Alexander Technique in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Education

Alexander Technique

Locality: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Phone: +61 2 6249 8582

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25.01.2022 How does the Alexander Technique help us to manage pain? By changing the way we use our own bodies! When we use ourselves well, it feels good and there is no pain. Chronic aches and pains are signals. They may be your bodys way of alerting you that your way of (mis)using yourself, i.e. your personal norm of posture and movement, involves unnecessary strain. For more, check out this great article from our website. ... https://freedominaction.com.au//understand-how-the-alexan/

25.01.2022 Health Funds and the Evidence for Alexander Technique: The Australian Federal Government is introducing legislation effectively preventing private health funds from continuing to offer rebates for Alexander Technique lessons from April 1st 2019. The reasoning is being stated as: no clear evidence demonstrating the efficacy of the excluded natural therapies. Actually, there is high quality evidence for the effectiveness of Alexander Technique. The British Medical Journal re...ported a clinical trial showing people with chronic lower back pain experienced significant relief from 6 Alexander Technique lessons. Reviewing after one year, those that had Alexander Technique lessons had pain for an average of 3 days per month while those who had normal care averaged 21 days of pain every month. The authors concluded that one to one lessons in the Alexander technique from registered teachers have long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain. The Annals of Internal Medicine published a trial on chronic neck pain where patients taking Alexander Technique lessons had more than a 30% reduction in pain. Comparatively, physical therapy and exercise lead to only about a 9% reduction in pain. At a 12 month review, those who received Alexander Technique had sustained reductions in pain of around 30%. The European Journal of Integrative Medicine surveyed participants of this trial, and reported that the Alexander Technique participants improved in self-efficacy/self-care measures by 87% after 12 months, compared to 25% for usual care. The authors concluded that Alexander Technique lessons led to long-term improvements in the way participants lived their daily lives and managed their neck pain. The Clinical Rehabilitation Journal published a study on Parkinsons Disease which showed those receiving Alexander Technique demonstrated an increased ability in daily activities. This improvement was sustained 6 months later. The group that received Alexander lessons recorded a lower dosage increase in medication than the norm for this condition. The British Alexander Technique Society lists over 50 papers with themes including pain. balance, postural tone, osteoarthritis, ergonomics and musical performance. The evidence for Alexander Technique has satisfied the UK National Health Service who fund Alexander Technique as part of their outpatient pain clinics and also as part of the physical therapy management for adult patients with Parkinsons Disease. See more

23.01.2022 "Semi-Supine" audio-guide: Here is a daily un-exercise a balanced resting position that helps you unwind and build your skill at maintaining your poise in any situation. Have a listen! https://freedominaction.com.au/2018/09/18/lying-down/

23.01.2022 A great overview here about why specific exercises might not be such a good idea.

22.01.2022 Day ten of fourteen of compulsory quarantine in Sydney, having been obliged to cut short a teaching/backcountry adventuring trip in northern Scandinavia. Lots of time to think! I have been thinking about: What do I most value about the AT? What do we get out of it? What are the AT goodies? The bottom line for me has always been agency/empowerment. That was the thing that got me excited about the AT from the very start. Everything else is a plus (and of course there is a plent...y else.) Agency - the Alexander Technique empowers us we can be in our own ‘driver’s seat’, making conscious choices (in the moment) about how we respond to life, rather than being run by unconscious habit. Here, in this room which I’m not allowed to leave, I can choose my response to my circumstances. This provides all the downstream benefits - the AT helps us to live better: It feels good We move better We breathe better We feel calmer, more centred Pain may become controllable, diminish or go away. The Alexander Technique not only helps our physical wellbeing; we can experience a sense of wholeness and of integration. In short we learn to Use ourselves better. In the next stage we will want to know: How do we develop these for ourselves?

21.01.2022 How easy is it to miss elements of the detail or of the big picture when you are working/concentrating on something, like yoga, even if you are already good at it. You take instructions, (your own or someone elses) which are filtered through the instructors sensorimotor system before being filtered through your own. Conveying accurately what is required is always a challenge, as is then putting it into practice accurately. Direct hands-on guidance can really help to bridge the gap between what we think we are doing and what we are actually doing.

