Nine Questions with Alexander Technique Teacher Bob Britton

by Anastasia Pridlides

We are so pleased to have visiting teacher Bob Britton presenting a workshop—"Tuning Direction"—and there is still space for you to join us at ACAT on Saturday May 14th at 1pm. In advance of him joining us in our space we thought we would ask him a few questions to introduce him to the community.

Q. How long have you been teaching?

A. I first started taking lessons in 1974, and graduated as an Alexander Technique teacher in 1978.

Q. What was your first exposure to the Alexander Technique?

A. I first experienced the Alexander Technique because I had a knee injury as a result of sitting intensively in Zen meditation. A friend recommended that I try taking a lesson with Frank Ottiwell after I found out that the surgery for my knee injury would be a major operation. As soon as I walked into the lesson Frank noticed that my habitual style of walking was awkward because I habitually carried my right foot pointing out to the side ever since I had broken my leg when I was 10 years old. Frank asked me to completely relax my leg and then to drop the foot to the floor. My foot came down pointing straight ahead. Frank then asked me to take a step and I put it down with the toe facing out to the side. Frank said, “You see the foot knows where it wants to go, but you think the foot should be pointing out to the side.” I was amazed that what I was doing with my foot would make a difference in my knee. Gradually after six weeks of lessons my foot gradually came back around to pointing ahead as Frank introduced me to the larger organization of my whole body. Then the knee problem basically took care of itself and healed. I was impressed!

Q. What made you decide to become a teacher of this work?

I was not planning on becoming an Alexander teacher while I trained. I really was training to deepen my own experience of this marvelous work. After I graduated many people started coming up to me with ailments and the Technique was quite successful in helping them out. So when I left the Zen community it was a very natural choice to pursue the way of life of being an Alexander teacher.

Q. What most excites you about your upcoming workshop at ACAT?

A. Teaching workshops in the Alexander Technique is always energizing and gratifying. Somehow, thanks to human evolution, when we are sharing knowledge and skills about moving with more grace and efficiency everyone has a chance to experience joy and satisfaction. This is because our nervous systems are not neutral about the experience of moving with more efficiency. If we are moving with more skill we have more of a chance of survival, and the nervous system rewards us with endorphins. Of course working with old friends and new teachers who want to learn is always is a delight.

Q. What is your favorite way to engage with the AT in your daily life right now?

A. My favorite way of engaging with the Technique is organizing myself dynamically upward each morning, and throughout the day, especially by allowing my ribs to move buoyantly upward and engaging with the engaging with the environment around me. Meeting life from a dynamic and energetic organization is a true pleasure.

Q. What is most fascinating to you about the AT today?

A. Our human vertebrate structure is very, very old, and tuning into its beauty and brilliance is constantly refreshing. In addition, I love refining and finding more depth and sophistication in Alexander’s work.

Q. What is the most surprising effect your study of the AT has had on your life?

A. My experience is that everything changes with our posture. When our posture is dynamic, expanded, and engaged with our environment, the freshness of being happens. This is possible in every moment. The Alexander Technique is the best thing we can do in the present moment to improve our quality of being.

Q. Tell us about an interest/skill/passion of yours other than of the Alexander Technique.

A. One passion I am following now is going out with my local astronomy club to observe our Universe from dark sky locations. To be peering through my telescope and suddenly see the light from a distant galaxy that left there millions of years ago and now is arriving inside of my eye, is a rather awesome experience.

About Bob

Robert Britton graduated in 1978 from the Alexander Training Institute-SF (Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas). In addition to his private practice in San Francisco, he has taught the Alexander Technique to musicians at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1984. He served as the Chairman of the American Society for the Alexander Technique, and was a director of the 2011 International Congress of the Alexander Technique. He has helped train Alexander Technique Teachers since 1989, and regularly gives workshops to Alexander Teachers around the World.Find out more about Bob at uprighthuman.com

There are still a few spaces left in Bob's workshop. Go here to find out more and to register.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Anastasia.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]ANASTASIA PRIDLIDES teaches Alexander Technique, Bellydance and Yoga in New York City.  Studying the Alexander Technique has been a deeply transformative and life changing process for her. Every day she wakes up excited to know that her job is share it with others. You can find her at movementhealingarts.com[/author_info] [/author]

Raising Self-Confidence in Teenagers through the Alexander Technique

by Dan Cayer A couple years ago, a quiet 17-year-old who I’ll call Len, was referred to me by his mother for a course of Alexander Technique lessons. She had heard that the AT could improve his posture and help him focus. Nearly 6’4” – and still growing – he stood and sat with a pronounced slump, which was likely contributing to back pain. His mother also suspected that his slouch was, partially, an attempt to not “stick out” at school.

Being reminded to “sit up straight” was not helping Len. He resisted an upright, healthy posture not only because he didn’t quite know how, but also due to discomfort with his body image.

I am writing about my experience with Len as an example of how the Alexander Technique is uniquely suited for the needs and temperament of young people. Teenagers (and I would include middle school age students in this category) are especially resistant to the agenda of older people and authority figures. For instance, it’s going to be a waste of money if Len thinks he has to change because I or his parents would prefer seeing him in a different shape.

Rather, I try to figure out what Len’s goals are and to frame this process as one that will help his goals, not mine. For instance, I help Len to see how he can feel less stress and pain if he lets go of some of his habitual slumping and tightening. By experimenting within the safe space of the lesson, Len can see how releasing into his full stature actually brings more confidence and energy. He tries adopting this new posture first as if it were a coat he’s trying on. Then, he sees that he actually likes it, not because I told him to but because he experienced it firsthand.

I also encouraged him to bring a basketball to a couple of our lessons and we worked on dribbling and passing using skills of the AT. He happily reported how his playing had noticeably improved with the Alexander influence. Over the course of 10 lessons, Len’s true stature and ease within himself emerged. He learned how, through awareness and conscious choice, he could find an upright, balanced posture that had eluded him for years.

That’s the story of “Len” but I’d like to say, in brief, why the Alexander Technique is well-suited for all young people.

1) In my experience, young people respond quickly (faster than adults) to hands-on and verbal guidance. They are less set in their patterns and more open to change.

2) Given that young people are naturally curious, I find that they can really run with the process of the AT. Rather than having to follow “rules,” students can learn how to manage their own posture and body. This naturally creates confidence and a sense of achievement.

3) Confidence. Though young people are often referred by their parents because of a compromised posture, confidence is usually the second reason. Being a young person nowadays is stressful and they often feel pressure to look a certain way. By slouching, young people might feel they “blend in” and won’t attract undue attention. However, by surrendering their body to tension and slackness, students invariably experience more stress and anxiety because they’ve lost their mind-body connection.

In closing, teenagers are a great candidate for the AT because of the acute pressures they face, their natural curiosity, and their ability to change quickly. I wish it had been sooner than my mid-20s before someone showed me how I could live in my body with more ease and freedom. Young people have such passion and conviction; it’s a wonderful thing to pair that with a little body awareness and wisdom.

