How Learning the Alexander Technique Has Saved Me Money

by Jeffrey Glazer Recently, I realized that it’s been years since I’ve spent a dime on efforts to get myself out of pain.

Before I learned the Alexander Technique, I went to practitioner after practitioner in an effort to find a solution to chronic pain in my arms and neck. But really I was just trying to manage it. In addition to the psychological and emotional cost of having chronic pain, my inability to manage it myself was costing a lot of money.

I went to a great number of medical and nonmedical practitioners. I went to two different neurologists, two different physiatrists, a Lyme disease specialist, massage therapist, multiple physical therapists, an occupational hand therapist, a chiropractor for active release therapy, multiple acupuncturists, a craniosacral practitioner, and an MD for trigger point injections. While I would often feel some relief in the short term, the debilitating pain would always come back.

At first it was similar with Alexander Technique lessons, I would walk out with less pain, but it would eventually come back. BUT, what separated the Alexander Technique from the other things I was trying was that I wasn’t being treated; rather, I was being educated. I was becoming aware of what I was doing that was actually causing my own pain.

For the first time, I made a connection between my use (how I carry myself and react to life) and my pain. And all my teacher, Judy Stern, was doing was bringing my awareness to how I was moving, pointing out areas of excess tension and distortion, and giving me the experience of carrying myself in a radically different, and almost freakishly easier way.

Once I had enough Alexander Technique experience under my belt, I became adept at creating change in myself. I learned to identify when I was doing an activity in a way that would eventually lead to pain, so that I could then use my Alexander Technique skills to make a change. Now, when I start to experience pain, I am self-sufficient in dealing with it, no longer dependent on someone else to make me feel better.

Did years of Alexander Technique lessons, including teacher training, cost money? Of course!

But, the money I’ve spent on learning the Alexander Technique has been an investment, rather than a sunk cost.

And I am now reaping the return on that investment, not only in the form of greater ease and enjoyment of life, but the economic return of savings on health care costs.

As the saying goes, “health is wealth”, now I know that can literally be true.

[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]

A Master Class with Marjory Barlow [video]

by Witold Fitz-Simon This master Class with first-generation teacher, Marjory Barlow, was filmed in 1986 at the first International Alexander Technique Congress. Here she goes through the finer points of giving a table turn.

[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]

Transform your Career: One Woman’s Path to Becoming an Alexander Technique Teacher

by Rebecca Tuffey http://youtu.be/WQWzyU1B5cM

As a student of the Alexander Technique, I thought my teacher was a magician. She said some thought-provoking words, put her hands on me, and - voila!- I grew taller, lighter, and more free. One day, she said, “You would make a good Alexander Technique teacher. Why don’t you consider training?” I thought the idea was preposterous. She was the magic-maker; me? I was an actress. I pushed the idea away, fully contented with my weekly lessons. Like most skilled Alexander teachers, she wasn’t forceful or pushy, but kept presenting the idea as a perfectly viable possibility. She had already been teaching for twenty years. “I’ve never been bored. Each lesson is something different”. Hmmm, that intrigued me.

Then, the day came, when I realized that life as an actress was not what I had imagined it to be. I needed to figure out what I was going to do for the next twenty-some years. Six years of Alexander Technique lessons had taught me not to rush impulsively into transition. So I gave myself time and permission to consider what might come next. It was a year before I had “career clarity.” I wanted to work with bodies, be able to make real connections with individual people, and contribute something practical and helpful. A list of potential careers was made. At the bottom—but the one that sang to me—was “Alexander Technique Teacher.”

Discovering the American Center for the Alexander Technique

My teacher had trained at ACAT (the American Center for the Alexander Technique). She gave me a list of training programs, and I visited some courses. The day I visited the ACAT TCP (Teacher Certification Program), I found two skilled teachers leading a three hour class about “monkey”. The room was dynamic and quiet at the same time. There was some group discussion, and then the group separated for “turns”. I noticed that the teachers were both very engaged with the students and the process, and yet were working quite uniquely. There were no “cookie cutter” lessons being offered. This must have been what my teacher meant when she said “each lesson is something different”. I was inspired.

