Advice for Students of the Alexander Technique
Finding a Teacher, Choosing a Teacher, and Getting the most from your Lessons
by Jennifer Martin
FINDING A TEACHER: This is fairly easy. The majority of Alexander Technique teachers are members of a professional teaching society and these societies provide teachers’ lists on their web sites. Generally speaking, these teachers have completed a 3-year training course that is recognized by the teaching society in their country. There are some teachers who are qualified for membership, but have chosen not to be a member. Also, there are a few teachers who have trained in a way that does not qualify them for membership. Obviously you’ll want to take greater care in accessing such a teacher.
CHOOSING A TEACHER: This is a more challenging task, especially if you’ve not had any lessons before. It can certainly be useful to get advice from others who have had firsthand experience with a particular teacher, but bear in mind that some teachers are a better match for one particular person than they might be for another. Alexander Technique teaching is an art, not a science, and teachers have very different personalities and temperaments.
In her book How to Learn the Alexander Technique, Barbara Conable has a chapter titled: “How to Choose Your Alexander Teachers” which contains some very useful advice on this subject. In what follows, I will quote a bit from that chapter:
“You will be able to tell a great deal, though not everything, by how your teacher moves. Look for ease and alertness and balance.” Barbara then goes on to say that some excellent teachers got involved with the Technique because of serious physical problems of their own and so you certainly don’t want to reject a teacher because he or she has a limp or still suffers the physical effects of a disease. Because these teachers have worked through difficult physical challenges of their own, they are often have a profound understanding of what their students are going through. Barbara mentions the late Judy Leibowitz, a teacher in New York who was severely crippled by polio when she was a child. Walter Carrington, a well-known English teacher, was badly injured when his Royal Air Force plane went down during World War II. He walks with a limp, but that in no way has limited his teaching ability.
There is a great difference in the way different teachers approach the teaching process itself. Most teachers use what Barbara calls “traditional procedures.” These are specific methods, most of which were developed by F. Matthias Alexander, the originator of the Alexander Technique. Some have arcane names such as “monkey”, “whispered ahh”, and “the lunge”. Others are called “table work” and “chair work”.
Some teachers prefer to work with their students doing the very activities they do in their lives. This is sometimes called the “application approach” to Alexander Technique teaching. A musician will be asked to play their instrument, a web page designer asked to sit down at the computer. Barbara says that both methods are effective and that has certainly been my own experience.
Another, more controversial, split is between teachers who believe the Technique should only be taught in the form of private lessons (anywhere between a half hour and an hour) and those who teach in a group format. In my experience, most teachers still disapprove of group work but it is gaining in acceptance. Personally, I’ve gained a lot both from private lessons and group classes.
How can you judge whether a teacher is helping you? Barbara Conable says, “If you leave the lesson feeling lighter and easier, and more mobile, more sensitive kinesthetically, breathing easier, more aware of your surroundings, with a greater sense that you have a choice about your physical responses to stimuli, then you have found a good teacher and you can safely consider taking a series of lessons.” The only thing I would add to that is that sometimes, you may not notice any changes right away - it may take you a few lessons. My own experience is that I didn’t notice a thing until my third lesson. Just at the point I was about to give up in frustration, I suddenly noticed a feeling of incredible lightness throughout by entire body that was completely new to me.
The question about studying with more than one teacher sometimes comes up. In my own case, I didn’t have much choice because my work keeps me traveling most of the year and I've had to grab lessons from whatever teachers were available locally, whenever I could. I don’t recommend this - I think it’s best to get a good foundation with one teacher and then consider trying other teachers. But it did give me an opportunity to experience the work of dozens of Alexander Technique teachers over a ten-year period which I found to be a fascinating, if at times frustrating, experience and what prompted me to write this article.
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR LESSONS: The Alexander Technique is above all a teaching method, and this means that the learning is really up to you. Some teachers, for very good reasons, don’t want you to do too much thinking and analyzing during the first few lessons, but rather prefer that you get some direct experience first. Walter Carrington, mentioned above, is a classic example of this school of thought. Other teachers engage your active participation right from the start of the first lesson. Both approaches have their merits, and in fact a good teacher will always tailor his or her teaching to the specific needs of the student. If you’re coming for your first lesson in severe pain, for instance, it probably won’t make much sense to ask you to do a lot of active thinking.
Some people have benefited from doing some outside reading about the Technique. There are dozens of books to choose from, including four by F. Matthias Alexander himself. My own favorite beginner's book is How to Learn the Alexander Technique by Barbara Conable, and it offers quite a few specific ways to learn about how your function using a process she has dubbed “body mapping” - basically finding out on your own body where key joints are located and how they work. I’ve found this to be a very powerful process.
I believe the Alexander Technique is an incredibly powerful method of self-transformation and recommend it wholeheartedly to my friends and colleagues. I’ve seen it’s benefits in my own life, and in the lives of many others. I have an enormous respect for most of the Alexander Technique teachers I’ve studied with. But it is only fair to add that there are a few teachers who I would stay away from - either because I felt they were simply incompetent, though harmless, or (and this was very, very rare) because I felt they could actually damage me or they had a personality I simply couldn't stand to be around. So, as with any other field, use your judgment and don’t be afraid to try more than one teacher at the start.
Robert Rickover, an Alexander Teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska, has created a wonderful Web Site, The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique, which includes all the information you'll need to find out more about the Technique. The "How Can I find a Teacher" page includes links to all the on-line teachers' directories of Alexander Technique professional societies and even a short version of Barbara Conable's article "How to Choose an Alexander Technique Teacher". I've placed a link below. Thanks for letting me know Robert - great site!