This post originally appeared at dancayerfluidmovement.com.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dan-Head-Shot-13.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]DAN CAYER is a nationally certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. After a serious injury left him unable to work or even carry out household tasks, he began studying the technique. His return to health, as well as his experience with the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of pain, inspired him to help others. He now teaches his innovative approach in Union Square, Carroll Gardens and in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He also teaches adults to swim with greater ease and confidence by applying Alexander principles. You can find his next workshop or schedule a private lesson at www.dancayerfluidmovement.com.[/author_info] [/author]

The Zen Coach

by Emily Faulkner

I have the privilege of being the movement coach for Steady Buckets, a youth basketball league in New York City that serves kids ages 6-18. It’s a free program that offers skill building classes as well as league play. Children from all walks of life come to this program, from Manhattan’s elite private schools to the projects in the Bronx. I owe this opportunity to the visionary coach, Macky Bergman, who saw that the Alexander Technique would reinforce his coaching, but from a completely different angle.

About two years ago, Macky and I sat down for coffee, and I explained to him why I wanted to work with his players, and how the Alexander Technique would help them. Two hours later, after popping up and down to demonstrate for each other monkey, defensive stance, and proper shooting form, we were both brimming with excitement. Macky is a tough-talking coach, but he’s open minded and interested in alternative techniques to help his players focus and be present. He brought in a Tai Chi teacher one year. Macky intuitively understood inhibition: in order to get the ball through the hoop, you need to let go of the desire to get the ball through the hoop. Additionally, he was frustrated that he couldn’t get the kids to shoot with a straight spine or stand upright when defending. As a dancer and an Alexander teacher, it was pretty clear to me that the kids needed to use their hip joints. It was a perfect marriage: For Macky, what could be better than someone who would enable his players to improve their form? For me, what could be better than an unlimited supply of kids to whom I could teach the Alexander technique and see proof positive that the AT can change lives and games?

After working with Steady Buckets for two years, I’ve made many observations. Although the Alexander Principles are always the same, the bodies that come to me vary wildly. Some kids are slack; some kids are tense; some kids try too hard; some don’t try at all. I usually teach one on one, and give about ten kids, a 5-10 minute lesson each. Certain kids absorb the technique like a sponge and instantly see what it can do for them. They start making their shots and finding themselves “in the zone.” “I feel loose. I feel light. I couldn’t miss.” Kids who are in pain often see the value immediately. Some kids don’t see the value, and I let them go. It’s not for everyone. The principles are the same, but the challenge each kid faces is unique.

We do a lot of monkey because it is the base for shooting, dribbling, defending, everything actually. I incorporate a lot of Dart practices, like spirals and curves, and the innate springiness of the body. Depending upon the age of the kid, I use analogies like a river running up through the body, or that the floor bounces us up like a ball from our feet through the rest of the body. I show them that their arms can move independently of their torsos by folding at the gleno-humoral joint, and this starts to help them to see that when they shoot, their torsos can remain full and upright even as their arms move. For someone who doesn’t play any sports, I have an impressive theoretical knowledge of shooting form. My goal is to consistently hit foul shots, and be one of those rare experts who gained mastery from a completely different angle. But even with the Alexander Technique, it takes a tremendous amount of practice, and I haven’t devoted nearly enough time.

I came into this thinking that shooting would be the most obvious application of the Alexander Technique because it is a pure Alexander situation: it involves monkey and inhibition. But now I see that shooting is the most emotionally charged, habitually ingrained skill they learn, and very difficult to change. Proper shooting form involves sending the ball up in the air in a large arc by holding the body vertical, straightening the arms up over the head and slightly forward, and using the power of the jump to propel the ball. See Macky’s lines of force, Exhibit A: up through the whole body, forward through the hands and arms. For the younger kids, it is counterintuitive to do this. They want to fling the ball forward with their elbows counteracted by throwing their upper backs backward because they don’t believe that straightening the arms coupled with a jump up will be enough. See my version of this, Exhibit B. Older kids are deeply attached to whatever form of shooting has been working for them, even if it hasn’t been working well. When they change their technique, they will probably lower their shooting percentage before they raise it. And until the kids are really mature and philosophical about basketball, they don’t shoot a high enough arc because they’re aiming for the basket as opposed to aiming for the center of the hoop above the basket. Teaching someone to prioritize the means whereby in the act of shooting a basket is like asking a hungry person to look at their food for ten minutes before beginning to eat. It takes A LOT of inhibition. They need to truly let go of the goal of making the basket.

Officially, I am the movement coach; a dancer who came to teach the players better posture and better movement patterns. Then I thought perhaps I would call myself the biomechanics coach because it sounded substantial and technical. I’ve come to realize, however, that the main thing I have to offer them is inhibition. The other coaches can teach them form and biomechanics (although they don’t usually understand how to access the hip joints), but nobody else can teach inhibition. I am their Zen coach. I teach them to let the ball shoot itself, to let the game play itself. And as much as they need to learn how to inhibit in order to change their form, I need to inhibit my desire to see them improve. As with any other activity, change can happen both instantaneously and glacially. They fold into a smooth, balanced monkey, and suddenly they’re moving around their opponents a beat ahead of everyone else. When it comes to shooting, they slowly start to trust a different form. One of my favorite students who falls deeply into the category of “tense and trying too hard” improved dramatically when I said, “remember that you shoot better when you’re relaxed.” That phrase allowed him to inhibit.

The Steady Buckets’ motto is “Outwork ‘Em.” The pursuit of excellence requires limitless hours of practice and dedication, and there is no way around that, but to be truly excellent, you must be able to let go of the thing you desire while you work towards it. What a balancing act!

In a more general way, is has been wonderful to share the ability to change. The Alexander Technique shows us that change is possible, and there is a path towards that change. I imagine the kids I work with absorb the idea that they can choose their actions. If they can go from slumping to standing up tall and balanced in less then a minute, maybe some of them will decide to study for a test instead of not study, go to college instead of not going. Maybe some slumped over little kid who considers himself un-athletic will feel “the zone” and decide that he can be good at sports. The Alexander Technique gives us choice and a means whereby!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/e.faulkner.png[/author_image] [author_info]EMILY FAULKNER graduated from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York City in 1999, and has been an AmSat certified teacher ever since. Faulkner is also a dancer, dance teacher and choreographer.She is on the faculty of Movement Research, a world renowned institution for experimental dance, and has presented her choreography nationally and internationally. Her most current project is a dance film using Steady Buckets players. Emily teaches privately in New York City, and can be found at emilyfaulkner.com. Email her at emily.a.faulkner@gmail.com.  [/author_info] [/author]

Stretching with Ease

by Brooke Lieb Linda Minarik is a pianist, dancer, singer, and fitness professional. Her new book is entitled Stretching with Ease. Linda has been familiar with the Alexander Technique for nearly 40 years. Her first private lessons were with ACAT alumna Linda Babits in connection with practicing piano with ease. Linda’s life-long love of movement inspired her to train in ballet, and to become a certified group fitness instructor, including teaching qualifications in Gyrokinesis® and the MELT Method®.

LIEB

Tell us about the inspiration for your book Stretching With Ease.