Life as an Alexander Technique Teacher

I was certified by ACAT to teach the Alexander Technique three years later, along with three others who began training at the same time as me. I have been teaching for almost eleven years now, and I consider my time on the ACAT TCP to be one of the most formative of my life. I found a rich community, a dedicated faculty of highly skilled teachers, an intimate environment to explore myself within, a loving and meticulous connection to the legacy of F.M. Alexander, and (most days) a lot of fun.

Teaching speaks to the creative spirit in me. Occasionally people ask if I miss acting. I don’t. As an actress, I enjoyed exploring different characters and their stories. As an Alexander Technique teacher, I get to explore human patterns (of body, mind, and spirit) from the unique point-of-view of each student who walks in my door. And…we don’t need to audition. We don’t need an audience. We show up for each other and explore doing something different with our lives.

Teachers: let’s inspire the next generation of Alexander Technique teachers. Tell your story in the comments section.

Want to meet ACAT’s Training Course Director, Faculty, Students, and Alumni working in the profession? Attend the Open House – Monday, May 4, 2015, 7-9pm Q&A, conversation, and light refreshments. R.S.V.P. to office@acatnyc.org. Please write “May 4 Open House” in the subject line.

Ready to visit the training course? Email tcp@acatnyc.org to make an appointment.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/tuffey.jpeg[/author_image] [author_info]REBECCA TUFFEY graduated from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in June 2004. She is an Art of Breathing Instructor (2010) and holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Rebecca has a multi-dimensional private practice, teaching the Alexander Technique to students ages 9 to 102. She currently serves as an Associate Faculty member on the ACAT TCP and as an Adjunct at Pace University in the B.F.A. for Acting in Film, Television, Voice-overs & Commercials. She can be found online at RebeccaTuffey.net.[/author_info] [/author]

Marjory Barlow on the Alexander Technique: "Just think it. That's all you can do."

By Witold Fitz-Simon

"Just think it. That's all you can do. Any thing extra you try and do... and we all do this. We all think, "It won't matter if I do just a little bit of doing." And the whole thing is ruined. Immediately. What you're doing, what you're changing, is the pattern... are the patterns in your brain and your nervous system. And that manifests in your body. So, in a sense, you're not working on the body, except very indirectly. Do remember that, because you have control to a certain extent over what you're thinking. You have very little control over what's happening in your body. If this were not so, if it wasn't a question of the brain and nervous system, F. M. could never have discovered the work. It was only because he was able, by thinking, to stop those wrong habits. Probably one of the biggest discoveries ever made by a human being." —Marjory Barlow

Marjory Barlow (1915-2006) was F. M. Alexander's niece, who trained with him to teach the Technique in 1933.

Thanks to Jeffrey Glazer for highlighting this clip.

[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]

Video: "F. Matthias Alexander and the Alexander Technique"

by Witold Fitz-Simon Here is an interesting short film about F. M. Alexander culled from footage available on YouTube, and information from Wikipedia.

This video was posted to YouTube by Lisa Block.

[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]

Five Questions with Alexander Technique Teacher Jean McClelland

by Anastasia Pridlides

[Jean McClelland is teaching a free workshop for ACAT members—"The Flow of Voice, Breath and Body"—on Monday, January 26th, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. To confirm your space in the class, email the ACAT office.]

Q. How long have you been teaching?

A. I was certified by AmSAT and ACAT in 1991, although I have been teaching singing since the late 1970s.

Q. How were you first introduced to the AT?

A. I was introduced to the Technique through a friend of mine at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, where I went in 1972 (after college) to study with the extraordinary singer, artist, and teacher, Olga Averino. My friend Susan had been studying voice since high school but had developed enormous vocal tensions. Susan's teacher at Longy (not Olga) had lived for some years in South Africa and was acquainted with the Technique and felt that Susan would benefit from lessons. There were very few AT teachers in the area at the time, but Susan started lessons with Joe Armstrong. Susan would share with me her experiences in her lessons, and she encouraged me to study with Joe by saying that she thought I would like the AT because it was "very intellectual!" Without knowing a whit about what the Technique was about, I went off for Alexander lessons. Everything in my life changed. I remember so clearly my first lesson, looking at Joe and thinking that he was standing in a very odd fashion. He clearly had a "torso back and up off the legs,"which is what we see in great athletes and musicians, but it was foreign to my eyes and foreign to my body. It was however exactly what Olga meant when she said that a singer must, "stand like a baseball player." At that time, I had little understanding of how to use my body. Indeed, the comment after my first jury in conservatory was, "Musically very intelligent but needs to develop the physical requirements necessary for solo singing."

