RESOURCES FOR ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
RESOURCES FOR ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
Welcome! On this page you will find a variety of material of special interest to teachers of the Alexander Technique, and to students who wish to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Technique. Click on the links below or scroll down the page to explore the material on this page.
Promoting Your Teaching Practice . Information about Master Teachers. Teacher Training Information
Specific Aspects and Information Sources . Alexander Technique Self Study
. Alternative and Controversial Views.
Promoting Your Teaching Practice
Many Alexander Technique teachers who have their own websites find that the majority of their new referrals come from their website. Unless you have all the students you want, it makes no sense whatsoever to be without one. Because of the way the web is presently structured, you cannot rely on the online or printed teachers' listings of your professional society to bring you a significant number of new students. For almost any kind of business today, not having a website is rapidly becoming equivalent to not having a phone.
As the information in the link below explains, you can have an effective site very cheaply and quickly, with absolutely no technical expertise (or even a computer!) needed. This link also provides some general information about the internet, and how you can make use of it to promote your practice. How to Create, Promote and Host an Alexander Technique Web Site Easily and Quickly with no Technical Knowledge.
If you already have a website, consider adding an MP3 interview to help promote your practice.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath contains some of the most useful information available anywhere for Alexander Teachers who wish to effectively communicate the essential ideas of the Technique to prospective students. Click here to listen to a very short interview with one of the authors . Click here to listen to a longer interview with one of the authors. .Click on the following links to read more about this book or order if from: USA . Canada . UK
Information about Master Teachers
Marjorie Barstow - Information about this master teacher of the Technique
Walter Carrington - Information about this master teacher of the Technique
Margaret Goldie (Miss Goldie) - Information about this master teacher of the Technique
Marjory Barlow is a senior teacher of the Alexander Technique trained by Alexander in the 1930s. Click here to read an account of a teachers' workshop conducted by her in 1995.
If you are thinking about training to become an Alexander Technique teacher, this link will provide you with information and advice: Alexander Technique Teacher Training
Specific Aspects and Information Sources
The Alexander Technique Email Discussion Group is a rich source of information for AT students and teachers. Click here to join the group
Francisco Varela and The Gesture of Awareness: A new Direction in Cognitive Science and its Relevance to the Alexander Technique by Rachel Zahn relates cutting-edge developments in the field of cognitive science to the Alexander Technique in a thoughtful and interactive way.
Voice and the Alexander Technique by Jane Ruby Heirich contains a detailed description of the "whispered ah".
Origins and Theory of Mapping, by William Conable, describes some of the ideas underlying "body mapping"
Listen to or download an interview with William Conable about the origins and the usefulness of body mapping
How to Use Bodymapping in your AT Teaching by Barbara Conable is taken from a lecture given to the Swiss Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique
What Every Teacher needs to Know - An Interview with Barbara Conable - Body mapping, inhibition and direction, breathing, the spine and more.
Making Sense - Excellent and provocative article about proprioception, posture, movement and our understanding of the physical laws of nature
Ukata (UK Alexander Teachers' Association) - Interesting and informative website created by a group of teachers in which they share ideas about teaching.
Richard Brennan, an Irish teacher of the Alexander Technique has written an article titled "Cultural Habits" which examines how our cultural background influences our habit patterns. Click here to read "Cultural Habits"
Pedro de Alcantara, a Paris-based teacher has created a page on his website devoted to resources for Alexander Technique teachers. Click here to go to this page
Click here to see a slideshow of the 2004 International Congress in Oxford, England
Alexander Technique Self Study
For Alexander Technique students who are studying with little or no help from an Alexander teacher, suggestions and links to several useful resources can be found at: Alexander Technique Self-Study
Alternative and Controversial Views
Jeroen Staring, a Dutch researcher, has written an extraordinarily detailed - and very provocative! - biography of F. Matthias Alexander, Frederick Matthias Alexander 1869-1955. The Origins and History of the Alexander Technique, A medical historical analysis of F.M. Alexander's Life, Work, Technique, and Writings. Click here to read a summary of the book and learn how to order it.
Where is the Alexander Technique's 'right brain'? or Use and the Use of Imagery by John Appleton proposes that mental imagery can be used as a powerful way of improving use and functioning. The article includes practical exercises to illustrate this, primarily involving awareness of - and directed attention to - the dorsal and ventral surfaces of our body. This paper may be challenging for some at first reading, but is well worth spending some time on. The article is interactive in that John requests feedback and is prepared to modify the text in order to make his concepts and exercises more accessible.
Using imagery and illustration, this short paper by John Appleton argues that the "tail" area of the spine and body has considerable control over our use. Though the tail is nonapparent in humans and the coccyx is generally fused, John argues that it is still neurologically and muscularly significant and reveals a valuable evolutionary aspect of our bipedalism.
Lessons and Learning by Nicholas Brockbank takes a critical look at Alexander Technique teaching methods
A Response to “A Crucial Distinction: Manner and Conditions of Use” by Joe Armstrong and a sanitised version, What's the Use?, by Robert Rickover, originally published in the AmSAT Newsletter, explore the distinction between conditions of use and manner of use.
Is the Monkey out to Lunch? - by Nicholas Brockbank, takes aim at the sacred simian
The Transistor and the Technique, by Robert Rickover, originally published in the AmSAT Newsletter, explores some serious problems in the transmission of the Technique from FM's head and hands to the heads and hands of today's teachers.
Upon Reflection - Alexander teacher Joseph Boland suggest a rigorous review and overhaul of the Alexander Technique
Listen to Michael Frederick musing about the state of Alexander Technique teaching today with Paul Cook, Editor of Direction Magazine.
Use of the Hips by Nicholas Brockbank questions whether going for maximum length is always the best idea.
Ed Bouchard, a Chicago teacher has created a website, ATeducationresearch.com, devoted to furthering research into the Alexander Technique. It includes some interesting - and very controversial! - historical information.
Michael Protzel has written two very provocative article, "Why do we Tense our Necks?" and "Alexander's Error " in which he asks some fundamental questions about the basis of the Alexander Technique. These can be found at uprighting.com
Alexander's Dream by Robert Rickover, originally published in Direction, asks how we can - as FM desired - do away with the Alexander Technique teaching profession.
Change - by Nicholas Brockbank discusses some non-Alexander ways to change
Who Was Alexander by Robert Rickover exposes some myths about the man
In 1998 a spirited debate took place on the Alexander Technique Email list concerning the validity of the Alexander Technique. It has been posted by Direction Journal on the web: "On Belief Systems and Learning"Ron Dennis, a teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, began an interesting debate about Primary Control with an article in the AmSAT Newsletter. Click here to read this article, "Primary Control and the Crisis in Alexander Technique Theory"
Click here to read a reply by David Langstroth
Click here to read Ron Dennis' Reply to David's Reply
Several books related to teaching the Alexander Technique can be found on these pages of The Alexander Technique Bookstore (USA and Canada) in Association with AMAZON.COM and AMAZON.CA and The Alexander Technique Bookshop (UK) in Association with AMAZON.CO.UK A number of audio CDs and other Alexander Technique related products can be found at AlexanderStuff.com The future content of this page will be determined by your questions, comments and suggestions: Email Contact
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