by Witold Fitz-Simon
ACAT’s 9th Annual Summer Intensive takes place July 13 - 17, 2015. There are still a few spaces left, for more information and to register, visit our events page.
Brooke Lieb, Director of Training, created the Summer Intensive as an opportunity for new and experienced students of the Alexander Technique to have an in-depth learning experience, similar to the structure of a week on ACAT’s Teacher Certification Program. Each year, participants have commented on what a pleasure it is to be among a group of others who know and appreciate the Alexander Technique.
WITOLD
Brooke, How did you conceive the Summer Intensive?
BROOKE
There have been residential courses being offered in the Alexander Technique throughout the country, but none right here in New York. ACAT has a world class Faculty, and I wanted to share our work with a wider audience. I imagined the program would offer local students a “staycation” opportunity, which would make for an economical, in-depth learning experience. Interestingly, some summers we have as many as half the participants travel from out of town to join the program. There are also a number of students who have attended multiple years.
WITOLD
What does the Faculty enjoy about teaching on the program?
BROOKE
There is a fresh energy and excitement for the participants and the faculty, since the week is an “event”. We work with the trainees on our Teacher Certification Program 30 weeks per year, and that allows for depth-learning, but it requires a slow and steady pacing. On the summer intensive, the novelty of new experiences, new students and new energy creates a different quality to the teaching. Also, the Summer Intensive is focused on the individual interests, needs and learning style of the participants to apply Alexander Technique to whatever is most of interest to them. Training teachers has a different emphasis, and we are teaching different curriculum.
For me, the opportunity to come back to simple and basic ways of explaining Alexander’s concepts and methodology puts me back in the beginner’s mind, and this deepens my understanding and appreciation for the essential genius of this work!
WITOLD
What have past participants said about the experience?
BROOKE
Here are some wonderful quotes from past participants:
"The quality and passion of the teaching was mostly excellent…. I'm so happy that I participated. Many of the teachers were quite brilliant, even inspired. I learned a tremendous amount. I will likely want to repeat next year!” D. S., Summer Intensive 2013, 2014
"I find it helpful to combine information and learning along side the hands on practice. I also found it helpful having a different teacher everyday, each of whom presented different information with there own personal take and approach to the work.” Jennifer Hanley, Summer Intensive 2013
“I feel that this summer’s intensive enabled me to make unbelievable progress in both my understanding and usage of the Alexander Technique. Concepts I thought I knew have become even clearer, and the class exercises and hands-on experiences have made a huge difference in my everyday movement.” S. B., Summer Intensive 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014
[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]