MINARIK

For a number of years I have been teaching the art of flexibility at a corporate gym facility called Equitable Athletic & Swim Club in mid-town Manhattan. The membership is largely made up of left-brainy people with corporate positions, often high in their chosen professions. Attorneys, doctors, financial wizards, administrative assistants to corporate CEOs—highly articulate people, capable of understanding subtle concepts. They come to class to learn about their bodies; yet fitness is not their field.

I set out to create a worthwhile stretching experience for this fitness audience: teaching them stretching basics while respecting their intelligence. Over the years, I formulated a teaching language that seemed to work. I started explaining as much as I could about why pursuing flexibility might be helpful in their lives, how to allow their bodies to release gently into a stretch, how to align their positions correctly to avoid stressing other body areas, and—a crucial point—exactly where they should be feeling the muscular pull.

Stretching as I teach it emphasizes giving the body adequate time to settle into a position—without rushing into or out of it. Most important is partnering mind with body to increase calmness and minimize fear. Recruit your mind to address your body’s tight spots.

The more I taught, the clearer my instructions became, and my classes began to grow in size. My goal: to clear up the mist of incomprehensibility around flexibility. I wanted to share all the hard-won knowledge I had unearthed over more than two decades of searching. Everyone has his own journey, but I wanted to help people shorten their stretching one.

LIEB

How can stretching contribute to health and well-being, and what are some of the conditions or fitness goals that stretching can help manage or improve?

MINARIK

In some detail, I develop the following benefits of stretching for health, well-being, and fitness improvement in Stretching with Ease:

• Reduces and heals stress
• Prevents injury
• Relieves pain
• Relieves muscular soreness
• Improves posture and body symmetry
• Advances physical and athletic skills

LIEB

You include the Alexander Technique in the “Further Resources” section of your book. When did you first encounter the Alexander Technique, and how has it contributed to your own performing and teaching?

MINARIK

My experience with the Alexander Technique began back in the’70s, when I was beginning to seek better alignment for my body in general, and also physical ease over the many hours I was practicing piano daily for my degree recitals. My study of the Technique long predates my involvement in fitness teaching. Along with other body-work methods, I am sure it was instrumental in making it really easy to start an athletic fitness teaching career in my ‘40s. After taking an introductory group class at a long-forgotten (by me!) studio in the Lincoln Center area, Linda Babits became my first private teacher. A pianist herself, she spent many hours helping me apply the Technique for a pianist’s unique needs. After training with Linda, I also worked extensively with Caren Bayer and Jane Kosminsky.

~

Linda currently teaches group fitness at the New York Health & Racquet Clubs and the Equitable Athletic and Swim Club, both in Manhattan. She pursues classical dance and bodybuilding, and has recently branched out into the study of rhythmic gymnastics, working privately with a former member of the Russian team. Linda is a classically trained pianist, operatic mezzo soprano, and aromatherapist. She lives in New York City. Contact her and/or purchase her book through her website at www.lindasarts.com.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

View from the Table, ACAT Pipes

by Cate McNider

As an Alexander Technique teacher in training, we are introduced to what is called a ‘lie down’. With the right number of books placed under our heads so that our heads are in right relationship with our backs as if we are standing, and our knees are bent to the ceiling and our feet on the table.  This horizontal position put me in visual contact with the external pipes running longitudinally and laterally six or so inches from the ceiling at ACAT.  As the teacher directed my thinking to allowing my spine to lengthen and my back to widen, I was seeing these criss crossing symbols above me.

At the beginning of my first term I wished, along with my ‘neck to be free’, to have something more stimulating to look at, but soon I realized the simplicity and beauty of the pipes, the functional details of their construction and the shadows they cast. So in the spirit of awareness, inhibition and direction I created these replicas of various perspectives of the ceiling pipes at ACAT. I decided to photograph them with my iphone and paint them in charcoal and water color, to celebrate my overhead surroundings.

Taking time to have a 5 or 10 minute ‘lie down’, we give ourself the gift of deepening our awareness of ourselves and seeing what ease can follow with that practice.  (see Witold Fitz-Simon’s post on how to do Constructive Rest) Next time you do that for yourself, notice the ceiling, see what is above you and if you can let go more into what is underneath you, and you might find when you return to vertical, you most likely are more up than when you went down!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/McNider.jpeg[/author_image] [author_info]CATE MCNIDER is a third year trainee at ACAT and has been a bodyworker since 1991. She came to NYC as an actor in 1985 from studying at the Drama Studio in London for two years after graduating from Sweet Briar College.  She performed Off-Broadway as well as solo dance performances from 1986 -2013. In 2002, she became Body-Mind Centering® practitioner, which brought her closer to understanding movement patterns. She produced two one hour improvisational dance evenings in 2005 about her past-lives, ‘RISK, It’s Really All One Dance’ (excerpt on youtube). In 2010 she published a collection of her poetry: Separation and Return. She began painting in the early 1990‘s as a means of expressing experiential states and concepts where words fell short. Paintings are for sale, contact Cate: www.thelisteningbody.com.[/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: "Does training teachers require a different set of skills?" by Brooke Lieb

by Brooke Lieb

Training teachers is a different contract than work with private students.

My private students are the ones who set the pace and depth of how they work with their own habits. I explore whatever activities or concepts are most useful, relevant and meaningful to them. I have no timeframe for their progress, and no agenda about their level of understanding or interest in the work. As a teacher, I need the scope of understanding to meet my students where they are, and to give them the skills of Alexander’s work to use as they choose. They, on the other hand, are there for themselves and their own needs. I notice things going on in their behavior, use and function that they may be unaware of. I take my lead from them to determine when and how I might share those observations with the student. Learning this skill is something I hope to impart to a teacher-in-training.

On the training course, I expect and demand a much higher level of rigor and commitment from teachers-in-training. They are no longer focusing exclusively on themselves and their needs and interests. I am assessing their skills against a standard and there are specific developmental benchmarks for them to meet to progress to the next level. I strive to be clear and able to articulate in every moment what I am doing, why and how so I can transfer that knowledge in a way that will be accessible for teachers-in-training when they are the ones teaching.

When I teach a private student, I have an awareness of myself, my student and the interplay between us. My private students don’t need to observe or understand my role in their learning, but the teachers-in-training need to understand the "means where-by" of teaching. They are using the skills they learned when studying privately and applying them to the task of teaching. On the training course I teach teachers-in-training pedagogical skills that are not specific to the Alexander Technique. A teacher-in-training needs a clear understanding of how and why touch is used to teach, whether touch is ultimately used in a given class or lesson. I also need an understanding of group dynamics, and how to support individual needs balanced with the needs of the group.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Continuing Community at ACAT

by Karen Krueger In my last blog post, I wrote about why I chose to enroll in the teacher training program at the American Center for the Alexander Technique ("ACAT"), and described the unique strengths of the program. Graduating from that program was a bittersweet moment for me, as it seemed I would lose my connection to the community that I was a part of as a trainee.

