This site has some excellent short taster films on youtube which explains a lot of misuse through the brain’s faulty mapping. Take a look….
I’m doing another summer of workshops and lessons on Alonnisos this summer. You can get lots of details on my other website www.alexanderingreece.com and my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/AlexanderTechniqueInGreece has nice photo albums too.
It’s such a beautiful island. The daily schedule for the workshop is to walk down a mule track, fragrant with sage, to the local beach in an Alexander meditiation, swim across to the jetty for some Chi Kung, play with some snorkelling, then return to the beach for a ‘constructive rest’ and walk back up the hill to the village for showers and individual lessons on my shaded terrace. In the evenings we will meet again there for a group session before going out on the town! (well a gentle walk to a local taverna…) Workshops last a week and go from June 15th – 22nd, June 29th – July 6th, July 13th – 20th, and Aug 31st – September 7th. but if these dates don’t suit you or you would prefer individual lessons, then you can always book a personal schedule of sessions to fit in with your holiday plans….
Above is a photo i took on the beach we walk down to every mornng, with one of the particpants taking a moment. Below is the village
A Hilltop Village on Alonnisos
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a youtube short film: Hugh being interviewed on the Actor’s Studio.
Most actors are trained in this quintessential work. It’s usually a kind of secret base they work from…..their centre.He looks pretty good on it!
This quote reminds me of my own journey, although I don’t know if I’ve hit wisdom yet
‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself’
seeing the light
Gerlad Foley a colleague of mine has done a talk and written a very interesting paper on this isssue at
http://www.geraldfoley.co.uk/Pre-exercise%20stretching.pdf
It is not true that as AT teachers we are anti-exercise, but HOW we exercise, and some of the those savage ham string stretches before a football match may well be what causes the torn ligaments.
“stretching somehow increases tolerance to pain – that is it has an analgesic effect. It does not seem prudent to decrease one’s tolerance to pain, possibly create some damage at the cytoskeletal level and then exercise this damaged anaesthetised muscle.” (Ian Shrier)
Gentle easy warm ups are the answer then.
‘So we tell our pupils that before they start exercising it is a good idea to stop and get rid of whatever tightening and pulling down they are doing, and allow themselves to lengthen and widen. This brings their muscles into a state of lengthened and balanced equilibrium which is the best state to be in for doing the next thing.
- And if they are going to the gym or going to play squash or tennis, they should certainly go through a gradual warm-up to whatever level of activity they want. And they should do this by gentle movement rather than violent pulling at themselves in static stretches.’ Gerald Foley
I have started a competition for the best photo of semi-supine on my facebook group ‘I like lying down in semi supine’. The prize is the clock shown here, supplied by STAT. All you have to do is join the group and put a photo up by December 1st, and you may win! My theatre students said it would be like ‘planking’ …..and plan to take pix of unusual places to lie down in…could be fun!
prize for competetion
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/8838203/Restaurant-review-Cut-London.html
is a review of restaurant that mentions Alexander Technique if you keep reading….I clearly would be OK to sit in these chairs since I’ve been working with AT for 36 years now….we get more flexible as we get older! Yippee!
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Click on this to find out all about a new research protocol about to start comparing AT with acupuncture regarding neck and shoulder pain, funded by Arthritis Research UK. Since it’s only just starting, it will be quite some time before we find out the results, but I am very hopeful and it will add to the growing evidence of AT as a useful tool to fighting muscular-skeletal disorders. I am personally interested as my Dad had rheumatoid arthritis and died before I was qualified to try and help him……
my dad
My 3 workshops in June and July went very well indeed – see my facebook page ‘ alexander technique in greece’ for some photo albums of this.
Spaces left for workshop September 2nd – 9th. Still time to book. See www.alexanderingreece.com for more details…….
Spiros was there too
our boat for the day
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/20/paralysed-sports-star-steps-history-rob-summers
This is a very iteresting artcicle on someone paralysed, given the chance to walk again by attaching electrodes to the legs. What is clear they have learned that it is the legs and spinal cord that are the main drivers of walking – messages from the brain facilitate, but it is the weight transfer that is important. The article of course puts ut much more clearly than this brief summary and there’s a bigger report on this research in the Lancet linked in this article