If you have any suggestions for this site, contact me at abcmartin@hotmail.com I'll reply as soon as I can.
FINDING A TEACHER: This is fairly easy. The majority of Alexander Technique teachers are members of a professional teaching society and these societies provide teachers’ lists on their web sites. Generally speaking, these teachers have completed a 3-year training course that is recognized by the teaching society in their country. There are some teachers who are qualified for membership, but have chosen not to be a member. Also, there are a few teachers who have trained in a way that does not qualify them for membership. Obviously you’ll want to take greater care in accessing such a teacher.
CHOOSING A TEACHER: This is a more challenging task, especially if you’ve not had any lessons before. It can certainly be useful to get advice from others who have had firsthand experience with a particular teacher, but bear in mind that some teachers are a better match for one particular person than they might be for another. Alexander Technique teaching is an art, not a science, and teachers have very different personalities and temperaments.
In her book How to Learn the Alexander Technique, Barbara Conable has a chapter titled: “How to Choose Your Alexander Teachers” which contains some very useful advice on this subject. In what follows, I will quote a bit from that chapter:
“You will be able to tell a great deal, though not everything, by how your teacher moves. Look for ease and alertness and balance.” Barbara then goes on to say that some excellent teachers got involved with the Technique because of serious physical problems of their own and so you certainly don’t want to reject a teacher because he or she has a limp or still suffers the physical effects of a disease. Because these teachers have worked through difficult physical challenges of their own, they are often have a profound understanding of what their students are going through. Barbara mentions the late Judy Leibowitz, a teacher in New York who was severely crippled by polio when she was a child. Walter Carrington, a well-known English teacher, was badly injured when his Royal Air Force plane went down during World War II. He walks with a limp, but that in no way has limited his teaching ability.
There is a great difference in the way different teachers approach the teaching process itself. Most teachers use what Barbara calls “traditional procedures.” These are specific methods, most of which were developed by F. Matthias Alexander, the originator of the Alexander Technique. Some have arcane names such as “monkey”, “whispered ahh”, and “the lunge”. Others are called “table work” and “chair work”.
Some teachers prefer to work with their students doing the very activities they do in their lives. This is sometimes called the “application approach” to Alexander Technique teaching. A musician will be asked to play their instrument, a web page designer asked to sit down at the computer. Barbara says that both methods are effective and that has certainly been my own experience.
Another, more controversial, split is between teachers who believe the Technique should only be taught in the form of private lessons (anywhere between a half hour and an hour) and those who teach in a group format. In my experience, most teachers still disapprove of group work but it is gaining in acceptance. Personally, I’ve gained a lot both from private lessons and group classes.
How can you judge whether a teacher is helping you? Barbara Conable says, “If you leave the lesson feeling lighter and easier, and more mobile, more sensitive kinesthetically, breathing easier, more aware of your surroundings, with a greater sense that you have a choice about your physical responses to stimuli, then you have found a good teacher and you can safely consider taking a series of lessons.” The only thing I would add to that is that sometimes, you may not notice any changes right away - it may take you a few lessons. My own experience is that I didn’t notice a thing until my third lesson. Just at the point I was about to give up in frustration, I suddenly noticed a feeling of incredible lightness throughout by entire body that was completely new to me.
The question about studying with more than one teacher sometimes comes up. In my own case, I didn’t have much choice because my work keeps me traveling most of the year and I've had to grab lessons from whatever teachers were available locally, whenever I could. I don’t recommend this - I think it’s best to get a good foundation with one teacher and then consider trying other teachers. But it did give me an opportunity to experience the work of dozens of Alexander Technique teachers over a ten-year period which I found to be a fascinating, if at times frustrating, experience and what prompted me to write this article.
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR LESSONS: The Alexander Technique is above all a teaching method, and this means that the learning is really up to you. Some teachers, for very good reasons, don’t want you to do too much thinking and analyzing during the first few lessons, but rather prefer that you get some direct experience first. Walter Carrington, mentioned above, is a classic example of this school of thought. Other teachers engage your active participation right from the start of the first lesson. Both approaches have their merits, and in fact a good teacher will always tailor his or her teaching to the specific needs of the student. If you’re coming for your first lesson in severe pain, for instance, it probably won’t make much sense to ask you to do a lot of active thinking.
Some people have benefited from doing some outside reading about the Technique. There are dozens of books to choose from, including four by F. Matthias Alexander himself. My own favorite beginner's book is How to Learn the Alexander Technique by Barbara Conable, and it offers quite a few specific ways to learn about how your function using a process she has dubbed “body mapping” - basically finding out on your own body where key joints are located and how they work. I’ve found this to be a very powerful process.
I believe the Alexander Technique is an incredibly powerful method of self-transformation and recommend it wholeheartedly to my friends and colleagues. I’ve seen it’s benefits in my own life, and in the lives of many others. I have an enormous respect for most of the Alexander Technique teachers I’ve studied with. But it is only fair to add that there are a few teachers who I would stay away from - either because I felt they were simply incompetent, though harmless, or (and this was very, very rare) because I felt they could actually damage me or they had a personality I simply couldn't stand to be around. So, as with any other field, use your judgment and don’t be afraid to try more than one teacher at the start.
Robert Rickover, an Alexander Teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska, has created a wonderful Web Site, The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique, which includes all the information you'll need to find out more about the Technique. The "How Can I find a Teacher" page includes links to all the on-line teachers' directories of Alexander Technique professional societies and even a short version of Barbara Conable's article "How to Choose an Alexander Technique Teacher". I've placed a link below. Thanks for letting me know Robert - great site!
If you have any suggestions for this site, contact me at abcmartin@hotmail.com I'll reply as soon as I can.