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

A. About six months after I started lessons with Joe Armstrong, my posture changed quite significantly, and about a year after that, I had an experience that was quite revelatory. I was in conversation with someone, and for the first time in my life, I was totally present and spontaneous. I think that experience made me understand the profound nature of the Alexander Technique, even though I was light years away from understanding it. Those early years of study were so transformative to every aspect of my life that it seemed natural to want to share this work with others. I have always loved teaching, and once I started doing more and more voice teaching, it became apparent to me that including Alexander as part of voice study would be ideal. In the late 80s, I began to shift my performing away from musical theater to more concert work, and it became easier for me to commit to the three-year training. I entered ACAT in the spring of 1988.

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

A. The art of using one's voice in singing and acting can often seem quite mysterious. In her autobiography, "The Inner Voice: the Making of a Singer," the opera singer Renée Fleming asks: "How can I describe a process to you that is mostly unconscious?" And Olga Averino in her book, "Art and Principles of Singing," writes that "the process of good singing is a process of physical and psychological coordination. Physical coordination depends on the alignment of the singer's instrument. In itself, it produces no sound, but it creates the conditions which allow the imagination to produce the sound." As Alexander teachers we guide our singing and acting students to an improved use of their bodies and their coordination, but we must also be able to help them free their imaginations and encourage them to have a curious and improvisational mind. Only then will they truly sing or act freely and expressively.

My main goal for this workshop is for participants to explore how to use their imaginations to stimulate breath and voice, and to understand and how to creatively work with many of the vocal concepts that abound in voice lessons, such as: vocal support; open throat; breath movement; diaphragmatic breathing; grounding; embodied voice, intention, etc.

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

A. It's simply a way of being present in the world, isn't it?

[author] [author_info]JEAN MCCLELLAND received her B.A. from Vassar College, did graduate study at Boston University in opera, and has studied extensively at the Carl Stough Institute, Psychosynthesis Institute of New York, and the Michael Chekhov Studio. As a performer she has appeared in the Broadway production of "Camelot" and has played leading roles in numerous musicals and operas. Jean also performs in concert with her husband, Bill McCelland. Jean is on the faculty of the New York Open Center and has given workshops at New York University, Vassar College, Rutgers University, William Paterson University, Stevens Institute and the Rowe Conference Center. www.jeanmcclellandvoice.com [/author_info] [/author]

"Indirect Procedures" by Pedro de Alcantara at ACAT

by Brooke Lieb Alexander Technique teacher and author Pedro de Alcantara is celebrating the release of the 2nd edition of his popular book, "Indirect Procedures: A Musician’s Guide to the Alexander Technique," with ACAT! He will be discussing how his deepening understanding of the Alexander Technique in the sixteen years since the publication of the first edition has led to a substantial revision of the book in a free event open to all on Monday, November 10th. This will be followed by a weekend workshop, "Forward & Up: A Creative Approach: An experiential workshop for Musicians, Alexander Students and Alexander Teachers" on November 15th and 16th.

When did you first experience the Alexander Technique, and why did you decide to have private lessons?

I went to college at SUNY Purchase in Westchester. One of my cello teachers took lessons from Pearl Ausubel and suggested that I try the Alexander Technique to improve my coordination at the cello. I went along with his suggestion, not knowing what I was getting into!

What are some of your stand out memories from those initial private lessons?

Pearl was my first teacher, and I took infrequent but regular lessons from her for about two years. My memories of my very first lesson, in the fall of 1978, was the feeling of growing, growing, growing like a plant in a speeded-up stop-motion video clip. It was absolutely intoxicating.

Why did you decide to train; and how did you choose which course to join?

Lessons were having a deep effect, and I decided to see what would happen if I brought the Technique to the very center of my life. I trained with Patrick Macdonald and Shoshana Kaminitz in London, from 1983 to 1986. My motivation was partly to train with someone who had trained with Alexander himself, and partly to study the cello with a great London-based teacher, the late William Pleeth.

What was your inspiration for Indirect Procedures?

In the spring of 1990 I visited the pianist and composer Joan Panetti, one of my old music teachers at Yale (where I went after my undergrad studies at SUNY). She witnessed me in a somewhat directionless personal and professional transition, and she suggested that I write a book as a way forward. I’m of course very thankful for her insight regarding the merits of writing a book and my potentialities as a writer.

