Learning — The Alexander Technique Forums

Learning — The Alexander Technique Forums https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/ Wed, 13 May 2026 10:31:57 +0000 en Learning — The Alexander Technique Forums Introduce Yourself Here! https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/21/introduce-yourself-here Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:26:57 +0000 Learning Angel 21@/index.php?p=/discussions
As for myself, I'm located in California, just above San Francisco in a small town. I've been trying to write about AT since I started teacher training in 1979. Aside from teaching AT privately, I'm interested in David Bohm style Dialogue, playing the array mbira and juggling a toy called Stix. I also publish a tiny phone book and have worked as a signwriter and fine artist. You can see more about me at http://www.franis.org

Dod wanted some help with making this forum more of a happening place, so I volunteered, and here I am!]]> Question - sleeping position https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/79/question-sleeping-position Sun, 26 Oct 2014 22:07:06 +0000 Learning Jimmie 79@/index.php?p=/discussions Pilates and Alexander Technique https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/49/pilates-and-alexander-technique Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:26:17 +0000 Learning alan 49@/index.php?p=/discussions
In that time I have not progressed much at all, as a result I am thinking of doing Pilates to complement the AT lessons.

However, my AT teacher warns against doing pilates becuase he says it only stengthens and therefore shortens the muscles in the stomach area, and long term pliates practice can lead to kyphosis. Surely this cannot be true !]]> The Will to Perceive https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/78/the-will-to-perceive Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:46:53 +0000 Learning Lawrence Smith 78@/index.php?p=/discussions
http://www.alexandertechnique-running.com/?page_id=459]]> Best/earliest age to start learning? https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/64/best-earliest-age-to-start-learning Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:09:18 +0000 Learning Matty30 64@/index.php?p=/discussions For any parent wanting to give their child the best opportunity in life, I would like to hear what everybody thinks is the best/earliest age for them to start learning? (i.e paying for private lessons for them)

Also, although i am not a teacher, i would like to know do teachers teach their own children? One teacher said to me they dont know any that do because it's quite intrusive. Personally, i would have liked to have grown getting lessons from my mum or dad. my old teacher before i moved, used to give sessons to her grandkids after me, they loved it, they were about 7 years old and would run in saying 'can i get on the table, nanny?!' in excitement.

thanks]]> End-Gaining 2 https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/15/end-gaining-2 Wed, 15 Mar 2006 12:30:36 +0000 Learning Malcolm 15@/index.php?p=/discussions Alexander Technique question https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/52/alexander-technique-question Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:36:10 +0000 Learning Matty30 52@/index.php?p=/discussions
Does anyone else out there doing the technique feel the same?

I know any AT teachers would say stop end-gaining during sex. Easy said than done. It seems when it comes to 'fight or flight' then Im in fight mode during sex. Over time things have got better and I feel things will continue to improve.

Any teacher's /students views would be much appreciated!]]> head going forward and up back lengthening and widening https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/74/head-going-forward-and-up-back-lengthening-and-widening Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:20:01 +0000 Learning rajesh_chirala_2006 74@/index.php?p=/discussions =========================================================
i think the head goes forward and up in relation to
the torso goes forward and up in relation to
the pelvis goes back and up in relation to
the knees goes forward and away from the pelvis

then the shoulders float at their balance location at the back of the torso.
=========================================================================
is this correct or any modification needed.?????????????????????]]> Changing the way you talk... https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/35/changing-the-way-you-talk Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:59:05 +0000 Learning Angel 35@/index.php?p=/discussions
We were writing on the introduction thread when dod made an observation about himself as he was reading someone else's story...

dod wrote:

A personal trait of my own surfaced as I was reading your post. I thought I saw where it was going (you were walking towards a reflection of yourself) and responded to that before I had got more than half way.

I find I do that a lot of the time, especially when people are talking to me. I then take over their part of the conversation, just to ensure it goes the way I have anticipated.

dod, I agree that our mannerisms of style tend to take over, just to be on the safe side.

