Tag Archive | direction
November 10, 2025  

New Year Residential: “Orders” and “Directions”

 

A Three-Day Residential for Teachers and Students of the Alexander Technique

Surprisingly, some teachers now no longer teach their pupils how to direct — a loss that deprives them of one of the most fertile means of self-study and of applying the Technique in daily life.

In this residential we will explore, in depth, what F. M. Alexander and the first-generation teachers taught about ordering and directing: their different shades of meaning, their shared roots in conscious intention, and the ways each invites a different quality of awareness.

We’ll work practically and reflectively with how ordering can calm and clarify the mind, how direction awakens orientation and relationship in space, and how both together lead toward the integrated directive state that unites thought and movement.

See my blog post, Tips4Teachers: Some Thoughts about “Orders” and “Directions”, for an introduction to the ideas behind this course.

Dates: Friday 2 – Sunday 4 January
Cost: £420 (including accommodation in twin, single-sex rooms and all meals)
Overnight accommodation is also available on 1 and 4 January to facilitate travel.
CPD: 15 hours

To enquire about availability, please email me.

Schedule

Time Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
08:00-09:00   Breakfast Breakfast
09:30-11:00   Session 4 Session 8
11:00-11:30 Coffee Coffee Coffee
11:30-13:00 Session 1 Session 5 Session 9
13:00-15:00 Lunch & break Lunch & break Lunch & break
15:00-16:30 Session 2 Session 6 Session 10
16:30-17:00 Tea Tea Tea
17:00-18:30 Session 3 Session 7 Departure
19:30-21:30 Dinner Dinner  
October 20, 2023  

Second Weekend Masterclass

It was so interesting that the programme, and even the menus, for the second weekend were just the same as the first – and yet, with a different group of people, the event was so different.

We were so lucky to have good weather and be mostly outdoors.

With the permission of the writers, I will share some feedback from this course.

The next weekend residential masterclass will be from 5 to 7 January 2024. Contact me for details.

First of all, thank you very much for the residential weekend and your kind extra hospitality! It was really generous from you to share everything with us, your house, your wisdom, your presence, your example. As I said there, I got a very good refresher of the Alexander technique. It was powerful and inspiring, encouraging me to keep up with it. 

On the Sunday, I felt already the wonderful effects of being busy with the technique for two days. I was feeling light, pain-free, energised, easy in my body and movements… I felt happy!

The atmosphere at your home with you and the other students was super pleasant to me! I really enjoyed your comfortable house and felt super cosy sharing a room with Gabriella. The fact that the sessions were in the garden made it extra pleasant and I think that was very helpful for keeping the learning atmosphere light and so enjoyable.

It was great to learn with the other ladies. To enjoy my dear Gabriella’s presence.  To practise with and get feedback from the qualified ones. And actually to be with all of them, each one made a precious contribution to the course, sharing what they had.

I got a lot of inspiration from watching Naama playing the Beatles. Normally I feel very upset with myself in this kind of situation because I am never able to play anything without a music sheet. But this time I think I was able to stop and choose to think something different: “let’s see how she does it, let’s see what I can learn from her” and when I watched her it didn’t seem so difficult, and I got the sense I would be able to learn it too and the motivation to do it. So, when I came back, I made the resolution of playing a little bit from ear every day. 

Also, it felt really good when I played some Beethoven on Sunday. I was able to really enjoy the music and enjoy that I was able to sight read it. I didn’t know you and Naama were sitting down listening, but when I found out your words of appreciation meant also a lot to me, thank you!

I also feel very grateful for the reassurance and the encouragement you gave me to go on with the AT and teach it.

I was reminded that I have the possibility to take my time to think the means whereby for any end.

I also loved how you taught us about directions in the hands-on, as coming from a smooth movement and meeting the person.

How if we wanted the person to move we needed to be movable ourselves.

I loved to be able to walk so light and easy with the hands-on walking game.

I realized I need to realize that I have freedom to choose.

The idea of a flux state of mind instead of a fixed one.

The hands on back of a chair with extra rotation was very helpful, and especially for piano playing.

The talks in and outside the sessions where very much inspiring and appreciated.

And I really appreciate your open, truthful, gentle, quiet presence. The clarity of your teaching and the being able flow into singing and to telling us stories.

Elena
AT teacher and pianist

 

I value the time I spent at John’s masterclass weekend retreat in September. It was an enjoyable and invaluable learning experience with a group of 7 people all interested like me in deepening more into the understanding of the work.