Luckily, as I soon discovered, ACAT gives its graduates many ways to remain part of the community. To begin with, there is the opportunity to serve as a volunteer faculty member. This meant that I could continue to participate in the training course at a level appropriate to my experience. Working with trainees was an ideal way to hone my hands-on skills, as ACAT trainees are expert at giving constructive verbal and nonverbal feedback. Participating in a training class also allowed me to observe and experience what the trainers were teaching, and to contribute with questions and observations from my own growing teaching practice.

In addition, I learned that ACAT is not just a training program. It is a not-for-profit membership organization, offering free and paid continuing education programs for teaching members and free and paid programming in the Alexander Technique for associate members and the general public. A majority of ACAT's Board of Directors are ACAT graduates.

ACAT teaching members offer monthly free introductions to the Alexander Technique. Volunteering to present or assist in these "Hands-On Demonstrations" is a great way for recent graduates to get valuable experience working with groups on the Alexander Technique. ACAT also sponsors low-cost drop-in group classes in the Alexander Technique, staffed by teaching members who have been active volunteers at the Hands-On Demonstrations.

In addition to these formal connections, ACAT graduates have their own more spontaneous ways of nurturing the ACAT community. Many of the people I trained with remain friends, have exchanges with each other to work on their skills, and refer students to each other. As I become a more experienced teacher, I find that my most valued form of continuing education is exchanging work with the ACAT people I met during my three years in the training course.

If you love the Alexander Technique, you can be a part of the ACAT community, even if you did not graduate from ACAT, by joining as a teaching member (if you are an AmSAT-certified teacher) or an associate member.

To learn more about the benefits of membership, go here.

To learn more about ACAT's teacher training program, go here.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/karen-headshot-67.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]KAREN G. KRUEGER became a teacher of the Alexander Technique after 25 years of practicing law at two major New York law firms, receiving her teaching certificate from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in December 2010. Her students include lawyers, business executives, IT professionals and others interested in living with greater ease and skill. Find her at her website: http://kgk-llc.com. [/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: My First Contact With The Alexander Technique, by Marta Curbelo

by Marta Curbelo I always loved movement and dance. I became a “star” in my brand new elementary school when I danced in front of my father’s Latin band at a school assembly. As a stay-at-home mom, I missed dance. When Nicole was eight, I decided to get active again: I joined The Nickolaus Technique exercise classes. After a few years of taking classes, I became an instructor and gave classes. One of the franchise owners was training at ACAT and asked me to volunteer as his student. At the time, I was about to buy a Nickolaus franchise. After volunteering at ACAT and experiencing a lightness I had never before felt, I started The Alexander Technique lessons with Sarnie Ogus and my life changed. Forget about the Nickolaus franchise, this was for me. My then-husband was going to be assigned to London and I knew I could find a home in England with The Alexander Technique. We never made it to London, but I have been able to teach The Alexander Technique wherever I found myself: New York City, Stamford CT or Santa Fe NM; even being invited to give annual workshops in Italy and Switzerland over a six-year period.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years after graduating in 1987 from ACAT. At the time, I had a private practice in Stamford and was an assistant ACAT faculty member. My symptoms were (and are) fatigue and paresthesia, or nerve-ending pain, and spasticity on my left side. I found early on that I could quiet my nervous system by applying the principles of The Alexander Technique. This has enabled me to minimize the debilitating effects of the disease. I am in the process of working with my neurologist on a case study to show the potential of using The Alexander Technique in the management of MS symptoms.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Marta.Curbelo.png[/author_image] [author_info] MARTA CURBELO was certified by ACAT to teach The Alexander Technique in 1987, immediately volunteered as an assistant teacher and then became an associate teacher and finally a member of the Senior Faculty in 1989. Marta has taught at The Juilliard School and has had private practices in New York City, Norwalk CT and Santa Fe NM. She has conducted workshops in New York City, Switzerland and Italy and taught in a physical therapy facility in Mt. Kisco, NY.  Marta also has been certified, after a one-year course of study in the Art of Breathing, to teach breathing coordination in conjunction with The Alexander Technique. See her website: MartaCurbelo.com.[/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: My First Contact With The Alexander Technique, by Brooke Lieb

by Brooke Lieb I first heard about the Alexander Technique when I was researching theater training. Alexander was part of the curriculum at The Juilliard School, Carnegie Mellon University, ACT in San Francisco, and many of the acting programs in London. I was planning to study for theater as an undergraduate, though I honestly didn't think I had the talent or constitution to manage the business side of the profession. Since I always liked to communicate through touch, I thought the Alexander Technique would be a profession that would place me within the performing arts world as a teacher, without dealing with the stress and rejection of auditioning and relying on being the right type to get to practice my craft as an actor. I knew on some level that I was going to train to teach the Alexander Technique even before I had a lesson.

I was 20 when I took my first lesson, with Nancy Wanich Romita during her last term of her teacher training at ACAT, on the campus of SUNY Purchase. After that first lesson, floating out of the dance building, I remember how excited I was having finally experienced the work that I had intuitively known was my life's work! It was more amazing then I could have imagined. I studied privately for 4 years, and had over 120 lessons at the time I applied to train at ACAT. I was on the course from 1987-1989, and feel so fortunate that I found my life's work so early. I also feel fortunate that I have had this work as part of my life resources since such a young age. I continue to learn and grow as both a student and a teacher. My enthusiasm and passion for the work has only deepened with time.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: My First Contact With The Alexander Technique, by Daniel Singer

by Daniel Singer As a young man in my 20’s and well out of college, I was continuing with the spiritual search I had consciously begun at age 15. So as it happened, I found myself living in upstate New York on a rural farm, with a serious group of spiritual seekers. We were studying, in a practical way, the ideas of Gurdjieff. This farm/craft guild was an extraordinarily impactful learning environment, centered around traditional arts like pottery, weaving, woodworking, printing, farming, home-crafts, etc. We were studying the ideas of Gurdjieff; and working at traditional crafts was part of a means we used for self-study. I myself became a glassblower artisan there, and made this community my home for 6 years.

While I was living there, a group of musicians visited us from Minnesota. They were from the orchestra in St. Paul. As it happened, their Alexander teacher, Goddard Binkley, (who had been trained by F.M. Alexander), had been invited by one of their group to visit us. And so, when he visited we all received a single private lesson with Goddard.

My half-hour lesson with Goddard was a very simple, no-frills chair session. The only procedure besides sitting and standing was a formal lunge. Although it was my first lesson, (and I hadn’t a clue about the AT or what was expected of me as a student taking a lesson) few words were exchanged and, strangely, nothing at the time felt like it actually needed an explanation. I recall the education in that lesson felt sufficiently implied through the intention of Goddard’s touch, directly impacting my kinesthetic sense. Looking back on it now, it is quite easy for me to argue against adopting such a model/strategy for teaching a “first lesson.” His choice to not explain anything was a curious and radical choice. I speculate that his view might have been: “If my student is leaving themselves alone sufficiently to receive new kinesthetic data from my hands and not fall back into their old pattern of thinking, this new student’s nervous system will sufficiently interpret and use the new data, even in a first lesson.” Again, it seems like a less than optimal model for most first lessons, in my current view. Yet, in Goddard’s defense, it might be useful to note that the residents of this community were all rigorously focused on mindfulness, a living relationship to silence and contemplative inquiry. We were all studying together, as a group, the axiom "Know Thyself.” Therefore, it may be likely that Goddard felt that relative silence in a first lesson was a feasible strategy in the case of these particular first lessons in the Alexander Technique. However, I only speculate.