There seems to be a rainbow of timing and second-guessing that is much more distinctly divergent in people's styles of speaking than anyone would first imagine. Also, they can be surprising similarities. For instance, I'm from a Californian subculture - and dod is not. We Californians tend to interrupt other people to show that we are in rapport with others. We Californians as a group also tend to finish sentences and imagine where speakers are going with their important points of meaning.

CA speakers also allow others to interrupt us, and suffer possibly never getting out what we meant to say. We tend to allow ourselves to be too easily interrupted and distracted.

Nicholas (dod) and I would be a very exaggerated combination - because he would interrupt me, I would interrupt him, and neither of us would get out what we meant to say. In fact, we'd probably be incorrigible together!

Why change a thing such as this about the way we speak? Sometimes we are talking to others who speak the same language, but grew up in other subcultures. Where I live it's not as obvious as the differences between the Brits and USA cultures, but more unique and subtle. It's as if each person's family grew up in their own subculture. Someone might see interrupting as an example of disrespect. So, for people such as that, it would be handy to stop ourselves from interrupting others, or to just be flexible.

But...dod and I wouldn't want to do that. This situation used to happen to me quite a bit, and it wasn't even dod's fault. :oops:

Putting my challenges into a positive question, (another way I've changed my style of speaking) I'd ask something for that purpose like this:

How could I provide for the warm fuzzy feelings of rapport through interrupting and also remember what the two of us were saying despite having both gone gladly off on an interesting tangent?

One solution that worked for me was to temporarily carry around a little notepad. When I'd get interrupted, (or when I was in a group of people who all wanted to talk,) I'd write down my point. Then I could be patient until I could eventually get my point out, because I wasn't likely to forget something I'd noted. This exercise of using a notepad made me interrupt people much less and be more patient to hear what they were saying. It also made me unashamedly be interrupted and gladly follow any tangent. Eventually, my ability to retain my point past being distracted from it grew wider as my memory improved through the use of this notepad, and now I no longer needed the notepad for that purpose.]]> The England Cricket team and other sports. https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/65/the-england-cricket-team-and-other-sports Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:27:56 +0000 Learning Matty30 65@/index.php?p=/discussions Im listening to the Ashes on the radio and the commentors are making big deal of the England players, especially Bell, looking nervous and playing very nervously.
I was wondering what an alexander technique lesson prior to the start would have on the players?
Should they all get lessons before a match?
Is a sudden introduction to the technique prior to sporting event a good idea?
I would think it could make them more relaxed and more focussed.
However, my teacher once said that at the beginning of learning the technique, it can change someones performance for the worse. Specifically, What I mean by that is, I said I was going to play Snooker and he said it could make it my shots slightly harder due to the changes to the balance to my body, in other words, I would still be used to the old way but my new movement would be doing the shots.
So if this the case, would someone involved with 'precision sports' like Stephen Hendry be best to start learning the technique AFTER their careers have finished as oppose to the middle of their career, to avoid a potential dip in form (and loss of earnings)?

Also, the same question goes to other sports like long distance running, boxing etc?
Surely with endurance sports, the sooner they start learning the better?

thanks]]> Learning Alexander Technique on my own. Need some tips. https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/54/learning-alexander-technique-on-my-own-need-some-tips Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:56:18 +0000 Learning njckname 54@/index.php?p=/discussions I want to improve my posture and I heard the Alexander Technique is very good for this. I read a little on the internet and apparently it's very hard to apply AT on yourself, but that's my only option because there are no teachers where I live.
What do you think, can I learn it by myself?
I want to buy this book (http://www.teora.ro/cgi-bin/teora/first/mbshop.cgi?database=07&action=view_product&productID=0353&category=01) the page is in Romanian, the book's entitled "Healing healing through the Alexander Technique", and the author is Richard Brennan . Have you heard of it, can you recommend it?

Do you know any other way to improve my posture easier?