18.01.2022 Bruce Fertman, charming man and terrific Alexander teacher, has written a piece called Constructive Doubt. I like what Bruce says, and I wanted to pick up on the word rifts as I think this is an important issue in our AT community. Is the word rifts helpful? Certainly there are differences among AT teachers roughly according to lineages. Vive les differences! say I. Vive les differences, with an attitude of humility. My way is certainly not the only way. I teach i...n the way that I have been taught and learnt (starting over 40 years ago); and I teach in the way that my own work has evolved during those years. My goal is to maintain an attitude of not-knowing. I have learnt a huge amount from other teachers since qualifying from my very traditional training as an AT teacher. They include teachers from all AT lineages and others. Bruce, I remember being beguiled by your words at a talk you gave in Sydney in 1994. I still assume that I do not have the whole AT picture. I have enough to be able to help a lot of people, to teach them useful skills and a less fixed way of looking at themselves and the world. And I am still learning and having a ball. And I would still regard myself as a fairly conservative teacher, if conservative means sticking to basic principles. (Yes, cue question here) Emphases vary between traditions and between teachers. You can only teach out of your own experience. (This is where rifts started all the 1st gen were teaching out of their own experience, which necessarily were not identical). We mustnt harden into any sort of position, least of all, one that you got from someone else. So it make sense to both deepen and to widen your experience. My own strong preference, and what I have encouraged in my trainees, is to do this after you have thoroughly steeped yourself in ONE tradition, mindful that it is not the only way, and mindful that other traditions may have pieces that yours does not articulate as clearly. Here is a metaphor (geography buffs, please allow me some license it is a metaphor, not a map!: In the 1400s and 1500s traders sailed east around Africa to reach the Spice Islands in the East Indies. It took a lot of time for someone to try sailing west. Eventually it was realized that you could reach the same islands by sailing either east or west same destination, different route. Main thing was, keep sailing! Certainty about the right way to get there was shifted. For Alexander teachers, keep teaching, with less certainty, out of Bruces constructive doubt, and stay curious. We can learn from one another. https://freedominaction.com.au

18.01.2022 Bruce Fertman, charming man and terrific Alexander teacher, has written a piece called ‘Constructive Doubt’. I like what Bruce says, and I wanted to pick up on the word ‘rifts’ as I think this is an important issue in our AT community. Is the word ‘rifts’ helpful? Certainly there are differences among AT teachers roughly according to lineages. ‘Vive les differences!’ say I. ‘Vive les differences’, with an attitude of humility. ‘My way’ is certainly not the only way. I teach i...n the way that I have been taught and learnt (starting over 40 years ago); and I teach in the way that my own work has evolved during those years. My goal is to maintain an attitude of not-knowing. I have learnt a huge amount from other teachers since qualifying from my very traditional training as an AT teacher. They include teachers from all AT lineages and others. Bruce, I remember being beguiled by your words at a talk you gave in Sydney in 1994. I still assume that I do not have the whole AT picture. I have enough to be able to help a lot of people, to teach them useful skills and a less fixed way of looking at themselves and the world. And I am still learning and having a ball. And I would still regard myself as a fairly ‘conservative’ teacher, if ‘conservative’ means sticking to basic principles. (Yes, cue question here) Emphases vary between traditions and between teachers. You can only teach out of your own experience. (This is where ‘rifts’ started all the 1st gen were teaching out of their own experience, which necessarily were not identical). We mustn’t harden into any sort of position, least of all, one that you got from someone else. So it make sense to both deepen and to widen your experience. My own strong preference, and what I have encouraged in my trainees, is to do this after you have thoroughly steeped yourself in ONE tradition, mindful that it is not the only way, and mindful that other traditions may have pieces that yours does not articulate as clearly. Here is a metaphor (geography buffs, please allow me some license it is a metaphor, not a map!: In the 1400’s and 1500’s traders sailed east around Africa to reach the Spice Islands in the East Indies. It took a lot of time for someone to try sailing west. Eventually it was realized that you could reach the same islands by sailing either east or west same destination, different route. Main thing was, keep sailing! Certainty about the ‘right’ way to get there was shifted. For Alexander teachers, keep teaching, with less certainty, out of Bruce’s ‘constructive doubt’, and stay curious. We can learn from one another. https://freedominaction.com.au