I recall the feeling of Goddard's hands to this day…inviting, strong and dynamic. They mysteriously sculpted my body and calmed my mind. He guided me into the chair in a totally new way. There was no table work given in that first lesson. When my half-hour lesson was done, I experienced a feeling that was truly unprecedented in my young life experience. It was an epiphany without words and I felt profoundly altered in my sense of self. It was as if I had landed on planet Earth for the first time, a wakeful presence mixed with a lightness of being that had hitherto eluded me. Much to my own surprise, right after walking away from the chair at the end of the lesson I turned to Goddard and said to him, “I know this must sound strange to hear, but someday I am going to teach this work to others.” To this day, I don’t know how I had the chutzpah to say that to him in that way, but I did. And even though it took 5 more years before I actually was able to have another Alexander Technique lesson, this time with Judith Leibowitz, eventually my prediction came to pass and I trained to become a teacher of this work.

As a child, I had been rather sickly, not having sat up until almost 2. As an infant, I couldn’t keep food down so barbiturates had been medically given as a remedy for that. Prone to continuous infections, I had been well-meaningly placed on oral penicillin for 11 years until the doctors decided that medical choice was no longer a smart one. I developed acute asthma and my nervous system became overwhelmed by the “speedy” drugs given for that. I wasn’t reading until after age 7. So there were definitely developmental lags and missing pieces, as well. Yet, through the graces of nature, by the time I was a young man, I had caught up in many areas. But my relationship to organization, self, balance, breath, movement and a normal sense of physicality was still quite challenged.

I feel it was a gift from God that I was guided to my first lesson with Goddard back in 1974. The trajectory of my life was significantly altered during that half-hour with him. And so, today I teach and help train others to study awareness, inhibition and direction through the Alexander Technique as I continue this ever-new investigation into the I-Thou-ness of living.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Daniel-Singer.jpeg[/author_image] [author_info]DANIEL SINGER is a senior faculty member at the American Center for the Alexander Technique Teacher Certification Program. He maintains a private practice in NYC and is currently on staff as the Alexander Technique teacher at three performance Conservatories: AMDA, Circle-in-the Square and Michael Howard Studio. Daniel is an author of the book The Sacred Portable Now (Prima Publishing, 1996). He also co-produced a CD “The Back Alive Advantage” based on principles of Alexander Technique self-lesson work. Additionally trained and certified in educational and therapeutic uses of visualization by the American Institute for Mental Imagery, he’s an artist whose mediums have included glassblowing, painting and writing. And for the last ten years he has joyfully pursued a passion for studying and dancing Argentine Tango. [/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: My First Contact with the Alexander Technique, by Kim Jessor

by Kim Jessor It was 1977. I had recently graduated from college, and had come to New York to be a dancer. I was living in Soho, taking dance classes, rehearsing and performing in lofts, and living the downtown New York arty life I had dreamed of. But then my knees began to give me trouble. Like F. M. Alexander, the medical world had no answers for me, nothing showed up on an x-ray, rest was advised. I was desperate; the life I had envisioned, the great joy dancing brought me and how much my young identity was tied up in it, seemed to be slipping away from me. At Sarah Lawrence College I had known Missy Vineyard. I knew she had become an Alexander teacher, and I had another dancer friend with knee trouble who was studying with Missy. They were the first people to tell me of this work that would change my life. I don’t remember clearly how I found my way to Jessica Wolf for my first lesson. She was still in her final semester of training. Once I went with her for a supervisory lesson to Judy Liebowitz’s (one of ACAT’s founders) apartment!

While I can no longer recapture the specific details of that lesson, I do remember that I experienced myself in an entirely new way, with this unfamiliar quality of ease and lightness. I left with a renewed sense of hope and possibility. I immediately called Jessica and asked her to meet me for lunch to talk about what training entailed. I told her I wanted to become a teacher of this Technique. She explained to me that I would need to take more lessons in order to apply, which I subsequently did. But I knew right away—this was the work I wanted to do. I was completely compelled by my experience, by the sense that there was a way out of my knee pain, and that the work combined my love of movement with my enjoyment of the process of teaching. I studied with Jessica for awhile, then Andrea Hanson, and in 1979 excitedly entered the ACAT teacher certification program. Many years later, I continue to teach others to become Alexander teachers at ACAT, and still thoroughly love this work.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/k_Jessor_1642.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]KIM JESSOR received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1976, where she danced and choreographed under Bessie Schoenberg. She received her ACAT certification in 1981 and has taught since then on ACAT’s faculty, serving as Director of the Teacher Certification Program from 1991-1994. Kim has taught at the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, the Michael Howard Acting Studio, the New York Open Center, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Chautauqua summer music program, Penland School of Crafts, and the Miller Healthcare Institute for Performing Arts Medicine, among others. Kim has written articles on applying the Technique to marathon running and on her work with survivors of 9/11. She has also presented at several national meetings. Currently she is on the faculty at NYU’s Graduate Acting Program/Tisch School of the Arts, while maintaining a private practice in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Kim has done post certification work with Barbara Kent, Pearl Ausubel, Ann Mathews and Rika Cohen. She is also certified in Body-Mind Centering from Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.[/author_info] [/author]

From Our ACAT Faculty: My First Contact with the Alexander Technique, by Joan Frost

by Joan Frost Due to my mother’s lack of understanding regarding nutrition, as an infant I was fed boiled condensed (pet) milk to grow on. It didn’t work so well. I didn’t get to my feet until 18 months old and when I finally did, my legs buckled so that my knees and ankles caved in. In Ireland, they called this the “green stick syndrome”. I don’t know what they called it in America, but it was not uncommon in the ‘50’s. To remedy this, I had to sleep on my back every night wearing a brace – two shoes turned out 180 degrees from each other with a bar between. This put my legs into a frog position. I wore the brace every night from about 18 months to 3 years old. I have no memory of this time, but I do remember for years going to the doctor for walking exercises to deal with my very pronated ankles.

There was a problem with this mechanistic remedy: I was very pigeon-toed. The brace forced total outward rotation. Since my hip-joints couldn’t structurally accommodate that, where did the adjustment go? To the next level up – my lower back. I became extremely swaybacked. Standing equaled pain.

I must have had a weak back. When I was nine, while on my hands and knees playing with my sister, she jumped on my back and something “went”. It was my upper back. From that time forward, I couldn’t sit unsupported for more than 20 minutes before my back became hot, then numb. I gave up my piano lessons.

I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t sit. Any length of time with either and I was in significant pain. My mother took me to chiropractor after doctor. Nothing helped. I was a stoic girl – I dealt.