Tell us about the revised edition.

The first edition was published in 1997, but some of its concepts were borne of a research project I did while training back in 1985 and 1986. This is almost 30 years ago! Naturally enough I learned many things over the decades, and the old edition didn’t represent my convictions or my temperament anymore. I’d say the revised edition is actually a new book. You might want to check my essay “The Process of Change,” published in AmSat News, where I explain the book’s transformation.

What advice would you give to other Alexander Teachers to stay inspired and excited about their teaching?

Lessons are actually encounters in disguise—encounters with the “other,” who really is a mirror for you to learn about yourself; encounters with the unpredictable, the challenging, the entertaining. Years ago I actually stopped thinking of myself as a teacher, with the duties and constraints that the word implies. Now I think of myself as an informal researcher in the field of creativity and health; my students really are my partners and assistants, each bringing completely individual contributions to my explorations. It makes for a very gratifying professional life!

More information about Pedro de Alcantara can be found at his website.

To register for the free event on Monday 11/10 at 7pm, go here: An Evening with Pedro de Alcantara: “Indirect Procedures, New Edition: The Process of Change”

To register for the weekend workshop on Saturday 11/15 and Sunday 11/16, go here: Forward & Up: A Creative Approach: An experiential workshop for Musicians, Alexander Students and Alexander Teachers

Space is limited for both events, so be sure to register in advance to guarantee your place.

[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]

"Dare to be Wrong" by Judith Leibowitz Now Available on Kindle

by Brooke Lieb

ACAT is pleased to announce "Dare To Be Wrong: The Teaching of Judith Leibowitz" which was edited by ACAT Alumna Kathryn Miranda, is now available for purchase as an ebook for the Kindle through Amazon.

Some members of the ACAT Community shared their response to the book, and for those who studied with Judy, some memories of working with Judy, as well.

"I love Judy's book. It's one of the clearest books on how to teach and learn the Technique. The process she describes is simple but powerfully effective. She begins with awareness, defines inhibition, and clearly delineates the job of both teacher and student while masterfully teaching the purpose, function and meaning of the directions. All of this is brilliantly set on a foundation that gives the student permission to explore and dare to be wrong in order to discover a new way of using herself. "

Lolita Brinkley, ACAT '14

"When I read 'Dare to Be Wrong', her words were so vivid I felt I was in the room with Judy again. I was reminded of how clear and simple her use of language was, while the effect of her hands-on work was expansive and allowed me to understand the potential of inhibition and direction - and my potential as a being - at a quantum level to what I could ever understand all on my own.

I credit Judy with my constant curiosity and awareness of how the 'whole person' is under my hands. Judy always cultivated the direction and understanding that was there in me, and through this indirect approach, some of the ways I may have been interfering with my own poise on every level gently rose to my awareness so I could know myself and see my potential. At the same time, I never felt judged or that there was any 'wrong' way of exploring this work.

Judy's excitement and curiosity within the work was infectious, and the longer I teach, the more I understand and the less I am attached to what I know. Instead, I am interested in the as yet unexplored potential. I now know how teaching this work has allowed me to progress beyond where I would had I remained as a student. It is a great paradox that we get some much more for ourselves when we embark on the process of being a teacher.

This book is a chance for be with Judy."

Brooke Lieb, ACAT '89

"I remember Judy's hands on me as if it was yesterday. She had an unusual, perhaps unique, ability to intuit my state of mind, and then to create a lesson addressing my USE in 30 minutes ... lessons that stay with me until today.

Judy clarified my understanding of 'legs away' and 'monkey/bending' by transmitting a combination of kinesthetic and intellectual experience in weekly lessons during her last year teaching. Every lesson ended with her laughing and excited by our discoveries. She never took the AT for granted and reveled in the brilliance of the work.

Part of my clarity in developing a lesson was learned during my training as I watched her work with my colleagues at the end of every training class. Each of had a lesson while all 8 of us observed. She was a master of problem solving in the moment ...seamlessly integrating the hands on work with the Alexander concepts. Her teaching was both artful and specific, full of anatomical allusions and metaphors that clarified."

