ACAT Alumni Cate McNider and Brooke Lieb discuss how Cate added Alexander Technique to the modalities she uses to support her clients.
Read moreACAT Alumni Mark Josefsberg shares how he discovered Alexander Technique and why he decided to train with fellow ACAT alumna Brooke Lieb
Mark Josefsberg, Alexander Teacher and author of “Lighten Up: 29 Playful Lessons to help you learn the Alexander Technique” shares his story of discovering Alexander Technique and deciding to train with fellow ACAT Alumna N. Brooke Lieb.
Read moreFrom the Archive: Want to Change Your Body? Use Your Mind…
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by Jeffrey Glazer (originally published Feb. 37, 2015)
Good posture, less pain, better breathing, fluid movement, even confidence; all are side effects of effective application of the Alexander Technique. You may be surprised to learn that a major key to achieving those goals lies in your thinking. The technique teaches you to utilize thought as a way of solving problems that stem from poor posture and movement habits. Since posture and movement are ultimately controlled by the brain, we can improve them by using the brain, albeit in a different way.
The key is to trust that thinking can create a positive change in the body. For example, the primary tension pattern that the Alexander Technique seeks to prevent is tightening the neck. This is because a neck that isn’t tight is essential to preventing tension in the rest of the body. To prevent tightening the neck, instead of doing something that feels like not tightening the neck, we simply think “I’m not tightening my neck.” Or, to frame it in the positive, think “neck free”.
Read moreFrom the Archives: So You’re An Alexander Teacher? How Come You’re Slumping?
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By Jeffrey Glazer (originally published July 16, 2015)
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.
Read moreFrom the Archives: The Alexander Technique as a Tool for Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
Source: http://blog.mymsaa.org/ms-management-of-cognitive-symptoms/
by Rachel Bernsen
In February 2016, Senior Alexander teacher Judy Stern convened a panel discussion entitled Living with MS and How Alexander Technique Can Help: A Students Perspective. The discussion centered around a student named Ron, who shared the numerous ways the Alexander Technique has been effective for coping with symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). To protect Ron’s privacy I’ll only use his first name.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society defines MS as “an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.” Ron credits the Alexander Technique with lessening the severity of his symptoms, improving his quality of life and overcoming several professional prognoses that “there is nothing you can do”. With the aid of the Technique he is still ambulatory, walking with only a cane. He also drives, plays golf and is very physically active.
Read moreFrom the Archives: Spreading The Word, Even If The Word Is "Posture"
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by Karen Krueger (originally posted Jan. 22, 2016)
I'm a big believer in speaking up about the Alexander Technique whenever I get the chance. So I jumped right in with a comment when I spotted an article in the New York Times about the importance of posture:
New York Times: Posture Affects Standing, And Not just The Physical Kind
Read moreNo more "auto pilot": Using Alexander Technique for Mindful Movement
No more "auto pilot": Using Alexander Technique for Mindful Movement
I recently began working with a student who has been living with Parkinson’s for 20+ years.
I remembered reading about John Pepper, who consciously retrained his movements to overcome foot drag and tremor, and became curious about how his conscious attending to his walking, typically an unconscious and habitual motor task, allowed him to perhaps create neural pathways that could compensate for or bypass the areas of his brain impacted by Parkinson’s.
Alexander Technique asks us to perform automatic tasks in a conscious and novel way.
Read moreFrom the Archives: Embracing Change (Originally published March 14, 2018)
From the Archives: Embracing Change (Originally published March 14, 2018)
Alexander Teachers could be considered “change agents” for the individual. We help our students expand ways of being in thinking, movement and behavior.
That can seem vague and hard to articulate, and many Alexander Teachers find ourselves momentarily tongue-ied when someone asks: “What is the Alexander Technique?”
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #31
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #31
October 6, 1978
It is always imperative to come back to the head. Other areas may be of great interest to work on spine curvature but not at the expense of the head.
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #30
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #30
Judy tells people it takes from 10 to 15 lessons to start to understand, and 30 to become facile and familiar.
Walking:
Your spine is the axis around which you rotate.
As the knee bends, it's coming from the small of the back.
Read moreWhat I Need Will Bring What I Want Closer: Relief
What I Need Will Bring What I Want Closer: Relief
What we want is for our pain to go away. What we need is to pay attention to what we do that creates the pain. Our wants aren’t satisfied without energy put into it, right? Our needs are a lot simpler than our wants, and are often delivered in unexpected ways. Our wants, well, we can want endlessly, about all kinds of things, but what we actually receive sometimes falls short of that list, right? And other times, what we receive is actually better and along the line of our needs instead.
Read more10 Keys to Understanding Trauma
10 Keys to Understanding Trauma
by Cate McNider (originally published here)
A very important thing to know after you have experienced something traumatic, is that the subsequent events that bring it all up again, is the body’s way of telling you, there’s leftover information in your system that needs to be emptied. It’s the triggering events that are trying to help you heal, though it feels like it just hurts and depresses you even more.
Read moreThe Hero's Journey Is Written In Your Habits
The Hero's Journey Is Written In Your Habits
by Cate McNider (originally published here)
The blindspot humans love to avoid, is that the use of themselves, how they think and move is at the root of their problems. The systems we live by are justifiably crumbling, and addressing the pains of that evidence is everywhere, in process. Routinely, I see health articles omitting the responsibility of each person looking to see what they are doing and thinking and how that is creating the dysfunction. We are the creators, is the elephant in the cosmos.
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #29
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #29
Thursday, June 8, 1978
Working on going up on toes:
Back and up – if you feel that your weight is shifting to back of heels when you think torso back and up, you probably have a tendency to hold in the legs.
Read moreNothing outweighs experience
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #28
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #28
Wednesday, December 13, 1978
Grounding of feet is essential to the lengthening process. Otherwise the student will not risk this step for fear of falling.
Any kind of movement involving the whole body can be used to free joints for walking, particularly figure eights, in and out of the chair, and going in and out of walking etc..
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #27
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #27
Wednesday, May 2, 1978
Working on her direction. Taking someone in and out of a chair.
We work in a spiral. Each time we learn shoulder or head direction, etc., We can grasp more. That is why we don't stick to one thing until completely learned. It is a cumulative learning experience.
Take a person into a chair.
Neck free.
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #26
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #26
Wednesday, April 26, 1978
A. Had directions on the table
One thumb on the neck, giving “neck back” direction, and the other thumb under the jar, giving “head forward” direction.
B. when giving length to the spine from her position, it is useful to sometimes place one hand on the lower abdomen to keep pelvis from “curling up at the base”.
Working on [classmate]:
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #25
Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #25
Wednesday, April 19, 1978
Picking up a knee
First check on the freedom of the leg in the hip joint.
To free the leg:
1. Take care of yourself first, i.e., your own directions.
2. Place one hand on the pelvis, thumb on thigh. The hand is saying pelvis goes with head, thumb is directing out the knee.
Read moreTraining Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #24
Wednesday, April 12, 1978
Head. Look at the angle of the back of the neck. See it and feel it. Also, neck under the chin….
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