotional level, muscular contractions can even withhold emotions. In particular, the rear muscles of the body - so called postural - form a single muscle chain from head to toes, together with other four chains; when these are blocked and rigid, they signal physical suffering and withhold emotional suffering. The action brought by Antigym loosens until releasing the emotional suffering, as well as the muscular rigidity. Stretching muscles, not strengthening them. Bertherat compares the behaviour of muscle chains, particularly the one composed of postural muscles, to a tiger, among the strongest and most powerful of animals, and the lack of its knowledge, or fragmented awareness or inability for comprehension, causes an excessive tension and rigidity, bringing about deviations in the spine - resulting in pain, ailments, anxiety and hindrances 10 . Getting back into shape, attaining beauty through Antigym means returning to the natural, undistorted shape of the place whose keys had been lost: one’s own body, able to preserve the memory of its ideal shape forever. Get naked and observe your body in front of a mirror. When in an upright position, with united feet and arms by your sides, the right collarbone should be at the same height as the left one, the tip of the nipples should be at the same level, legs should touch at four points [upper thighs, knees, upper calves and ankles], the ankle bones should be symmetrical and the feet should touch from the heel to the big toe. If so, then Thérèse Bertherat would be proud of you. If this is not the case, then it is never too late to join Antigym®. 10 Thérèse Bertherat, La tigre in corpo [Le Repaire du tigre], Mondadori, 1990. 128 129 under pressure under pressure Athletics, acrobatics, freestyle with various equipment, educational, physiological, imitative, medical, military, orthopaedic, rhythmic, sportive and getting to calisthenics gymnastics - namely aimed at obtaining the correct proportion between the shapes of the body and with the purpose of developing muscles, within the correct limits, to reach the perfect harmony, particularly in the standing position and the fluid poise of a person. Without kinesiotherapic gym there would be no Antigym - it is no coincidence that Thérèse Bertherat, a trained physiotherapist, defined herself as a kinesiotherapist. This particular type of gymnastics aims to educate the movement of a limb or a segment anew following a fracture or a nervous lesion, adopting movements and exercises which are useful in terms of anatomy, physiology and psychology. Closely associated with precision gymnastics, which has the objective of educating every segment of each limb on how to move, it is particularly important for the treatment of individuals affected by dyskinesia and for those who cannot carry out a particular movement due to prior lesions. It is composed of analytical elements that require focused attention on the execution of a single, precise movement following the contraction of a particular group of muscles. Thérèse Bertherat’s technique stems from these premises. From three negative statements to three fundamental concepts: • «Antigym is not a therapy»; • «Antigym is not a sport»; • «Antigym is not a sport activity». The Antigym expert conducts group sessions without ever imposing positions and never handling the clients; antigymnastique.com makes it clear right from the start. It is a virtual space that contains, together with teachings, all the information and the addresses which are useful for practicing antigym techniques together with certified experts in almost every corner of the world. As of today, training schools for this technique - which has also become a registered trademark - are also found across the ocean in Argentina, Brazil and Canada. On the European continent, other than France, these can be found in Italy and Spain. The trademark registration became necessary following the emergence of different disciplines which arose after the publication of the 1976 best-seller by Thérèse Bertherat. Initially, it was named Antigym T.B. from Bertherat's initials, so to distinguish it from other techniques that started circulating from the end of the 1970s7. 7 Marie Lise Labonté, Mouvements d'éveil corporel, Les Editions de l'Homme, 2004. Antigym envisaged - and envisages still today - simple and precise movements that are not im-posed upon the body, as found in traditional gymnastics. These are instead pro-posed to the body, from an expert voice to the pupil’s learning: these are experienced by finding a personal path, with the objective of freeing the memories and tensions accumulated in the tissues. The technique was refined in the 1960s by the teachings and accumulated experiences of Bertherat as a student of the physiotherapist Françoise Mézières, who pursued symmetry and correct posture through gentle and simple movements which fostered the gradual lengthening of the muscles, freeing them from tension. A comprehensive way of approaching the body, pursuing harmony and equilibrium between the various muscle chains8. Fascinated by the ideas of Ida Rolf, an American physician who founded the Rolfing Technique - in turn influenced by the technique that was being elaborated by the psychotherapist Fritz Perls, the creator of the Gestalt Therapy - Thérèse Bertherat believed that the body essentially has its own memory and intelligence. And Le corps a ses raisons was the autobiography through which Bertherat revealed her experience with the Mézières’ technique and from which her own technique was born. 8 Bruno Brigo, Medicina Naturale dalla A alla Z, ed. Tecniche Nuove, 2006.
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