We explored different themes and one of them was the primary postural pulls. John demonstrated “hands on a student” and then allowed us one by one to explore the same movement with him and each other. The pace was just perfect, with lots of inhibition and directions.

I felt comfortable and at ease as John created a safe learning environment. 

I also loved the time spent preparing the meals and eating together, the discussions around the tables and the singing in the evening.

Thank you, John, for sharing your knowledge and your lovely home, bringing everyone together and making the weekend a special time.

Daniela 
AT teacher MSTAT

 

The course responded brilliantly to the interests and needs of every participant. It is such a privilege to witness and receive John’s art of teaching! My main interest was to refine my teaching skills and hands on work.

On another level, it was a joy to reconnect with old Alexander friends and meet new wonderful people. We cooked and enjoyed together delicious meals. In a word: a unique mix of learning hugely and having a great time. 

Anca
AT teacher

 

Alexander Technique made me discover a profound way of transforming my whole being and helped me understand what unfavorable effects my usual way of “using myself” can have, so I came to this Masterclass with the intention of refreshing and deepening my ability to apply Alexander Technique in everyday life. The opportunity to do this under the guidance of John Hunter is a chance for which I am deeply grateful.

Several times during this Masterclass, each of us individually benefited from personalized guidance from John. On the second day (at the exercise where we apply Alexander Technique while walking), as a result of the few minutes that John checked and corrected my use, I felt a continuous flow of upward energy in the spinal area. I perceived this upward flow as an engine that fuels and even energizes me as I walk. I felt as if I was being carried on the arms. My back had awakened and was strong like a massive door that (not only supported itself, but) was also in a continuously uplifting direction. I continued to walk through the workspace, and I felt that this transformation that I felt in my body produced such profound effects on me that I became a completely different person, much more confident and more free than I used to be. Although my usual “relaxed-collapsed” attitude had disappeared, my wrists were moving freely, the inner state was one of serenity and joy.

Another exercise that left deep traces in my being is the exercise in which a colleague played the role of “student” and I was the one who had to offer her Alexander Technique guidance – of course under the careful guidance of John. On this occasion I felt in my body how much an Alexander Technique professor has to work on himself moment by moment and how non-intrusive needs to be the guidance he offers to the student through touch. Thus, practicing the “hands-on” exercise became for me an opportunity to work on my own being so intensely that the effect could be transmitted subtly, by means of touches (gentle but firm) on the exercise partner. I also received feedback from my colleague who was at that moment in the role of “student”, and I was amazed to learn that such a gentle touch on my part can have such great effects on another. I remember now how in my first meetings with Alexander Technique I was so amazed: I didn’t understand why my being suddenly transformed (like a Phoenix Bird) when the teacher only lightly touched my neck or my back…

Another discovery I remember is that during the practical exercises, when I invited my back to expand, I saw that I could intentionally and consciously connect not only with the lumbar area but also with the intercostal muscles of the floating ribs. The effect of this discovery remained even after the Masterclass, even when I did not remember to do this consciously. In the days that followed I was amazed to notice that during breathing my ribs moved freely and fluidly like an underwater plant and that the resonance of my voice had become wide and deep. Although during the workshop I did the exercise related to breathing and vocal sounds only once, I discovered with amazement that the effects of this exercise were maintained over time. My voice continues to be softer and warmer. Even my attitude became much more lenient. I noticed that when I feel like reacting impulsively, a new attitude of patience and compassion awakens inside me. Even when I express a critical opinion, I do it with much more gentleness and tolerance. When I remember the individual exercise at the end of the Masterclass it helps me to access and relax a deeper part of the muscles inside the ribcage.

The experience lived at the masterclass this September 2023 was much richer than I can describe in words. During these 3 days I also had experiences that I am only now beginning to understand little by little. Maybe I overlooked them at the time, but my body’s memory is starting to remember parts of the practical teaching that was shared and passed on to us.

I tried to reawaken in my being the intense experiences I lived there, but I did not manage to access all the inner processes that generated those effects. Therefore, I began to apply little by little what remained in my memory and in the memory of my body.

Cristina
Actress, Acting Teacher

March 10, 2023  

Lessons with Miss G: #6, “My Way”

“Quiet throughout, with particular attention to head, neck and back” came the familiar mantra from Miss G, as she gently tapped the back of my head with one finger.