Thanks.]]> The Alexander Story https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/47/the-alexander-story Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:38:06 +0000 Learning Steward 47@/index.php?p=/discussions
And apologies if it seems like I'm blogging in a one-sided discussion with myself on these forums! I guess I'm recording my learning process... I'd love it if more were doing the same here.

Anyway, my thought was, at what point in this chapter does Alexander really start to say things that make you think 'where the hell did that come from?'. At what point does he really show he's off to beat his own path, rather than resign himself to thinking 'I've got a rubbish voice, and I need to live with it'?

I know some teachers who think it's right at the beginning of the chapter, where he admits to actually enjoying Shakespeare and interpreting the characters in the plays. Weird, huh?

But the thing that really makes me sit up straight (in an Alexandrian way) is this concept of 'use'. And where does he first bring this up? Earlier than you probably think -- before he starts wrestling with concepts like primary control; before he decides to invest in a couple of mirrors; even before he loses his faith in the medical profession. He suggests that the first person to bring up the concept of use is his doctor:
"...he promised me that if, during the fortnight before my recital, I abstained from reciting and used by voice as little as possible [my voice would be normal]".

I have met a couple of folk from the medical profession over the years, and none have ever talked about any kind of 'using' any part of myself in any different way. I hurt my back, doc, what do I do? Rest your back. No doctor ever asked me to use my back less.

Is this important? I don't know. But it's the start of a train of thought:
"I found by using my voice as little as possible I gradually lost my hoarseness"

So he's already bought into this concept of use at some level, because he didn't say
"I found that by reciting less I gradually lost my hoarseness"

I'm not sure if there is a real difference here. But what I notice is that instead of when most people would say, "I recite", Alexander is thinking "I use my voice to recite".

Again many a time I have wondered "It's maybe how I'm sitting that is making my back stiff". But I never ever concluded that "It's what I'm doing while sitting that is making my back stiff".

If there is a difference, it seems to me it's the building of a bridge between two camps: mind and body, conscious and unconscious, stimulus and response.
On the one hand we have:
"I" - the mind, the origin of a stimulus, the conscious self
and
"recite"
The body, the response, the reaction to the conscious self

whereas Alexander is already slipping in something in between: "use"

so that

"I" (stimulus)
"use" (means-whereby)
"my voice" (response)

Now at this early stage the bridge isn't built yet, but my point is whether the building blocks are there? To me someone who is already talking about how they use themselves prior to giving up on the medical profession is at least thinking that there might be some kind of connection between mind and body. It might seem hilarious that anyone would doubt this fact, but FM never tires of pointing out how often we forget it.]]> What to expect from a lesson https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/26/what-to-expect-from-a-lesson Wed, 31 May 2006 08:14:08 +0000 Learning dod 26@/index.php?p=/discussions http://www.alexandertechnique.com/articles2/expect/]]> Explaining the Alexander Technique - ISBN 095435222X - Walter Carrington and SeÃ¡n Carey https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/45/explaining-the-alexander-technique-isbn-095435222x-walter-carrington-and-sea-n-carey Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:59:02 +0000 Learning AlexTechBooks 45@/index.php?p=/discussions
Additional Information: http://alextech-ffm.de/books/095435222X.htm

It would be great if there were some comments from those who read the book.

It would be even better if the book could be translated in other languages.]]> Articles and Lectures - ISBN 0952557460 - Alexander, F. Matthias https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/44/articles-and-lectures-isbn-0952557460-alexander-f-matthias Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:55:21 +0000 Learning AlexTechBooks 44@/index.php?p=/discussions
Additional Information: http://alextech-ffm.de/books/0952557460.htm

- It would be great if there were some comments from those who read the articles.

