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How Does The Alexander Technique Work

How Does The Alexander Technique Work

Chris Stevens – Workshop Part II

Part II
Chris Stevens, Student Network Workshop given at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London 24th May 2003. Filmed by Daniel Harbach, Edited by Stephanie Smith.

Shown with kind permission from Daniel Harbach.

Chris Stevens – Workshop Part I

Part II
Chris Stevens, Student Network Workshop given at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London 24th May 2003. Filmed by Daniel Harbach, Edited by Stephanie Smith.
Shown with kind permission from Daniel Harbach.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Q&A Session and Closing Ceremony

The closing session from the Conference is chaired by Professor Douglas Price Williams from UCLA, trained by F.M Alexander in the 1940’s and certified as an Alexander Teacher. The main panel consisted of Marjory Barlow, Wilfred Barlow, Marjorie Barstow, Walter Carrington and Patrick Macdonald. Questions were prepared and read out to selected panel members. The conference closes with final speeches and presentations to the senior guest speakers.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Panel Session

This panel session features memories from a group of senior teachers; Marjory Barlow, Marjorie Barstow, Deborah Caplan, Judith Leibowitz, Troup Mathews and Erika Whitaker. Each panel member recalls stories from the past, Deborah Caplan recalls her time in Alexander’s Little School for children which she attended when she was 9 years old, Alexander wore spats and in the evening read to them from Wind in the Willows. Deborah’s mother Alma. Frank, travelled with her whole family from New York in order to train with F.M. which she completed in 1940.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Lecture with Dr. Julian Jayne

In this lecture Julian Jaynes explains his connection of his work with that of F.M. Alexander. Invited to speak, he only needed to read the first page of Alexander book, Man’s Supreme Inheritance to decide to accept the invitation to speak.

Julian Jaynes was born in West Newton, Massachusetts and did his undergraduate work at Harvard and McGill, receiving both his master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Yale. After Yale, Jaynes spent several years in England working as an actor and playwright. Jaynes later returned to the states, and lectured in psychology at Princeton University from 1966 to 1990, teaching a popular class on consciousness for much of that time.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – The Open Ceremony

The opening ceremony is introduced by Erika Whittaker and Michael Frederick, also on stage are all the guest senior teachers who attended the event. Following the introductions there is an address given by Dr. Jeremy Swan, MD, PhD, then Director of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. This fascinating talk by Dr. Swan discusses how the Alexander Technique works on a neuro-physiological level.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Introduction by Michael Frederick

Michael Frederick talks about how he started the first International Congress in Stony Brook, New York. Michael trained with Walter and Dilys Carrington in the 1970’s, he wanted to bring together and unite the different branches of teaching that were appearing by creating an international group meeting. His infectious enthusiasm for the Alexander work enabled him to create this totally unique event in the history of the Alexander Technique, gathering together the senior teachers who continued F.M. Alexander’s work following his death in 1955. Michael D. Frederick is the Founding Director of the International Congresses on the Alexander Technique, he is currently Chairman of the Alexander International Congress Board of Directors. Michael has organized and taught over 150 workshops in the U.S. and Europe since 1978. Michael worked for two years at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, and taught for over a decade in The Old Globe Theatre’s MFA Acting Program at the University of San Diego. From 1994 to 2000, Michael organised Alexander Technique Master Classes with Elisabeth Walker and Marjory Barlow (F.M. Alexander’s niece) in S

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Marjorie Barstow Workshop 2

In this workshop the participants worked with practical application picking out activities that they wanted to do featuring lunging, squatting and a group writing session. Marjorie concludes the session working with Freda Hart, reading while seated in a chair.

Marjorie Barstow was the first person to graduate from F. Matthias Alexander’s first Alexander Technique teacher training course in in London in 1934.As a world-renowned master teacher, Marjorie Barstow made many contributions to The Alexander Technique. In over 60 years of teaching, she guided students as they discovered the practical application of Alexander’s discoveries in everyday activities.

Stony Brook Congress 1986 – Workshop Walter Carrington

In this workshop Walter Carrington provides demonstrations and answers questions about the technique, the indispensable basis of the technique being what we can communicate to others while we are working on ourselves. Walter Carrington was a leading figure in the teaching and development in Britain of the Alexander technique, the system evolved by the Australian actor Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) to promote wellbeing through awareness of balance, posture, and physical co-ordination. For more than 60 years Carrington made an immense contribution to the preservation and development of the teaching of the technique. With his wife Dilys they ran the Constructive Teaching Centre in Lansdowne Road London where they trained many of today’s leading teachers.