In the Part I, I outlined the 4 steps that F.M. Alexander developed and documented in Man’s Supreme Inheritance for applying conscious control to the learning or re-learning of a skill (in our example, the skill of singing). Here I would like to example the first step as it relates tosinging. The first step, you […]
Continue to Full Post...Author: Beret Arcaya
In the Part II, we looked at different examples of singing, in order to gain a clear idea of Ease in singing. Here I will continue to outline how I work on singing, using the work of both FM Alexander and Manual Garcia, bringing the idea of Ease into the practice of Ease. First off, […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Sending Presents
By Stella Weigel Having eaten cake which caused her to grow to a tremendous height, Alice exclaims: ‘I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can; —but I must be kind to them,’ thought Alice, ‘or perhaps they won’t walk the way […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Watching and Wondering
By Stella Weigel I am small in physical build and height. I have been the smallest student in my school throughout my three years of Alexander teacher training. But until very recently, I had not considered how much my body image, perhaps thinking of myself as “small” had conditioned my habits of use and had […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Ends and Means
In this article, Aldous Huxley, a long time friend and pupil of FM Alexander, encapsulates the essence of Alexander’s work. It is never about “posture;” it is not about being in a “correct position.” It is, as FM said, learning to “face things that put us wrong and deal with them differently.” FORWARD: ENDS AND MEANS […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Man, Know Thy Needs
By Stella Weigel “Man, know thyself” is an old axiom, but in my opinion the more fundamental one is “Man, know thy needs.” Of course, it may be contended that he who knows himself knows his needs, and that to know one’s needs implies knowing oneself, but the contention does not apply to that great […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Sixth Sense
“Facing a thing that puts you wrong, and dealing with it differently.” This was what F. M. Alexander said his work was fundamentally all about. Imagine a person who flies into uncontrolled fits of rage whenever things go badly for him. Because he is habit-bound in his reaction, he will tend to bring about situations […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Stupidity in Living
In F.M. Alexander’s last book, The Universal Constant in Living, there is a chapter entitled “Stupidity in Living.” This title has always amused me as it gets directly to the issue we face as a species, worldwide. Stupidity in living sums it all up. Alexander makes a very cogent argument as to why he sees things […]
Continue to Full Post...
Categories
Resilience
noun 1 the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity 2 the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness I wanted to tell you about a recent event that showed me, in practical and personal terms, just how valuable these years I have spent involved with the Alexander Technique have […]
Continue to Full Post...Why do so many of us believe we have no time? Isn’t this interesting? Think of your usual week. Isn’t it true that it seems to fly away; that at the end, you find that you have not stopped for one moment; that you never have enough time for yourself; never time for all the […]
Continue to Full Post...Previously (Time Stopping) I wrote about time and the perception many of us have that we never have enough of it. But how many of us really use time well? There is a very interesting connection between our thoughts about time, and those patterns of behavior that make us feel that we “don’t have enough […]
Continue to Full Post...In theThe Use of time, Part I, we looked at typical person in his work-a-day life, and got a sense of his dominant attitude toward time: the sense that he “didn’t have enough of it.” I said that there was an answer: mindfulness. Here we will explore what mindfulness might look like and how we might […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...In November 1965, Marjory Alexander Barlow, first generation teacher and niece to F.M., delivered the Annual Memorial Lecture for STAT*. This 6 part series is the transcript of that address. *“In 1958, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) was founded in the UK by teachers who were trained personally by FM Alexander. […]
Continue to Full Post...This is a transcript of a speech given by Dorothea Wallis to STAT in the 1950s. Wallis argues that, “However important the part of conscious thought and control in the Alexander Technique, they are only aspects of a whole personality and not independent entities … for education is a matter of the whole personality.” Note: […]
Continue to Full Post...This is a transcript of a speech given by Dorothea Wallis to STAT in the 1950s. Wallis argues that, “However important the part of conscious thought and control in the Alexander Technique, they are only aspects of a whole personality and not independent entities … for education is a matter of the whole personality.” Note: […]
Continue to Full Post...