As members of the Alexander teaching community who are passing on the work to others, we might like to think we are engaged in a relatively value-neutral activity, uncomplicatedly helping people to feel better and healthier, and to be more skilled at their chosen artistic pursuits. But we might also wonder what conditioned values and experiences are lurking in the work which we may be passing on at the same time without quite noticing…
Read moreProfessionalisation and the Alexander Technique (2019)
Getting on for 20 years ago a debate was raging among UK Alexander Technique teachers about a perceived need to ‘professionalise,’ and to conform to the then-government’s wish to achieve greater regulation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I was surprised, therefore, to receive an enquiry from Australia wondering whether an article I wrote on these matters for Direction Journal in 2003 might be republished in the AuStat magazine. Apparently these perennial issues have raised their head Down Under. Nothing loathe
Read moreA Pedagogy of Richness and Depth
Is the Alexander Technique something the teacher ‘gives’ to the pupil or is the teacher there to set the pupil free to discover it for themselves? This is a discussion which has been around in one form or another for decades, and I’ve recently been feeling curious about the strength of feeling that can still be found in the AT community in relation to these two positions. So I thought I’d reflect a little about each — and also about the middle ground where, I imagine, a majority of teachers live quite happily and productively most of the time.
Read moreIs Good Use Innate?
Is good ‘Use’ innate? Is it all there already inside us needing only to be uncovered? I suggest ‘no’, or at least ‘not exactly’. With diversions into cats, horses, opera singing and the ‘noble savage’.
Read moreThe Myth of the Primary Control
Ideas about the primacy of the head-neck relationship in human coordination, balance and postural support are, of course, deeply embedded in much Alexander Technique theory and practice. In recent years however, more and more teachers, myself included, seem to be questioning some of the ways in which this idea has been formulated, or are even rejecting it altogether. In this article I’m going to look at three frequently stated assumptions related to the idea of Primary Control which …
Read moreSeven Good Reasons to Work Hands-On
It seems that hands-on work is getting a bit of a 'bad rap' in certain Alexander circles at the moment, and particularly in the online AT community. Contemporary hands-on oriented teachers could almost be excused (with tongue firmly in cheek) for wondering if they are hopeless old stick-in-the muds — has-beens doomed to get left behind in the brave new world of group classes, teach-yourself resources and ‘virtual’ online lessons….
Read moreWorking with Emotional Aspects of Use
Recently I’ve been involved in a couple of conversations where people have been wondering how as Alexander Technique teachers we can work with patterns of misuse which have a strong emotional component, so I thought I’d share a simple example of one way we can approach this from my own practice.
Read moreTeaching Back-to-Back
In the last couple of years I’ve found myself now and again sitting back-to-back with my Alexander Technique pupils. This is not a tool which I use very often, and by no means with everyone, but it can be a very powerful resource in the right situation and I thought I would share some of the ways I use it, and why I sometimes find it so helpful.
Read moreOn the Embodied Nature of Trauma, Emotion, and Social Connection
In this article I explore current understandings of trauma, particularly developmental trauma, and look at the fundamentally embodied nature of human emotion and social connection. I then go on to look at how this knowledge is relevant to Alexander Teachers today.
Relational Depth in Alexander Teaching
In this article I look at practical ways in which Alexander teachers might expand the scope of what they do to include more consciously considered and helpful approaches to dealing with emotional and somatic material from the past that can be aroused by Alexander work, while avoiding compromising the principles, qualities and values on which AT work is based…
Read moreAlexander and the Pursuit of Beauty
For quite a few years I was professionally involved in furniture making and design, and as an Alexander teacher it felt natural to relate what I was doing in this field to the Technique and to its principles which underlay the rest of my life….
Read moreSpreading our Wings and Keeping our Heart
How can we as Alexander teachers integrate insights from other modalities without losing the essence of what we are and what we do?
Read morePolyvagal Theory and the Alexander Technique
Over the last decade or so polyvagal theory has revolutionised the way body-focussed practitioners conceptualise what they do, and has found a central place in many approaches to working with developmental trauma and PTSD
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