In his book The Use of the Self[1] Alexander writes, “Everyone will agree that for accuracy and efficiency in diagnosis, the medical man needs to possess not only a high standard of sensory observation and awareness, but also the ability to link phenomena together, to form sound judgments and to take a wide outlook, especially […]
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The Need to Be Right
By Stella Weigel The King’s Speech, based on events from the life of King George VI of England, has taken the world of cinema by storm. The film shows “Bertie” struggle to overcome his stammer and find his voice, in order to rally the free world to resist Nazi aggression. The film illustrates how a […]
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Pandora’s Box
During my 30 years of teaching I have often observed how disturbing it is for pupils when they come up against a totally new sensation of themselves. They tend to feel odd, misplaced, and peculiar. Indeed, they are often alarmed by the sensations that flood them. Time after time they will try to edge themselves […]
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Human Excellence
“There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellence that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, […]
Continue to Full Post...Part 1: The Premise In this first book Man’s Supreme Inheritance, written in 1910, F.M. Alexander argues that we now struggle in all kinds of ways (social, economic, legal, physical, moral, ethical, educational, governmental, and of course personal) because we do not stop and think before we act. (He wrote this book 100 years ago. […]
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An Education
by Stella Weigel Alexander could not have been clearer: “In those cases where the psycho-physical mechanism is imperfect and functioning more or less inadequately, we cannot expect the best results in the conveyance or the acquisition of knowledge.” (CCCI) My own education paid full testament to this in providing me with all the necessary tools […]
Continue to Full Post...How do we go about becoming more consciously directed, not only in terms of general living, but in the acquisition of skill? Let us select a skill as an example: singing. We want to learn to sing or improve our singing and we have gone to a teacher for help. In Part II of his […]
Continue to Full Post...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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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...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 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. […]
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