Alexander Technique Career Success

THE SEQUENCE OF COMING TO KNOW AN OBJECT Buddhist Epistemology Applied to Learning the Alexander Technique In this essay I will take the Buddhist epistemological 5-fold division of coming to know an object and explore its relation to coming to know the object of natural human co-ordination. The process of discovering this object was the work of F. M. Alexander. It stands in my mind as one of the outstanding discoveries of the 20th century, yet remains largely unrecognized precisely because the knowledge can only be understood in its full impact by a process of direct perception. So I think it is quite interesting to explore how Buddhist epistemology can be understood in an Alexander context. In this essay I will explore my own knowledge and experience, from my first lesson in 1969, to my experience today as a trainer of Alexander teachers in Japan. The Epistemological 5-fold division is as follows: 1. Wrong View 2. Doubt: towards wrong view, equivocal, towards correct view 3. Correctly...

Now I am beginning to think about a talk to offer at the next 2008 Congress: Building An Alexander Teaching Corporation - what is meant by "corporate'?: working with colleagues within a financially unified legal entity that carries the "identity" of the group and is run corporate style - history of corporate AT: Ashley Place, ACAT, ATA London, SATA, Bloomsbury Centre, Walter's CTC, other examples - Alexander family tree useuful here. - consumer and non-consumer/Professional market: historically, AT mostly sold to non-consumer, professional market; very little thought to consumer market. - use of brand names: e.g. 1. Art of Swimming  2. EyeBody 3. BodyChance - 1. & 2. above are brands based on tangents of AT; 3. example of one centered on AT, but marketing a distinctive style of teaching - pedagogical and marketing issues: style of teaching matches lesson/group; matching teaching method to the market you are aiming - demographic of audience: using market resea...

Tablework, I believe, is predicated on the idea that the person must be 'restored', 're-educated' i.e. their sensory appreciation must be brought up to scratch (means become reliable). Now, while I don't doubt that when this can be affected, there will be a tremendous increase in health & vitality, hence mental condition, I do doubt that this step is essential, that it is the ONLY WAY a person can return to a good condition. The connection between mental health (which for me means a person who is reliably in touch with the realities of this world) and our 'use of self' is undeniable close. But is it a strictly one-way causal relationship in the sense that - improve your use, improve your mind? Alexander's own pedagogy, it seems, is based solely on this assumption. And there is a tremendous amount of evidence that verifies this assumption. Unfortunately, there is also abundant evidence to counter it. There are many examples of people, who we would cla...

I just watch the video produced by Frederick Lacy - he has done a nice job. It is nappy, professionally done, with nice touches of humour and, most suprising for me, full of my friends! Check it out when you can - I don't think it is out, but google the name "The Alexander Technique by Frederick Lacy" will get a hit when it does.

Alexander Technique: FM's MSI 6 Point Sitting Plan Revisited : "http://dialoguers.livejournal.comhttp://franis.blogspot.com" I choose "re-decide" based on Alexander's 5 point plan in UOS Chapter 1 "Evolution of a Technique" where he uses the word "decision" and "reconsider" when describing how he used his plan to overcome his habitual response. I guess "re-decide" comes from combining those two! This is the passage: " (4) while still continuing to project the directions for the new use I would stop and consciously reconsider my first decision, and ask myself "Shall I after all go on to gain the end I have decided upon and speak the sentence? Or shall I not? Or shall I go on to gain some other end altogether?" -- and then and there make a fresh decision..."

FM's 6 Point Plan for Sitting In A Chair (MSI Part 2 Chapter 7) "20. These same rules are equally applicable in principle to the acts of sitting and of rising from a sitting position. Very few people have the right mental conception of the ”means whereby” of these acts or of the correct use of the parts which should be employed in their performance, and this despite the fact that we are performing these acts continually, and with such apparent ease from our own point of view. If you ask any of your friends to sit down, you will notice, if you observe their actions closely, that in nearly all cases there is undue increase of muscular tension in the body and lower limbs; in many cases the arms are actually employed. As a rule, however, the most striking action is the alteration in the position of the head, which is thrown back, whilst the neck is stiffened and shortened. Now I will describe the correct method, but it must be borne in mind that it is useless to give what I here c...

These are some comments I made recently on the Alextech mailing list on the subject of why AT is not faring so well these days. If you want to read other people's comments, please go to this URL - http://groups.google.com/group/alextech 1st Post I do think AT is living in a dinosaur era when it comes to marketing - we get too precious about not giving the wrong message to people, that there is no message getting out at all! Sometimes I think we are writing our marketing messages for each other, not the public. It has to be 'so right' and not 'misrepresent' the work. In Japan I have decided to drop the name "Alexander Technique" and begin marketing it under a new name, currently applying for a trade mark. This is easy to do because this is a foreign culture, nobody ever heard of AT anyway, so why translate a rather difficult name for marketing purposes? Why not just invent a new name that resonates with consumers? Of course we are NOT inventing a new techn...