Tag Archives: Articles

Non-Doing: The Alexander Technique’s Guide to Self Awareness

Posted on by December 19, 2015
lotus

by Kristen Fryer ~ Non-Doing, otherwise known as inhibition or unlearning, might normally be considered a negative ideal to pursue.  Who is really interested in spending time unlearning, not doing and being inhibited?  No, people are much more enthusiastic about what your doing, what you’ve been learning, and hope that you are fully engaged in life and not being inhibited!  I confess, I too see the logic in the case for ‘doing’.  It definitely resonates deep in the recesses of my Aries nature to be involved in as many activities as I can squeeze into one lifetime.  Now you might be sensing that this conversation is about to make a case for non-doing and it is.  You might be wondering how I can even waste my breath defending it but I will and I hope you will stay to see The Alexander Techniques philosophy about non-doing and how much value it can bring to people’s lives.  It certainly has saved mine!!! Non-Doing is The Alexander Techniques’ Guide to self-awareness. … Continue reading →

Insights into The Alexander Technique from Michael Frederick, senior teacher in California

Posted on by December 19, 2015
chocolate cake and sweets

By Ellen Bierhorst ~ Recently, I was telling my local colleagues about Michael Frederick’s explanation of the Technique.  One of those colleagues wrote this morning and asked me to repeat it in writing because she felt it very important.  This is what I wrote: People think it is about posture or pain relief or stress management or moving better/performing better.  It’s not…these are only results that occur when one becomes more mindful from an Alexander perspective. People further think it is about that wonderful feeling we get from the hands of the teacher, the “Ahhhhha,” the “A-Zone” as I call it. But that is a trap.  Not it . . . … Continue reading →

Malibu Alexander Technique Retreat 2012

Posted on by December 19, 2015
PACIFIC OCEAN SERRA RETREAT CENTER MALIBU

by Ellen Bierhorst ~ Can I really communicate the significance? Halfway through my fourth year as an Alexander Technique teacher, my fortieth year as a psychologist, I took a wild, extravagant notion to attend the Alexander Technique Workshops International six-day workshop in Malibu with Michael Frederick, Giora Pinkas, Lynn Charleson Klein, Frances Marsden, Carol Prentis, and special guest Rome Roberts Earle.  I’d never given myself such a lavish treat.  I had no idea what I’d be getting into; had some vague ideas of a kind of six-day AGM.  Not at all! I had no understanding of what it could do for me to be with twenty-five-plus other teachers and students in an intimate retreat setting with six master teachers.  It was a more concentrated infusion of Inhibition and Direction than even my training course experience.  The setting was a quiet and exceedingly beautiful sanctuary, the Serra (Franciscan) Retreat Center overlooking the blue Pacific.  Comfortable bedrooms, good food; congenial, supportive Alexander people all around.  The spirit of the group was what … Continue reading →