- It would be even better if some of the articles could be translated in other languages.]]> End-gaining 1 https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/14/end-gaining-1 Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:18:20 +0000 Learning Malcolm 14@/index.php?p=/discussions
Thank you,
Malcolm]]> Difficulty in learning https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/28/difficulty-in-learning Sat, 26 Aug 2006 05:39:31 +0000 Learning Grey 28@/index.php?p=/discussions
I'm a male 19 year old uni student in Canberra, Australia. I started taking alexander technique lessons in January this year, and am still - currently once fortnightly. I started going because I was (and still am) suffering overuse injuries in my forearms, wrists and hands from typing, playing piano and playing guitar. Well, my mum was interested in it and thought it would be good for me, so she took me along and I had a one-off session. Well, as I reckon most of you have probably experienced, I knew there was something to it straight away. I mean, just at the end of that one session my body felt fantastic. So, I went back and continued lessons.

But here's the crunch: For at least 3 months now, probably a little bit longer, I have been having problems with my lower back and bottom.

The pain started when I was attempting to put the technique into practice while watching a lecture at uni, and noticed that it was hurting. The more I thought about how I was sitting, and trying to sit well, the worse it got, and so in the end gave in and collapsed into the seat. This happened again later in the week, and from then on, most times I tried to put the technique into practice, whether it was lying down in semi-supine, sitting in a seat, or any other situation, I would soon feel the same pain, and would have to stop because it would just get worse the more I tried to think in alexander terms. This is the main problem really, that I have pain in my lower back and bottom (I now concieve of a few different pains in the same area) that seem produced by something I am doing when I think about my directions, or when I lie down in semi-supine (for some reason when I am in semi-supine I experience it most acutely). As time has passed I sometimes feel the pain in times when I am not thinking about the technique, though if I think in alexander terms it will feel worse (and then sometimes be worse for a period of time afterwards). But, one interesting thing to note, is that I never experience the pain during an alexander technique lesson (well, I have once or twice felt it at the start, but it quickly passed as the lesson progressed).

I have tried different ways of looking at what I am doing (or not-doing), and have even stopped myself thinking about alexander technique for a 3 week gap at one stage (which helped temporarily), but still can't quite get past it. I have talked to my alexander technique teachers about it (I see two alternately - they work together), though perhaps not enough, but I thought I would throw the problem out to you all anyway to get a broader range of opinion.

To me it seems pretty bound up with how I percieve what I am doing when I think about the alexander technique, and the state of mind I get into. After a little while with the problem I noticed that I was feeling anxious when I was lying down in semi-supine, but how much of that is/was causing the problem and how much is just a result of it I can't say. Maybe I am trying to "do" the un-doing, maybe I am concentrating on the area too much and getting drawn into a counter-productive way of thinking and losing track of my directions (one of my teachers suggested this, and I think there is alot to say for it, but just telling myself not to concentrate doesn't or hasn't seemed to work yet [the only way I have been succesful in not concentrating is when I just put alexander technique out of my mind], and unfortunately I often associate my directions with the pain, so often when I try to think about them I just get drawn into or accentuate the problem)

But I'll say no more for now and throw it out to you all. Any advice, or just ideas even, would be much appreciated.

Grey]]> Alexander Technique and footwear https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/27/alexander-technique-and-footwear Tue, 06 Jun 2006 12:03:25 +0000 Learning Esther_1000 27@/index.php?p=/discussions
Esther here, I'm new to this forum. I've been interested in Alexander technique for a while since a friend recommended it to me. I'm buying some shoes for aerobics, and remembered my friend telling me that it's not a good idea to wear shoes that are raised up to support the bridge of the foot. Have I got that right? Why is this? Most shoes for aerobics I see have this feature.

Thanks and by for now,

Esther]]> Self-help Alexander https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/19/self-help-alexander Wed, 19 Apr 2006 14:14:55 +0000 Learning dod 19@/index.php?p=/discussions
http://dodman.org/index.php/Writing/Alexander/Self-help]]> New to A.T. https://at.dodman.org/index.php?p=/discussion/11/new-to-a-t Mon, 10 Oct 2005 11:32:51 +0000 Learning Streako 11@/index.php?p=/discussions

Cheers.]]>