17.01.2022 This year, with limited touching outside of your bubble, has encouraged renewed consideration of the question, ‘What are the hands for?’ in teaching the Alexander Technique. New post on this topic https://freedominaction.com.au//what-are-the-hands-for-in/ One of my former trainees commented Who’d have thought it?, when he heard that I was doing some online teaching during lockdown. We all use words and most of us use our hands. The point is to communicate as effectively as we are able. We can work on both sets of skills. Not being able to use the hands obliges the teacher to be really clear with their words. There’s no question for the pupil about their agency in the transaction it's theirs. But, oh, so much simpler, clearer and more satisfying when you can use your hands!

15.01.2022 A common piece of advice that one hears is the one about your head being a balloon, or imagining your head floating up, or similar. This sort of image may be helpful for some. I think it is usually a little more complex than the image might suggest. If we want our head to be going up, it could be quite important to recognize that your head is attached to your body! For your head effectively to go up, your whole body needs to move with it. That is, the length of your entire spine, right down to your pelvis can be energized as well, with your non-doing intent. Support for the direction of your head starts much further down than your neck, rather, right at the bottom of your back.

15.01.2022 Nice cartoon from Scandinavian AT site.

13.01.2022 What is the Alexander Technique? Developed in the 1890s by Frederick Matthias Alexander, the Alexander Technique retrains the mind, challenging long ingrained habits in the way we move, breathe and manage postural support. By increasing bodily awareness, we can reduce pain and discomfort in our day to day lives. If you are interested in learning more about the Alexander technique, visit our website!... https://freedominaction.com.au/alexander-technique/

12.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5SUhhfwxEI Have a look at the movement in this guys head as he sings: tongue, soft palate, larynx, not to mention spinal cord into brainstem. And he doesnt pull his head back as much as some MRI video singers. Unless you are a Wagner fan, unfortunately not the best advert for opera.

11.01.2022 Check out this (short) new video about how the AT can be super-helpful when it comes to any sort of exercise or sports, at any level. www.AlexanderTechniqueSportsFilm.co.uk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc0tzbFH-tk&feature=youtu.be

08.01.2022 Take a look at the internal movements while this guy sings - tongue, soft palate, larynx etc, as well as the movement in his spinal cord into brainstem. He pulls his head back less than some of the other singing MRI videos. Unless you are a Wagner buff, it may not be the best advert for opera!

08.01.2022 People have been asking me about 'Primary Control'. I am putting inverted commas around it, because people mean different things by it. E.g. if you had asked me 35 years ago, I may have waffled vaguely about the head and neck. Now I would say more precisely that the ‘PC’ is a relationship between the head, trunk and limbs. The ‘PC’ can also be viewed via the breath. Ideally the ‘PC’ is elastic, not rigid; adaptable to the moment, not fixed in time; and responsive to our atten...tion and intention. In the traditional formulation, when the ‘PC’ is working well, the head is oriented out (ie ‘forward and out’), while the back is lengthening and widening, and arms and legs are releasing outwards. It is usually clear that a well-organised ‘PC’ is also characterised by freedom and responsiveness in the breathing; breathing and movement generally are facilitated. Movement of the limbs or of breathing does not have the effect of disturbing the well-organised ‘PC’s overall elastic coordination. When we respond via a well-organised ‘PC’ to any stimulus, inner or outer, for example moving in space (outer), or having a thought or experiencing emotion (inner), it means that we do not disturb this coordinated elasticity. In other words, when the ‘PC’ is working well, not only is the head oriented out, the back lengthening and widening (sometimes referred to as ‘staying back’), and arms and legs releasing outwards; but also breathing is facilitated, allowing freedom and responsiveness (to any demand or change). Further, many people report a sort of ‘grounded lightness’. In fact, I’d suggest that breathing cannot be truly free and responsive without that particular quality of connected elasticity in the relationship between head, trunk and limbs (which also facilitates the ‘grounded lightness’), which we recognise as having something to do with the ‘primary control’. A good teacher’s job is to help a person to experience their ‘PC’ working better. This is synonymous with an experience of integration, physically and perhaps also in other ways. A good teacher can clearly articulate the ‘what’, the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ and can help the pupil to understand and connect these. We don’t want mystery; we want understanding. Understanding empowers us. https://freedominaction.com.au/teacher-resources/ See more