Judith Stern, ACAT '87

"Judy’s hands were very quick. They moved quickly from one part of a student’s body to another. Her thinking and perceiving was lightning fast and it kept me very present to keep up with her. Also, each finger gave an individual message. Judy sculpted in a variety of mediums – stone, wood, bronze, and it was as if each finger had its own brain as she sculpted me, and my energy, in the lesson. Judy thought in terms of energy. She was also very positive and encouraging. I believe she gave only half hour lessons, which was all she needed to tune up and expand one. If she felt the lesson was finished in 20 minutes, she would end it then.

Judy loved movement. I think she got tired or bored of just doing chair and table work, so she would work with large movement. She would get us going from bent knees to jumping again and again, and work with swinging the whole body around one standing leg which she called going into arabesque. I remember her swinging me forward and back with her hands in the arabesque in her teaching studio. Perhaps I had my hand on the table for a light support. There wasn’t any time to check thinking. While doing it, my balance and integration, with the help of her hands, seemed amazing."

Joan Frost, ACAT '83

"Judy Leibowitz was my primary teacher when I trained at ACAT, and my dear colleague until her death. She was profoundly influential on me; I feel the way she taught is still the foundation of how I work, even after many years of developing my own style. How great it is that her book 'Dare to be Wrong' exists, for which I am so grateful to Kathy Miranda. What a perfect title, in Judy's own words, to convey the essence of what she offered her students.

This book is simultaneously a reference book that I return to again and again, a concrete record of how a master teacher worked, and an emotional experience of Judy coming back to life on the page. I feel her hands, hear her voice, and my nervous system starts to respond! I also respond to her passion for, and fascination with the work, her sense of the potential it holds, and her ability to understand and communicate about the work in its multilayered totality- its complexity and simplicity. (As she always used to say, the Alexander Technique is full of paradox!)

Dare to be Wrong is truly a treasure for Alexander teachers, students, and anyone interested in the Alexander Technique. To pick up this books is to be inspired. "

Kim Jessor, ACAT '81

The Shoulders: To Rest or Not to Rest?

by John Austin Finding neutral for the shoulders is one of the most challenging things one can do in terms of the use of the self in my experience. Add a complex activity that requires a certain level of ease in the shoulder girdle on top and you’ve got a recipe for paradox and frustration.

Let’s begin with the basic anatomy of the shoulder girdle. When I refer to the “shoulder girdle” I mean the hands & arms, shoulder blades, and collar bone. You may be surprised to learn that the only jointed (bone to bone) connection of the shoulder girdle to the rest of the skeleton is in the front of the torso at the top of the sternum.

Find your collar-bone (clavicle) by palpating the bone and follow it toward the mid-line until find two roundish protrusions at either side of the top of chest bone (sternum). You are on top of the sternoclavicular joint(s) where the shoulder girdle meets the rest of the skeleton.

If you follow the collar bone out from the mid-line toward the arm until it reaches the furthest bony protrusion you’ve found the point where the clavicle meets the shoulder blade (scapula), the acromioclavicular joint. It’s called the acromioclavicular joint because it is where the clavicle and the point of the scapula furthest from the mid-line, called the acromion process (processes are protrusions that allow for muscle and ligament attachment), meet. This should not be confused with the glenohumeral joint where the upper arm attaches to the shoulder blade; there is no direct bone to bone attachment of the upper arm to the collarbone.

Now, palpate your way back to toward the mid-line from the acromion, this time following the shoulder blade until it reaches what will feel like the corner of a triangle. You are feeling the “spine” of the scapula. Depending on your muscle build you may have to press quite firmly and the scapula may seemingly disappear into muscle. The strong muscles of the back are what support and stabilize the shoulder girdle as there are no bone to bone attachments in the back. The structure of the shoulder girdle, while providing extreme freedom of movement, also brings an ambiguousness when looking for a neutral position for the shoulders and arms.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that how we use ourselves in our daily activities has a profound effect on the resting lengths of our muscles. It is this phenomenon that we are observing when we see pianists and people who spend hours at the computer still in the shape they work from when walking, eating, watching TV, etc. In the case of the shoulder girdle this can be quite extreme. Because of the lack of bony structural support, the resting position of our shoulders is almost completely determined by the resting lengths of our muscles. If we overstretch our muscles in daily activity, we run the risk of deteriorating the support that allows the shoulders to find a comfortable resting position.

