For decades of my life I have specialized in adopting rather unpopular and sometimes “outdated” as well as completely new “cutting edge” ideas about ways of doing things. The value that attracts me has been that well-placed effort has a greater benefit and it is of greater benefit than a massive amount of misdirected effort. [...]
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In schools these days, kids are being graded depending on if they are wrong or right. Many times this has to do with how well they read the mind of the teacher – not if they responded to the question. In my era of education, it was O.K. to misunderstand the question – it was [...]
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I’ve been maintaining the Wikipedia.org website featuring Alexander Technique for some years now. Right now, it’s got a pretty interesting and rather encyclopedic tone. Anyone may edit Wikipedia, so people discuss what is on there on what is known as the “talk page.” What follows is some of the more recent discussion from that page, [...]
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Posted in stories on September 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Reflexes are very handy. They are ready-made programs designed to deal with the recognition of the “need” for them. Reflexes are the ability to train skills, in essence, when chained together. The brain is superb at recognizing, but when the recognition comes, you can fire off these chains of skills and get amazing skills to [...]
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Posted in stories on August 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I love “good” questions that refresh my thinking, such as:
What timing? What direction does it go? What qualities does it have? What does sequence have to do with it?
What fits? What matches? What contrasts might reveal distinctions? What do the distinctions do, how do they function?
What functions are going on and how can I describe [...]
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Posted in stories on August 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Is there any evidence–scientific, not anecdotal–that the Alexander Technique works for people experiencing back pain?
Check out some of the references on Wikipedia.org in the Alexander Technique article there. See also the Society of Alexander Technique Teachers website, where this research is collected that is being done or has been done. http://www.stat.org.uk/pages/research.htm
The short answer is not [...]
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Posted in stories on July 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday, I got to be a substitute teacher for a class of singers who were part of a workshop that included Alexander Technique. In common with most A.T. teachers, I agree that to be able to use A.T. principles for oneself after only a few lessons is very, very unusual. It usually takes at least [...]
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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 [...]
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How would a person recognize for their own benefit a larger important change or fulfilment that may be taking place moment-by-moment? This skill seems to be related to the ability to select important points that is most commonly used in today’s culture as the ability to tell an interesting story. For instance, a movie will [...]
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Posted in stories, tagged Classes on February 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’m happy to announce a new Alexander Technique class through through www.waimeaeducation.com that will be starting soon. It’s starting near the end of this month on Monday evening February 25th at 6pm and continuing on Thurs evening at the same time for three weeks – six classes. These classes are a real deal if you [...]
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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 [...]
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There is only an indirect connection between Alexander’s ideas and those that specialize in dealing with addiction. Certainly it would be worth exploring, but I don’t personally know any Alexander teachers would seek out working with alcoholics as a group by choice yet. Let me know if you do.
Thinking about the connection between addition and [...]
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Lately, I’ve had great success explaining that the Technique is about the behavior chains of building habits, which is how we adapt and learn. Building habits are what makes skill possible. Trouble comes when a person forgets the habit is there, or trains a short-sighted building block of habit, which is a “pitfall” built into [...]
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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 [...]
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Posted in history, stories on September 7, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
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Many AT teachers find it’s important to carefully say what you mean when you are giving yourself any sort of directives. This is because you will do what you tell yourself to do. It also means that you can mistakenly tell yourself to do what you do not want to be doing!
I have heard that [...]
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Posted in history, stories on June 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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Posted in stories on September 3, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
I have often wondered if a very personal division of the self cannot help but reflect an internal war. There was a time when I wondered if everyone practiced Alexander Technique, which is a discipline that helps heal the splits in those who practice it, would there would have been no war in some situations? [...]
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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 [...]
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