Alexander Technique Career Success

I woke this morning anxious and depressed - ever happened to you? (5.47am) I don’t know what to do, so I just lie there thinking. Eventually I Skype my daughter, but she is unhappy and in my current state, I don’t know how to help her. (6.32am) Depression is common, but it is a brake on success. In my case, the success I have is not enough, because I am not achieving what I set out to achieve, so I start weighing down (get the connection?) on my Self: recriminating, viewing my Self through a prism of failure and incompetence. How in any way whatsoever can that help me build my Alexander Technique business? Only by coming to terms with the self-hate that drives all depression. How do I do that? Wait. Now I stop writing (it is 7.20am) and figure out a way… First - my room was messy (my mind is messy) so I cleaned it. I put the clothes away, washed the dishes, created an environment around me that spoke back positively about me. (7.31am) I sat down quietl...

Last night was a lot of fun. I got together with a clutter of my BodyChance students to explore how to make a successful Alexander Technique career… One was an actor - he started a blog just two weeks ago specifically for actors. I had written in my blog that actors make great pupils but lousy paying clients - they either have time but no money, or money but no time. Not a good match. He was discouraged. However, I pointed out there is a high end to go to, a place where coaches are needed to support A-list actors get better performances. Cirque du Soleil had actually approached BodyChance for this very thing only a year ago… We decided - that’s where he needs to aim. It suits who he is: it creates a lifestyle he wants. The second was a woman who has been working in a company all her life: she was just told to retire early. He boss negotiated with head office to give her an extra year - but the clock is ticking. She was in shock, wondering: what is life like w...

Who would think a washing machine could wake me up? But it did this morning, while I was meditating. It’s been bugging me, but my new Japanese washing machine starts singing an alarm mid-way through the washing cycle. “What’s your problem?!” I demand. “Get just on with washing my clothes will you!” But it bugged me - why does he do that? So I started to gather information. I discovered why: so I could add fabric softener. Oh. So this morning, off goes the alarm mid-cycle and I am thinking “I know! You want fabric softener. Well, you’re not getting it!” Then I began to wonder - why would anyone do that? I mean, for thousands of years we managed without fabric softener - why the big deal now? Then, I started to wonder: what would motivate me to add fabric softener? Hmmmm. Maybe there’s some wonderful benefit that I don’t know about? Maybe there’s something that irritates me about my clothes, that fabric softener would cure? Can I see any benefit? Benefits. Yes - ...

What does mind-body unity have to do Building an Alexander Technique Business? Everything. Here’s how it works… You know from your Alexander Technique lessons or teaching, that it is easy to fixate on a part. Your back is sore, or you have pain in your wrists, so that draws your attention. You try to soften, you massage, you “think Alexander” and it just doesn’t go away. What’s wrong? Your focus is one part, not the whole. Of course you want to consider the part - that is good - but consider it  in relation to that rest of you! That is critical. You know that when you fix your attention exclusively on “parts”, not only is it not successful, it can actually lead to more pain and suffering. I knew this from my Alexander Technique work, so when I ran a campaign to attract belly dancers to BodyChance, why didn’t I use that insight to figure out why it was not working? I mean: I had an interview with the Editor of the only magazine in the field, I run an eve...

Peggy Williams, a wonderful Alexander Technique teacher now long gone, came to Sydney to teach on the school I started back in 1983. As she was teaching, I asked her who she thought was responsible for the outcome of the lesson? “Oh that’s simple,” she said “I am 100% responsible.” I was rather shocked by that, and quickly shot back: “But what about the student?!” “Oh…” she smiled coyly, “…the student is 100% responsible.” *** I’ve made a lot of mistakes: embarrassing ones, expensive ones, divisive ones - you name it, I probably did it once. But I love making mistakes, because every time it happens, it tells me to rethink, to collect more information, to deflate my oversized ego and ask for advice. It is a moment when the universe speaks back to me: “Jerry, you are being delusional.” Delusional? Yes. Most of my mistakes happen when I am “being creative” rather than “being present”. Being present to what? To you, my partner, friend or...

Many in the Alexander Technique community think of marketing as disingenuous hype, and feel an aversion to it. They think marketing has a false feeling, a lack of genuine concern and authenticity. I know because I have been that way my self. I eventually discovered that marketing works best when harnessed with my organically or naturally driven desires. As you study Alexander's discoveries, you come to know this easily: consider these parallels between the process of breathing and the process or marketing… Successful breathing works organically, it arises from natural mechanisms, and is driven by a deep, biologically wired wish to live. There’s no conscious effort involved, it just does itself. Successful marketing works organically: it arises from your true self, and is driven by a deep wish you have recognized as being your primary driver. There’s no conscious effort involved, it just does itself. People are born breathing - it is one of life’s...