Along the way to becoming a “serious” violist, I was told to keep my shoulders relaxed. So I went about figuring out how to do that. I am meticulous in the practice room and before long I had discovered that I could relax my left shoulder while playing although my right didn’t really follow suit. The static nature of the left shoulder in violin & viola playing allows for a certain amount of relaxation (release of all/most muscle tone) while the larger more dynamic movements of the bow require the arm muscles which originate in the back to be active for movement to occur. The left shoulder can relax even more if you use a shoulder rest as you then virtually never have to move your shoulder.

On the surface you’d think that one less thing to worry about (moving the shoulder to balance the instrument) and a little less muscular effort would be good; so for years I ignorantly thought, “I’m raising my right shoulder, that’s not good.” Yet, after hours of playing it was not my right shoulder that cracked and popped, it was my left. Even after years of receiving praise for my tone which of course comes primarily from the bow, I thought, “But my left is down so it must be better than my right,” and went about trying to lower my right. Needless to say I was unsuccessful.

It wasn’t until years of Alexander work that I realized what I was actually doing was relaxing my left shoulder to the point that it was resting on my rib cage. This was the grinding bone on bone I felt in the form of constant cracking and popping when I moved my arm. I was robbing my shoulder girdle of it’s muscular support by relaxing it and then dragging it across my rib cage.

It turns out that the last thing we want to do when doing any activity is rest. The word activity even contains active! To remedy my issue, I had to relearn to play the viola without the shoulder rest. I found that every little shift was a welcome opportunity for movement in my shoulder girdle. Rather than trying to hold myself still or relax into a blob I was free to move and the movement had an organizing effect on my shoulder girdle which helped remind my shoulder blades where neutral was. I had been taught that raising my shoulder was off limits movement-wise on the viola. How ridiculous a notion it was to make a movement off limits when all of the great violinists and even Primrose himself did this subtle lift of the shoulder.

This rule I assume was a reaction to the common problem of violists & violinists clamping down on the instrument between their necks and shoulders, which isn’t much better. Although, too much tension is less likely to destabilize your shoulder girdle. In my case, relaxing has left me not being able to let my left shoulder be in it’s neutral resting place without pain. I’ve over-stretched the muscles and they now rest on bone and nerves. It takes subtle conscious direction of my shoulder for the pain to subside, which is annoying to say the least.

I’m not sure if it is laziness, bad teaching, or what exactly is at the root of the shoulder rest debate in the string playing world. I’ve already written about the laziness possibility here. String teachers having a very small part of the body of knowledge necessary is possible, pun very much intended. It could just come down to the fact that playing the viola is extremely difficult and the shoulder rest is a seductive little crutch that can allow us to avoid having to learn how to properly use our shoulder girdle in the process of playing the viola, which is not simple and takes a long time to do.

Once again the most healthy option seems to be to stop trying to gain our end without reasoning out a means whereby to attain it; not to mention means that at the very least don’t leave us physically and mentally destroyed and/or with a mediocre end: the music which we care so dearly about.

This post originally appeared on John Austin's blog.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JOHN AUSTIN started pondering and pontificating on the probable and possible reasons for the tragic loss of joy in himself and his fellow musicians as he approached his breaking point in a music conservatory. In fact, he was nearly a casualty of the music “busi-ness" when he stumbled on the Alexander Technique. Since then he's been inspired by his training at the American Center for the Alexander Technique to write in an attempt to better understand what was happening to himself and others. Mr. Austin has an active performing career, blog, and teaching studio in West Harlem, Manhattan.[/author_info] [/author]

An Interview with Board Member Gail Heimberg

by Brooke Lieb

August 28, 2014: Gail Heimberg is a long time student of the Alexander Technique and has served on the ACAT Board since 2010. After managing a computer store in the early days of microcomputers, she founded her computer consulting and training company, Techknowledge/G in 1990. She volunteers for other organizations and also serves on the Board of her 

BROOKE

How did you first discover the Alexander Technique?

GAIL

I had neck pain for many years. At a seminar someone suggested I try the Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais. I eventually went to a physical therapist that used Feldenkrais and found it helped only for a short time after a session. The pain always returned.

In 1999, I’d been doing computer consulting for years and went to a new client. As I sat crouched over her computer, she said if I touch the top of your ears you could let your head go up. It did! What a rush! This was Beret Arcaya. She suggested I go for a series of lessons with a protégé of hers. I did. My neck pain disappeared, never to return.