In college, typing papers was agony. But when I moved, I felt better. I enrolled in the dance program at the University of California at Santa Cruz and started learning about my body. I discovered my psoas muscle and my lower back lost some of its exaggerated curve. My lower back pain diminished. My upper back? It didn’t change much at all. I was always in pain behind my right shoulder blade and every few weeks it got acute.

I graduated from college and moved to New York City to immerse myself in the modern dance scene. A California friend discovered the Alexander Technique and told me I should take some lessons. She said my neck was very forward. I reached back to feel my neck and discovered she was right! I resisted studying, though. Why should I? I could have five dance classes for the price of one of those lessons. She persisted. Finally, after about six months of urging, I agreed. I called Missy Vineyard and made an appointment.

I don’t know what happened in my first lesson. I just remember taking a floor barre class afterwards and not being able to lift my head off the floor. I did return for another lesson. Again, I didn’t understand what was going on, but it seemed as if Missy knew something true about my body that I didn’t yet know. The closest I could liken to my experience was readings I had done in Zen and eastern philosophy.

Not far into the lessons, I started sticking out my elbows. Missy set me straight. I was confusing elbow width with upper back width. Amazingly, my upper back began to change! My pain started to lessen! I had started studying the Technique to keep my friend quiet. It had not occurred to me that it would affect the way I felt. By the time I was in my 20’s, back pain was a fact of my life and I took it for granted that that’s the way it was going to be.

I had ten lessons with Missy, then she moved to Baltimore for her husband’s medical residency. The effects of those lessons lasted about nine months, then I felt I had lost the sense of it. I asked around for and found another teacher and continued my Alexander journey.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Joan-Frost.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Joan Frost was certified to teach the Alexander Technique by ACAT in 1983, joined ACAT’s faculty in 1984, and was Director of Teacher Certification from 2001-2008. Joan has also taught the Technique at The Juilliard School, The New School, the Diller Quaile School of Music, and at Sarah Lawrence College. For years she was a lecturer for The Arthritis Foundation. Currently, in addition to training teachers at ACAT, Joan maintains a private practice in Manhattan, in Rockland County, in White Plains, and in Stratford, Connecticut. Find her at her website: joanfrost.com.[/author_info] [/author]

The Habit of Dissatisfaction

by Brooke Lieb The Alexander Technique teaches a robust tool to recognize and address habits, including movement patterns, posture and muscle tone; and thinking and behavioral habits, as well.

As a child, growing up in the United States, and particularly as a student in American academia, I developed the tendency to respond to my circumstances with dissatisfaction. I was inclined to focus on what needed to be changed or fixed, how to garner or continue to get approval, and to seek distraction from my habitual internal dialogue and attitude towards my life circumstances. This attitude was reinforced by the people around me, by the media, and in particular, by advertisers. I was encouraged, first externally, and then internally, to strive to be better, to look for the next goal, the next success or win in life, the next project, the next task. What can I do next, so I can better myself and get the next toy, reward or show of approval or love from the world around me? And as a woman, what can I do to be more attractive, and thinner?

At the same time, from a very early age, I knew I wanted to experience contentment, satisfaction and joy in my life, and I had a strong inkling that I was going to need to work to overcome my tendencies to find fault and feel unsatisfied. I first saw a therapist at 18 and then began therapy in earnest for 11 years at around 21, with my primary goal being to love the life I am actually living. I began having Alexander lessons at aged 20, so I cannot be sure, but I believe my Alexander lessons contributed to my growing awareness of my emotional habit of being dissatisfied, and gave me skills to change my belief systems and responses to the challenges of life.

Over these last 32 years, having Alexander Technique as the central tool in my life, I feel like I have woken up more each passing year, and with this alert, aware state, I have gained more inner peace, self acceptance, patience for those around me, and an acute awareness of the dynamic of chronic dissatisfaction in myself, mirrored many ways in the world at large. My process has often been painful and hard won, as I grappled with my perfectionist issues, but I believe without the Alexander Technique, I wouldn’t be enjoying the wisdom that comes with age, and feeling so awake to life. I have learned how to enjoy myself more. This awakening is still a work in process.

One of my great pleasures as an Alexander teacher and a trainer of Alexander teachers, has been the honor of helping my students wake up to themselves and their lives, as well. I am inspired by their journeys, and I learn about myself in the process. At this point, work is play for me, and I feel so lucky that I earn my livelihood doing something I love so much.

If any of this resonates for you, I would be delighted to hear from you about your journey around the habit of dissatisfaction.

NOTE: The Alexander Technique is a useful tool as part of your self-care regime, but is not a replacement for consultation with a trained medical profession. It is important that you seek the assistance of a trained medical professional for persistent and on-going physical, emotional or mental symptoms, to rule out and/or address underlying causes.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Thinking But Not Doing

by Brooke Lieb

In her wonderful new book, Living The Alexander Technique, Ruth Rootberg interviews senior members of the Alexander community, who have been living with the tools of the Alexander Technique well into their later years. In her interview with Frank Ottiwell (1929 - 2015), who was certified by ACAT founder Judith Leibowitz in 1959, he reflects on his continued development in learning what it is to inhibit and direct. As I was reading, I could especially relate to the following section from the interview.

Frank Ottiwell is quoted:

“I think one of the things one has to learn—and certainly Judy [Leibowitz] was teaching me that right from the beginning—is 'Leave yourself alone.' Practice Inhibition. You learn to say the words, but not to do them. That’s the trick…. I think, too, that my focus has re-directed towards stopping something from happening, rather than being seduced into getting something to happen. With the order to 'free my neck,' for example, it is easy for me to slip into making tiny movements, even without intending to. I think, for a long time, some devil in me tricked me into little direct doings. I’m sure it will try again. I will have to be on the lookout for devils.”

Having been a student of the Alexander Technique for over 32 years myself, I found it reassuring and comforting to know that Frank Ottiwell was still tempted to do something muscular when working with the Alexander Technique after all his years of experience. I, too, am always refining my thinking and working on inhibiting (withholding consent) from my inclination to do something directly with my muscles when my true wish is to “free my neck.”

I think this process of relearning and refining what we are after when we use the Alexander Technique is common for Alexander teachers and students, alike. We live in a world full of triggers, we are habitual creatures, and it seems that as technology advances, we are all trying to accomplish more, not less, and are rushing to get things done. Taking time, and learning the difference between thinking intelligently and using muscle force is vital to manage our energy and tension levels under these circumstances.

One of the main challenges in learning to work with the Alexander Technique is learning not to turn the ideas and instructions from your teacher into a direct muscular action. When I work with a student, I tell her or him: “Listen to my words and think them, allow my hands to guide you to define what those words mean in your movements, but do not use your muscles to directly do your idea of what those words mean.” Easier said than done, but anyone who has been working in this way and had glimpses of what is possible will likely agree, it is very worthwhile.

Buy Ruth Rootberg’s book, Living The Alexander Technique on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Living-Alexander-Technique-Interviews-Teachers/dp/1937146774

Other epub versions are available on Nook, Google Play, and iBook.

