Alexander Technique Philadelphia

Not gonna lie to you…
It’s been a rough time for me personally -

I’ve been navigating health challenges for myself as well as my older brother who passed away peacefully with us by his side on July 5th.

I’m grateful for the return of my own health and for the time I got to spend with my brother and family.

Yet it is also true that I am deeply sad and worn out.
Grief is a powerful force.

One of the ways I am taking care of myself and giving myself time to heal is spending time in nature -
the beauty, calm and peace of the CA hills and shores we visited last month are like a salve…

Let it soak in….

How do you soothe and comfort yourself?
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Exactly.
This is what we do in an Alexander Technique lesson.
We learn to know what we are paying attention to and how we are attending to ourselves in the context of our environment and the activity we are engaged in.
Simple, right?

Marj Barstow used to say - “let it be that simple.” with a twinkle in her eye. 😉

One of the best tricks I know as an AT teacher is that as soon as I ask a student to pay attention, things start to change.
The very act of shifting attention enacts change -
almost like magic!

Allow yourself in this moment to notice what you’re noticing…
Invite yourself to expand what you are noticing to include your feet on the floor and seat in the chair…
Now include the space above you, behind you and to the sides of you.
Has anything shifted in your breathing? Your overall comfort? Your mood?
Share below 👇🏽and let us know how shifting your attention changes thins...

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"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
- Henry Miller

I truly think this is the biggest challenge as an AT teacher.
Maybe because I trained as a dancer I’m particularly sensitive to the somtimes subtle (but mostly not) messaging
that leads us to think there is a “right place” to be. I was taught to “hold” and sked to maintain my “plav=cement”…

I’m not the only one however 🫢
Time after time, new students return to my studio and ask “is this right” as thry try to put themselves in a place.
And every time I despair 🤦🏻♀️
How is it that I'm teaching that??

And so I continue to question and evolve -
to find ways to bring awareness for my students towards
connectivity, relationship, context, mobility and more

and let go of place and perfection.

Curious how I do that?
Join me online for class - your first class is FREE!

Click the link in bio above 👆 to learn how to join the AT Phila learning community with classes, lessons, courses and more.

Oh Marj!
This one sneaks up on me quietly - and then gets me…

There is indeed nothing to “get.”
Nothing to “get right.”
Only something to lose.

What do we lose when we study Alexander’s discoveries?
Well - that’s up to you 😉

We gain the option to lose patterns of interference, harmful habits, preconceived notions of ourselves and the world around us, inefficient and unbalanced proclivities, and perhaps even the prison of anxiety and perpetual self-criticism.

What have you got to lose?
👆 Click the link in bio above to learn how to join the AT Phila learning community with classes, lessons, courses and more.

I captured this beauty on a recent trip to New Mexico - the vista literally took my breath away!
The opportunity to travel and see new landscapes and be in nature is truly a gift I am deeply grateful for.

The red earth in the Southwest moves me -
the sense of proportion to stand at such an overlook changes me…

Changing the scenery literally gives us new perspective 🤔

Alexander’s discoveries give us a tool-kit to “leave home” so to speak -
leaving harmful habits (at least temporarily) in order to widen our vista -
to choose a new view -
and discover a new path forwards.

If you’re ready to widen your vista, join AT Phila online or in-person -

👆 Click the link in bio above to learn how to join the AT Phila learning community with classes, lessons, courses and more.

Sometimes even our AT habits become ruts 🤦🏻♀️

That’s one reason why I proudly declare that I am not a classicist -
my super power is creating endless variations on a theme -
eimagining FM’s directions -
devising new etudes -
new imagery, analogies and similes -

To be fair - this is not the only way to teach Alexander’s discoveries -
and I wouldn’t say my way is better necessarily -
just truer to who I am and how I experience the work.

What habits have become ruts for you?
Share below 👇🏽 and tell us how you gott ourself out of the rut 😉

Click the link in bio above 👆to learn how to join the AT Phila learning community with classes, lessons, courses and more.

When we embrace confusion instead of avoiding it, wondrous learning can happen.
Your curiosity is the best leader and best teacher you have.

Liberate it.
Follow it.
Trust it.

No need to be in a hurry to reach an answer - to “get it” - or be “right”.

Embrace your confusion with curiosity and see what happens 😉

Share your experiments below👇🏽 and
👆 Click the link in bio above to learn how to join the AT Phila learning community with classes, lessons, courses and more.