BROOKE

What were your early lessons like?

GAIL

At first I thought I wasn’t getting it but I liked it and I think I could connect physically to the subtle changes that happen in each lesson. My teacher was lovely, clear and so patient.

BROOKE

How long have your been studying?

GAIL

I have studied continuously since 1999. I always felt that I was changing and that although I couldn’t “get there”, I was continuing to improve.

BROOKE

What kinds of shifts and/or changes have you noticed in your understanding of the work?

GAIL

As I am getting older, I delight in the fact that I am still changing, still improving. That I look and move so much more youthfully that I could have possibly otherwise.

The lessons and the technique have helped me through illness and surgery, I lost my midrange voice and Beret Arcaya and the Alexander Technique helped me to get it back.

BROOKE

How do you apply it to daily life, and/or use it in practical ways?

GAIL

Even more exciting to me than improving physically is how it’s helped emotionally. I actually figured out that negative thinking was a habit and I could stop when I was aware of it. Friends asked me once what kind of meditation practice I did. I cited using the Technique and “stopping."

Perhaps the hardest thing for me (maybe for everyone) is to remember to be aware in all activities. It’s something to keep working on!

BROOKE

What keeps you engaged in study?

GAIL

When I see a picture of F. M. Alexander or hear about other teachers who could move easily when they were elderly; I say to myself, I want that! I love the idea of always improving!

Lessons are so helpful when I’m tired, stressed or something is not quite right in my body.

BROOKE

What would you say to a newer student, to give them a preview of what happens after a long course of study?

GAIL

I love to tell people that this is fantastic and it will help them now and way into the future. It will help with what brought them to lessons but that if they keep it up, even more great things will happen.

What I don’t love is how hard it is to get someone to appreciate how fantastic this is, how much it’s helped me and how much it could help him or her.

BROOKE

How has your understanding or concept of the Alexander technique evolved over the years?

GAIL

I really think that I am always finding new ways to appreciate this work and my body. I know there were uncharted and “unexperienced” physical and emotional places that I discovered and still discovering.

BROOKE

What inspires you to serve on the ACAT Board?

GAIL

I want the world to know there is something that actually works to alleviate pain and to improve one’s experiences in life; to help spread the word.

I have also found the people who have served with me, delightful to work with and they have the same goals. I have served as “a body” at the school and was very impressed by the level of the training we offer. I learned something new each time!

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Over 40 Years of Experience: Barbara Kent, Senior Teacher at ACAT

by Judy Stern

Barbara has taught me many skills on many levels—too many to list in this article. The "hands on" skill that stands out today, was learning to maintain the energetic space between my hands, my arms and my student while maintaining full contact. This allows students to sense the space for them to change (to move up and out). The energetic space makes it easy for students to discover and address habits without feeling imposed upon, or pressured to change. This is one of many skills that Barbara teaches our trainees today, just as I learned it when I trained at ACAT in 1987. Of course, now I also teach our trainees about the energetic space. It's an incredibly valuable and necessary skill that helps maximize teaching and learning.

Barbara has also taught me many psychodynamic skills. In addition to being an Alexander Technique teacher, Barbara is a trained Rubenfeld Synergist. This means she has particular interpersonal skills that enhance a students' ability to learn and the teachers’ ability to impart information. For example, let's say a student has a very slight limp that was due to a recent injury. Barbara wouldn't say, "Do you know you're limping?" Rather than pointing out the limp directly, which might make the student self-conscious (i.e.: startled), she would use an indirect approach. She would encourage lengthening of the torso on the opposite side of the limp, and eventually, the limp may decrease, even disappear, if it is due to habit.

50 Years of ACAT!

Barbara has brought so much to the ACAT community. She is THE Senior teacher/trainer in NYC and perhaps on the East Coast. To be called a senior teacher, one must have 20 years of teaching the Alexander Technique. Barbara has over forty years of experience! She carries the ACAT legacy passed on to her from Judy Leibowitz and Debby Caplan (both took lessons from F. M. Alexander) and Frank Ottiwell, as well as her mentors, Walter and Dilys Carrington and Elisabeth Walker, who were trained to be teachers by F. M. Alexander. It is an amazing experience to work with her, because she embodies all that she learned those teachers.

