Respecting Patrick MacDonald’s Legacy

I’ve been lucky to have experienced the late Alexander teacher Patrick MacDonald’s work first-hand a number of times. It was because of my having been connected to (and later a trainee of the teacher-training class of ) Ottiwell/Pincas where MacDonald was a visiting master teacher.  MacDonald was the one to personally determine that I was [...]

Read Full Post »

Words From Our Sponsor….

Read Full Post »

What Attracted Me To Alexander Technique

I’m thinking back at what attracted me to Alexander Technique…a very loooong time ago, in 1976. Strangely enough, it wasn’t to improve my terrible twisted posture, which had to have been a very, very depressing sight in someone who was 23 years old.
I’ve assumed that the spiritual reasons that had motivated me to continue learning [...]

Read Full Post »

Need Some Sources for Quoting – Have ‘em?

For an article I would like to write on Alexander Technique, I need some footnotes and quotes from reputable scientific or book sources, as well as quotes from books that have been written on Alexander Technique.
My library has been packed away in storage in Calif. since I assummed my books would only be ruined if [...]

Read Full Post »

Addiction and Emotional Reactions

When I first began to study AT, I was living with a person who was in Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas’ first training course named Kenneth Feld. Kenny used to live in Chicago and had lessons with Goddard Binkley; Kenny told me that Binkley dealt with addiction, anger, etc. by encouraging students to shout reactive [...]

Read Full Post »

Class on A.T. in Kamuela, Hawaii starts Sep.24-Oct.8,’07!

This old guy in the picture here is the guy who invented Alexander Technique. Mr. Frederick Matthias Alexander was his “Nicholas name.” Merely the initials “F. M.” was his nickname.
In these past few weeks, I managed to make it down to Hilo, (about an hour and a half drive) to trade work with the only [...]

Read Full Post »

Asking Really Great Questions

As a topic in general, good questioning has many examples in every field. It pays to study the process of questioning as a separate subject, as if you were going to design an FAQ for your skill. Not only can it make you a better learner, but a better teacher.
If you are a teacher, you [...]

Read Full Post »

Why are A.T. teacher trainings 3 years long?

Why are A.T. teacher training courses 1600 + hours?
I believe the time sequence was set at the first round of training courses by F. M. Alexander himself. When he accepted his first round of trainees, he didn’t know how long they would require to learn what he had to offer. The first graduate was [...]

Read Full Post »

Opening Up Conclusions About Luck & Timing

The assumptions of cause and effect have some crucial factors that would change “luck” and create “coincidence.” What most people regard as “bad luck” in a brand of fate can be a functional superstition – which is sort of a pre-conclusion with a mystery means or function that self-selects to reinforce it’s proof.
I’ve noticed that [...]

Read Full Post »

Naturally Beautiful Use

Rarely, some grownups have “full Alexander ease” in every
move they make, without studying Alexander Technique
or ever knowing about it.

I’ve developed an eye for spotting those people. They stand out like beacons in a crowd for me, well, especially if they’re carrying something on their heads. I make a point of getting to know them, if [...]

Read Full Post »

Articulating & Describing Qualities

I’ve always had the ability to observe. At 16, I was invited into a inventor’s problem solving ‘club’ after I untangled a fisherman’s line at Sunset Cliffs in the dark. With a flashlight, I carefully observed the mass of tangled line for about five minutes and then pulled one thread; the whole mess came untangled [...]

Read Full Post »

Why Alexander Technique Is Hard To Describe

In choosing your approach for describing A.T., it is worth keeping in mind that many smart people were educationally trained in debate tactics, tactics which often appeal to contradictions of logic toward expose’. Confronted with an entirely new idea or invention, there are many contradicting ways that people will categorically ignore or suspect the value [...]

Read Full Post »

Alexander Technique Compared to Assumptions of Psychology

I believe that much of AT does share some similar effects with psychology. The psychological field aims for the effect of being free from problematic patterns of thinking, as does AT. This is often done by offering talking perspectives about the self through learning about others who shared our circumstances, which does happen in AT [...]

Read Full Post »

How I Uncovered My Own Linguistic Assumptions

I wanted to write about the first steps I took to identify with and emulate alternate ways of thinking. I didn’t used to think of making new interpretations of how I put together meaning and raw experience; I just did it.
As a high school senior, I happened to really get into an independent study class [...]

Read Full Post »