I recently had a chat with someone about the Alexander Technique, not about what it is, but what it is NOT. This person thought that the Technique had to do ONLY with “good posture and standing up straight.” This idea of “good posture,” or standing up straight, implies something fixed, rigid, and set, definitely NOT […]
Continue to Full Post...During his career as a dramatic performer, FM Alexander struggled with vocal problems. He had been to doctors repeatedly to no avail. But he had a fierce determination to understand what was getting in his way and decided he would find the reason for his voice failure, no matter what. This is very rare. When […]
Continue to Full Post...by Stella Weigel What do you think of your shoulders? I only ever thought of mine as being ugly and rounded. I loathed seeing them in a mirror or in photographs, and tried to conceal them from display, not wishing to draw attention to them. I was asked to push my shoulders back and I […]
Continue to Full Post...Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison. (…) Rosencrantz: We think not so, my lord. Hamlet: Why then ’tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare, HAMLET (II, ii) In the first article on this topic, we looked at some of what Alexander went through, and what […]
Continue to Full Post...“The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. ATTITUDE, to me is more important than FACTS. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or […]
Continue to Full Post...FM Alexander figured out that our thinking shapes our feelings and our feelings shape our thinking, so if either of those two inputs is warped, both will become warped, and lead to a “debauched kinesthesia.” Most people will rely on their own kinesthetic sense as their guide in every decision in their lives, whether it […]
Continue to Full Post...by Stella Weigel 3 December 2010 marked the final day of teaching at 18 Lansdowne Road, Holland Park. For the past fifty years, it has been the London home of The Constructive Teaching Centre, dedicated to the study of the Alexander Technique. This historic turning-point has demonstrated the Centre’s ability to practice what it teaches: […]
Continue to Full Post...