Barbara's many roles at ACAT since she trained in 1971 speak to what a remarkable asset she is to the ACAT Training Course and to the Alexander community at large. She has headed the ACAT training twice, first when Judy Liebowitz, our first and founding director, stepped down from the position in 1982. Then a second time, in 1996, when called upon by the faculty to lead once again.

I highly recommend the Alexander Technique Lesson at Home, a digital download in which Barbara narrates a compilation of the procedures Judy Leibowitz taught that are very helpful for practicing the Technique on your own. You also get an interview with Barbara, in which she talks about Judy (Leibowitz') influence at ACAT and on her own teaching. You can get the Lesson at Home by making a donation to ACAT.

Barbara is a treasure in our community, having touched so many of us with her gifts.

ACAT’s 50th Anniversary – Matching Challenge Grant

ACAT has received a matching grant of up to $10,000. Donate in honor of Barbara Kent and Jessica Wolf, and have your donation matched dollar-for-dollar. Whatever you give, your donation will be doubled. To thank you for your donation, we will send you a link to download an MP3 of ACAT's Alexander Technique Lesson at Home, based on Judith Leibowitz’s teaching and narrated by Barbara Kent. Go to acat50.org to donate and find out more. All donations to ACAT are tax deductible.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.acatnyc.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Judy-Stern-headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]JUDY STERN is a senior faculty member at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT). She has been teaching the Alexander Technique for almost 30 years. She has a post-graduate certificate in Physical Therapy and a Master of Arts in Health Education from the University of Florida/Gainesville. She was a member of the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Physical Therapy early in her career, and worked for 19 years as a traditional physical therapist. Judy has a special interest in the neurophysiology of the Technique. She has a private practice at her studio in Rye, NY, and specializes in working with people in pain. Connect with Judy at her website. www.judithcstern.com [/author_info] [/author]

Master Alexander Technique Teacher, Marjory Barlow (1915-2006)

by Witold Fitz-Simon Marjory Barlow was F. M. Alexander’s niece, who took lessons from him and trained under him to become an Alexander Technique teacher in 1933. She was the first person outside of F. M.’s Ashely Place Training course to start her own teacher training program. As a teacher she combines a no-nonsense, straightforward approach to the work with light-heartedness and compassion. Here she is in an interview from 1986.

http://youtu.be/SjcY9S-bwIs

For more information about this wonderful teacher, there are some great resources out there:

• An interview with her with Francis Oxford, reprinted from Direction Journal
• Rough notes from a workshop with her in California, 1995, taken by Bob Britton
• The Annual Memorial Lecture she gave to the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) in the UK in 1958

There are also two books:

• “An Examined Life: Marjory Barlow and the Alexander Technique” by Marjory Barlow in conversation with Trevor Allan Davies (available to ACAT members from the Library)
• "The Alexander Technique: Ground Rules" by Marjory Barlow in conversation with Sean Carey

Of the two books, I've only read "An Examined Life," which I've read twice and thoroughly recommend for both its personal perspective on Alexander's life and her inspiring exposition of his work.

[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]

Master Alexander Teacher, Patrick Macdonald (1910—1991)

by Witold Fitz-Simon Patrick Macdonald was one of the great teachers of the Alexander Technique. Among the first group of teachers to be trained by F. M. Alexander himself in the 1930's, Macdonald had been receiving lessons from him since the age of 10. He went on to train hundreds of teachers himself.

He is the author of one of my favorite books on the Technique: "The Alexander Technique As I  See It," which is sadly out of print. His book is concise and witty, and a great read if you are a teacher or a student who has been taking lessons for a while. If you are feeling particularly flush with cash, as of writing this post there is a copy on sale on Amazon for $1,057.95.

If that is beyond your budget, you are in luck! There are copies available for ACAT members to borrow from the library, one of the great resources the Center has to offer. I you aren't already a member and would like to join, find out more here.

Here is a fascinating documentary made in 1986 of Patrick Macdonald at work.

Part 1:

http://youtu.be/QPPxyHCWPu8

Part 2:

http://youtu.be/e49Rcr4O2Q4

This silent film from 1966 shows the unique power and clarity of Macdonald's hands as he works with a student:

http://youtu.be/FDuKWWo8EnU

If you would like to read more about the man, his life and his work, the Direction Journal website hosts a profile of him by Yehuda Kuperman here. And here is an interview of Patrick Macdonald with Ted Macnamara.

[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]