ACAT 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.

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From 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?”

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What 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.

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10 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.

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How are you doing?: Looking at how Allostatic Overload is Impacting Our Well-being

How are you doing?: Looking at how Allostatic Overload is Impacting Our Well-being

by N. Brooke Lieb

When I began my Alexander Technique teaching practice in 1989, my focus was on performing artists and helping people improve their posture and live with less pain.

Fast forward to 2020, when the Covid-19 Pandemic upended a way of life, and - perhaps for the first time- people who historically weren't so vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of resources and economies, found themselves part of the global trauma.

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The 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.

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Getting Lost Means Finding A New Way

Getting Lost Means Finding A New Way

I want to tell you a little story.

A student who’s been studying AT with me since 2019 (with the interruption of the 2020 lockdown plus some months after vaccinations), recently finished another package of nine lessons. The pattern is unfolding beautifully to reveal a resolution in the upper and lower body in process and more ease all around. She reported a very interesting incident after leaving the previous week’s lesson going to her next destination.

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We Are Humming Beings

We Are Humming Beings

A few months ago, I received an email asking me if I did “toning” in my voice classes. I responded by saying that what I teach is how to use one’s breath and body to essentially “hum” all the time, which, in my mind, is the essence of toning. Apparently, that was not a satisfactory answer. The person wanted something more mystical than, “When we are aligned internally through the muscles responsible for breath and voice, we resonate continually.” We are humming beings. We are invigorated and energized and we feel vibration move through our whole body and onto our lips and face.

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How Can I Lengthen My Spine?

How Can I Lengthen My Spine?

by Bette Chamberlin (originally published here)

Maybe we've seen the devices designed to assist in elongating the spine - Posture Pump, Chirp Wheel, Spinal Decompression reliever, various Inversion benches and more. They are designed to help a healthy, well functioning spinal structure and their corresponding muscles to stretch out and assist in creating more space between the joints in the vertebrae.

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The Issue is in the Tissue: Deeper Dive Clearing Trauma

The issue is in the tissue

by Cate McNider

In my early 30s, like so many otherwise reasonable people, I kept making the same mistakes. I encountered a different face, but the same treatment. A healer I worked with, told me it was because early wounds of betrayal and abandonment were reflecting themselves in painful situations and people who represented those concepts. I would keep recreating those dynamics until I healed the pain I was holding in my body. The solution was within me, and it was up to me to heal and allow the changes. It twisted me into an S-curve, I simply couldn’t imagine living in that deep level of pain for the rest of my life. This didn’t just happen one day, and it wouldn’t get better overnight — the karma ran deep, and had to just play itself out through my 30’s, 40’s and finally in my 50’s many recognitions found their acceptances and understanding of the underlying contracts. Freedom is worth the work.

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Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #13

Training Journal: Classes with Judith Leibowitz #13

January 17, 1978

“Don't get bored. You are on a spiral of change. “

“When working on hands, start by dealing with the totality, out of which you move the hand.”

Think of the hand as being open and free. It is one of your most precious tools. Be nice to them.

Stretching often uses tension. Allow it to release. Direct it to release. She [Judy] used the example of reaching an octave on the keyboard. First stretch to reach it. Then allow your hand to release to reach. Think of the hand as material that has no bones. Your hand can be full of energy. When placing it on something, allow the energy to “flow” to that.

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