You can read Frank Ottiwell’s obituary in the SF Gate here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=Frank-Ottiwell&pid=175665326

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Student Abbe Krieger and ACAT's Health and Wellbeing Program

by Brooke Lieb ACAT’s Health and Wellbeing Program offers experienced students (10 or more lessons) the opportunity to join classes in our World Class Teacher Training Program. The emphasis is on self discovery, self-awareness and learning more efficient ways of applying Alexander concepts to everyday life. The program is ideal for students who wish to take their study to a more advanced level, and for those who are considering training and would like to experience the Training Course environment firsthand.

To learn more and and download an application an brochure, click here, or contact me at “tcp@acatnyc.org”.

BROOKE

Why did you first start studying the Alexander Technique?

ABBE

The first time I started studying the AT was because my flute teacher from Juilliard suggested that it might be useful for my playing. I was a big end gainer; if anything could help me be an even better "fluter," I would do it. Years later, after a long stretch without any AT, I came back to it because I thought that it might be a nice complement to my daily meditation and mindfulness practice.

BROOKE

Why did you decide to participate in the Health and Wellbeing option within ACAT’s Teacher Certification Program, including the option of adding the 10-session private lessons?

ABBE

I love the AT and have been taking privates with a handful of NYC's top teachers for the last several years—sometimes twice a week. Bravos and Bravas to Ann Waxman, Bill Connington, Jean McClelland, Hope Martin, and most recently, to you, Brooke. Also, my very first AT teacher, Judith Muir. Thanks to the care and guidance of these amazing teachers, my desire to become more intimate with the AT has grown significantly. To that end, I came to ACAT to enhance my experience and "understanding" of the AT. Also, I am thinking about training…TBD

BROOKE

What has the experience been like?

ABBE

Studying and learning AT in the context of a full-time AT training program, even just once a week, and as a HWB student, has been transformative. I have become much better acquainted with the mysteries of primary control and I am starting to take my familiar debauched habits less seriously. Also, observing what the students are being taught to "not do" to facilitate length and expansion in another person is fascinating and unbelievably useful to my own use. I love that ultimately it is about learning to take care of yourself first so that you can be of service to another human being. My body is my first instrument.

About Abbe

A recent first prize winner of the Alexander and Buono International Flute competition, Abbe Krieger’s recital performances have included Bechstein Piano Center, Weill Recital Hall and Klavierhaus. As a chamber musician and orchestral player, her appearances have included Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Paul Hall and the Peter Jay Sharp Theater as well as music festivals including Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Tanglewood and Saarburg. Ms. Krieger's musical training includes degrees with honors from The Juilliard School, Carnegie Mellon University and Brandeis University. Ms. Krieger serves as guest teaching artist and soloist with the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony and teaches privately in NYC.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Brooke1web.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]N. BROOKE LIEB, Director of Teacher Certification since 2008, received her certification from ACAT in 1989, joined the faculty in 1992. Brooke has presented to 100s of people at numerous conferences, has taught at C. W. Post College, St. Rose College, Kutztown University, Pace University, The Actors Institute, The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dennison University, and Wagner College; and has made presentations for the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Scoliosis Foundation, and the Arthritis Foundation; Mercy College and Touro College, Departments of Physical Therapy; and Northern Westchester Hospital. Brooke maintains a teaching practice in NYC, specializing in working with people dealing with pain, back injuries and scoliosis; and performing artists. www.brookelieb.com[/author_info] [/author]

Alexander Technique for Non-Surgical Treatment of a Cervical Herniated Disc

by Witold Fitz-Simon This video features Judy Stern—Alexander Technique teacher and faculty member of the ACAT teacher training program—on how the Technique can help people with herniated discs in their neck. The video is made by the medical practice of Seth Neubardt M. D. and Jack Stern M. D. (Dr. Stern is Judy's husband.)

https://youtu.be/P1VSSq9zuUM

If you experience chronic pain and would like to know more about how the Alexander Technique might be able to help you, find a teacher near you here.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. www.mindbodyandbeing.com[/author_info] [/author]

Seeing More and Letting Go: Widening My Experience through Alexander Technique

By Mariel Berger [Many thanks to my Alexander Technique teacher, Witold Fitz-Simon, and my Alexander Technique Psychologist, Jane Dorlester]

I used to believe that intense focus and concentration were the best way of being. I would spend hours practicing music, hours focusing on just one little thing. The more the world disappeared around me, the better I was supposed to be. In undergrad music school, I would walk up and down the hallways and see people in their practice spaces, for hours upon hours, directing all of their energy and attention onto one single thing. I learned that individual mastery of one instrument was the way to be. I practiced all of the time.

When I tried to look at the larger world around me, I got easily overwhelmed, scared, sad, anxious, lost, hopeless. So to cope, I would simply zoom in and ignore all the background noise, erase any thought that didn’t pertain to this one single thing. This scale. This piece.

I have realized that my coping mechanism was also what led me into deep bouts of depression, narcissism, self-absorption, and intense crying from feeling a disconnection from the world around me. Then, to alleviate my sadness, I would dive back into music in order to escape, continuing the cycle.

Depression is losing sight of the whole — falling into one mental space that feels as though it always was and always will be.

Depression is only seeing one thing — being trapped in one experience, one repeating and repeating thought.

I spent so many years narrowing my focus that my mind got into the pattern of hard fixation.

When composing music I spent hours deep in my imagination, but then I wouldn’t be able to come out from the intense focus. I mistook this focus for depth, but depth is not narrow. It expands and has breadth. I was digging a tunnel that ended how it began:

[dark]. [blind].

[alone].

For the past two years, I have been practicing Alexander Technique. Through this technique, I have learned about a soft gaze and a light awareness. It has been two years of unlearning the habits of zooming in. It has been two years of expanding out, seeing more.

Yes, I am home inside my body and aware of my sensations, I hear my thoughts, but I am also aware of my surroundings. Just as I feel my feet, I feel my feet touching the ground.

When writing a piece of music, I used to think about it so hard that my brain would hurt from all the grasping, and I would get a headache. Now, I hope to approach art-making as less thinking hard and more softening around an idea. I clear space and watch the tendency of the mind and body to grip; but instead of gripping, I let go. I soften my gaze so I see more than what’s in front of me. I let the subtle colors of the periphery be a part of my expanded experience.

The practice of releasing clenched muscles and obsessive thoughts is starting to help expand my interpersonal relationships. I am learning that there is an easier way of relating to the outside world. Because of various traumas in my childhood I have an intense fear of being abandoned. So I grew up relating to people with an anxious attachment style--clinging to them so they wouldn’t leave me. I also grew up tightening my body in fear of someone potentially hurting me. Through Alexander Technique I have learned that I don’t need to walk around in the world with my body frozen in defense. My torso can widen and deepen, my legs can move away from my pelvis, my knees can move away from my back---I can expand and expand.

I thought I was protecting myself hiding in my tightened and scared body, but I ended up causing myself pain. I developed chronic shoulder and neck pain, headaches, and pelvic pain. I am learning that practicing an open and expansive way of being does not mean that I’ll be more easily hurt by others. Quite the opposite! When my neck is free, head is moving forward and up, torso is widening and deepening, knees are moving forward and away---I am grounded, balanced, fluid--- poised. I am able to go in any direction anytime. So if someone tries to connect with me who isn’t ultimately healthy for me, I can walk away.