08.01.2022 I visited my original Alexander Technique teacher, Tessa Cawdron, now in her 80's, who amongst other things, continues to give lessons and also to teach at a girls' school in deepest Dorset, England. We had a great time talking and swapping work.

07.01.2022 Frederick M Alexander's 150th birthday this weekend. Celebrations in Wynyard, Tasmania, where he was born and where Alexander family members still live. https://www.facebook.com/AUSTATau/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

06.01.2022 Trainer Merran Poplar having fun with our trainee teachers, exploring primary and secondary spinal curves in motion. It was a fun and enlightening three days! Thanks Merran from Canberra Alexander Teacher Training. Merran http://www.merran.net... Teacher Training https://freedominaction.com.au/teacher-training/

06.01.2022 Natural Therapy Rebates: Government Subsidy Must STAY petition.Another way you can let your support be known to your local MP and the Minister of Health, is by going to the following link: https://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/save-rebates

06.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5SUhhfwxEI Have a look at the movement in this guy's head as he sings: tongue, soft palate, larynx, not to mention spinal cord into brainstem. And he doesn't pull his head back as much as some MRI video singers. Unless you are a Wagner fan, unfortunately not the best advert for opera.

05.01.2022 At the Conference of Australian AT teachers, Michael gave workshop about Quality of Attention. It included practical exercises and demonstrations clarifying the coordinates of a centred flow state, in contrast with the unseen tendency most of us have that of either a too narrowly focussed field of attention or else a diffuse unfocussed state. These different qualities of attention colour our effectiveness in the world, our experience of it and other peoples experience of us.

04.01.2022 Frederick M Alexanders 150th birthday this weekend. Celebrations in Wynyard, Tasmania, where he was born and where Alexander family members still live. https://www.facebook.com/AUSTATau/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

04.01.2022 Finding more ease within the kata. So easy to mistake tension for strength. If the whole sensorimotor psycho-physical system is working as a coordinated set of sprung weights, less tension is required to maintain the basics, and more power is available to go into the job in hand, e.g. a kick.

03.01.2022 There is a rare opportunity for individual Alexander lessons in Canberra with leading Melbourne teacher, Ann Shoebridge. Ann will be in Canberra moderating our soon-to-graduate Alexander Technique teacher-trainees, who have nearly completed their 3 year program. (Applications are welcome for our next intake of AT teacher trainees). Ann has great depth and breadth of experience of working with a wide variety of people. She is currently completing a PhD on physical problems commonly encountered by tertiary level music students. She is herself a singer. Ann will be available at limited times Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday 26, 27 28 February.

02.01.2022 Had a great visit in Bristol, UK, including the Bristol Alexander School. Caught up with old Alexander friends and made new ones. Here with Phil Batty and Caroline Chalk. Caroline and I used to play squash weekly at Dartington when we were training in early 80s. I ran an inpromptu workshop for about 10 local Alexander Technique teachers at the Bristol Alexander School. What a vital teaching community! Well done Chalky and Ali before you.

02.01.2022 I visited my original Alexander Technique teacher, Tessa Cawdron, now in her 80s, who amongst other things, continues to give lessons and also to teach at a girls school in deepest Dorset, England. We had a great time talking and swapping work.

02.01.2022 Graduation from Canberra Alexander Teacher Training School. Congratulations Emma, Julianne and Ben! Canberra has just acquired three great new Alexander Technique teachers with a wealth of life experience, covering the north side, south side and central Canberra.