The essence of Alexander Technique is the simultaneity of all possibilities-- embracing the whole experience--not being stuck in one position, on one path, one direction, one idea.

I am learning to unfasten my grip on my friends and loved ones. I am also learning that I can’t control people or the world around me. However, maybe I can expand the Alexander Technique directions onto my friends and loved ones? I can look at my mom and wish for her neck to be free and for my sister’s head to move forward and up. Everything about Alexander Technique teaches me to widen, so I can in turn expand Alexander Technique into the world.

Since practicing Alexander Technique (and also with the aid of anti-depressants), I rarely experience bouts of severe depression. In addition, the pain and tension in my body become alleviated each day when I remember my directions: to widen my experience, and to be aware of the space around me-- the world around me. Each day I notice myself gripping and falling into old patterns, and instead,

I let go... I let go...

I let go...

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/helsinki-sun-headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]MARIEL BERGER is a composer, pianist, singer, teacher, writer, and activist living in Brooklyn, NY. She currently writes for Tom Tom Magazine which features women drummers, and her personal essays have been featured on the Body Is Not An Apology website. Mariel curates a monthly concert series promoting women, queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming musicians and artists. She gets her biggest inspiration from her young music students who teach her how to be gentle, patient, joyful, and curious. You can hear her music and read her writing at: marielberger.com[/author_info] [/author]

An Introduction to the Alexander Technique: Marjorie Barstow [video]

by Witold Fitz-Simon Senior Alexander Technique teacher Marjorie Bartsow (1899-1995) was a graduate of F. M. Alexander's first teacher training in 1933. Born in the United States, she returned to the US after finishing her training, and eventually settled and established her teaching practice in her home town of Lincoln, Nebraska.

This video from 182 was made when Barstow was 83. In it she talks about her introduction to the Technique and how she came to meet F. M. Alexander.

https://youtu.be/NdrP_XGEuWI

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]

So You’re An Alexander Teacher? How Come You’re Slumping?

By Jeffrey Glazer Recently I was watching a video on YouTube about Patrick Macdonald, a prominent first generation teacher of the Alexander Technique. The video portrays his training course in the 1980’s. I love this video, as I always learn something new when I watch it.

I decided to peruse the comments section, and I saw several comments about Macdonald being hunched, and people asking why that is. Since, among other benefits, the Alexander Technique claims to help with one’s posture, it is totally understandable why people would question why such a distinguished teacher appears slumped.

Thinking about it, I recalled a conversation I had with Daniel Singer, one of the Senior Teachers at ACAT (The American Center for the Alexander Technique). Daniel took lessons from Macdonald for many years, and was profoundly influenced by his approach, especially when he started teaching. I remember Daniel explaining how Macdonald was born with some of his vertebrae fused together, and that he had a terrible prognosis from when he was a young child. Daniel also said the following:

“What people see in the older (Macdonald) videos particularly is a bit of a medical miracle. It is uncanny that he was able to manage such a rare, profound and overwhelming condition so effectively due to his Alexander Technique “thinking in activity.”

After clarifying the details on Macdonald, I added the following comment on YouTube…

“Regarding some of the comments about posture and why Macdonald is hunched, I think there is a misunderstanding. At 2:54 in part 1, it mentions that Macdonald had a congenital curvature of the spine, and later in the video (part 2, 6:50), Macdonald says that the technique saved his life. I spoke to an Alexander Teacher who took lessons from Macdonald for many years, and he told me that Macdonald was born with 5 thoracic vertebrae fused together, and he had early onset idiopathic scoliosis, with a strong forward pull as well as a twist. That type of scoliosis is severe and can even be life threatening. Despite Macdonald’s poor prognosis, his Alexander Technique skill and thinking helped enable him to overcome the most harmful effects of his condition, as he miraculously lived so long and vigorously with such a structural condition.

And only as his overall strength declined due to whatever other aging factors appeared to weaken him, did the conditions of his structured stoop (which was imprinted into the structure of his body from birth) become visibly worse. It is likely that the reason Macdonald said the Alexander Technique saved his life is because with his condition one can end up bent over 90 degrees with the face and chest facing the ground, and the result of those pulls can compromise the space needed for organs to function properly. So, while it is true that most Alexander Teachers and experienced students stand upright and have what many would call “good posture”, sometimes there are underlying conditions or other factors that are at play.”

So, here is the moral of the story…

1. Sometimes there are underlying conditions that affect the spine, and consequently, posture. While such conditions can prevent one from fully standing up straight, this does not mean they cannot benefit from the Alexander Technique. Without the Alexander Technique, Macdonald would likely have been hunched over in much more dramatic fashion. Indeed, Marjorie Barstow, another renowned first generation teacher, developed severe osteoporosis later in life, and has many YouTube videos where she is hunched. She also taught into her 90’s, and just like Macdonald was able to so at a high level of energy and vitality.

2. One must be careful not to judge too quickly, whether it is posture, or anything else.

3. The idea of posture as some sort of fixed upright shape is not really adequate. Posture is dynamic, as we are constantly moving about and adapting different positions to do what we need. It is more important to learn to move with less tension and without compressing the spine, so that there is greater ease and coordination in all activities.

4. In addition to being about movement, the Alexander Technique cultivates a high level of awareness around one’s thinking and reaction patterns. This results in the ability to think more clearly and respond more constructively to whatever one is doing. When we learn to slow down, it can also help to calm the nervous system, which, in today’s society, is a much needed component of overall health.

Finally, here are links to the Macdonald video, which is broken up into two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Watch, learn, and enjoy!

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jeffrey.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JEFFREY GLAZER is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He found the Alexander Technique in 2008 after an exhaustive search for relief from chronic pain in his arms and neck. Long hours at the computer had made his pain debilitating, and he was forced to leave his job in finance. The remarkable results he achieved in managing and reducing his pain prompted him to become an instructor in order to help others. He received his teacher certification at the American Center for the Alexander Technique after completing their 3-year, 1600 hour training course in 2013. He also holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from Florida State University. www.nycalexandertechnique.com[/author_info] [/author]

Walter Carrington at Work [video]

by Witold Fitz-Simon Walter Carrington (May 4, 1915—August 7, 2005) was a highly influential first-generation teacher of the Alexander Technique. He qualified as a teacher in 1939, but went on to serve as a pilot for the British Air Force in the Second World War. Having received severe injuries during the war, he returned to giving lessons in the Technique, including teaching on F. M. Alexander's teacher training course.

https://youtu.be/gFgbp6WveFg

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/After-crop1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]WITOLD FITZ-SIMON has been a student of the Alexander Technique since 2007. He is certified to teach the Technique as a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique’s 1,600-hour, three year training program. A student of yoga since 1993 and a teacher of yoga since 2000, Witold combines his extensive knowledge of the body and its use into intelligent and practical instruction designed to help his students free themselves of ineffective and damaging habits of body, mind and being. <a href="www.mindbodyandbeing.com">www.mindbodyandbeing.com</a>[/author_info] [/author]