After a minute or so (one’s sense of time was very different in her teaching room) she asked me, somewhat incongruously – and almost in a tone of curiosity, as if we were chatting over a cup of coffee, “Have you heard of an American singer called Francis Sinatra?”

“Yes Miss Goldie,” I replied, wondering where she was going with this.

“Then are you familiar with a song he recorded entitled ‘I Did It My Way’?”

“Yes Miss Goldie”, my attention dancing now between the anticipation of what might be coming next and the call back to the quiet energy that flowed, under her touch, between my head and spine.

“Well …” she said, stepping back so I no longer had that external reminder to ‘not interfere with head, neck and back’, her voice rising now in a crescendo “… he got it quite wrong you know! It’s not about doing it your way. It’s doing it your way that’s got you into the mess you’re in today.”

I’m saying to myself, “Don’t react! Stay quiet! Head, neck and back……”

“You want to stop doing it your way. Not your way”, her voice quietening now, her hand coming back to my head/neck area. “Not your way, but Nature’s way.”

I began to see that inhibition and direction are two aspects of a way of being; they are inextricably linked.

© 2013 John S Hunter

The Trustees of the Charity for the F Matthias Alexander Technique are piloting what we call a “legacy project” with the aim of recording and storing material about first-generation teachers trained by F M Alexander. The first subject of the project will be Margaret Goldie (1905-1997).Anyone who knew Miss Goldie, either in a personal capacity or as a pupil, is invited to contact the Charity with a view to participating in the project: https://www.fmatcharity.org/legacy-project.html
Email us on enquiries@atfriends.org

November 14, 2018  

Cult of the hands

My friend and colleague Terry Fitzgerald, a fine teacher of both the Alexander Technique and Ballroom Dancing, told me while attending one of his classes many years ago that “a good dance teacher can make it work for you”. It’s true! When one begins to study and practice partner dancing it soon becomes apparent that there is a communication between leader and follower which is similar in many ways to that between teacher and pupil in an Alexander lesson. Intention, typically related to familiar outcomes – be they dance steps or, in our case, the rather more prosaic movement in or out of a chair – is transmitted through movement and touch. In both cases though, all parties need a basic familiarity with both the choreography involved and the language of the leader or teacher. In finer moments of Dance the delineation of roles becomes blurred; two people move as one, moved by and moving to the music. There is neither leader nor follower – reminiscent of that moment in an Alexander lesson when “It’s just happening”.

FM is reported to have come into the training course one day and announced to everybody that “Now I can give it to them whether they want it or not!”. Like Terry’s “good dance teacher” FM could “make it work” for his pupils.

It can be beautiful to watch gifted dancers moving together to music. Watching a couple of people performing their Alexandrian “pas de deux” can look rather bizarre, though for the trained eye there are nuances of significant change taking place.

Nevertheless, the process is largely one of becoming familiar with the nature of the messages and how to respond to them. Different lineages have different languages of touch and different choreographies, which can make it more difficult for teachers or students from one school to work with those of another than for most dancers to adapt to a new partner; it’s more like learning an entirely new dance.

Patrick Macdonald once commented that it did not matter which words one used to represent the directions, one could, for example, say to oneself “Coca Cola” instead of head forward and up – as long as the words corresponded to the experience. The teacher gives the experience and by a kind of association the words come to represent it. “Up to a point, Lord Copper,” for herein lies a trap. Unless and until pupils go through the process of rediscovering Inhibition and Direction for themselves, they will continue to seek out the sensory satisfaction that comes from the teacher’s hands. A good teacher can make it work for you, but also needs to know when not to, and when and how to help you find your own insights. Learning to respond to the teachers hands must, at some point, give way to learning to make your own decisions and respond to your own intentions.

Trying to teach without hands is fraught with difficulties as the Alexander brothers discovered in the early years. The attempt to explain everything in words can all get very complicated.

Hands-on work, the great gift of the Alexander Technique, has in some ways become its limitation. The medium has become the message. Although in its present form the Technique is indeed a boon for humanity, the evolutionary secret at the heart of it still has to be found in the depths of one’s own being, in places which cannot be touched by even the most gifted hands – but only by one’s own consciousness.

© 2018 John S Hunter

July 23, 2015  

Reflections on History & Development, #1: Trees & Fruit, Alexander’s early influences

F. Matthias Alexander was one of those rare human beings: an innovator in the field of human potential. His research was always practical and experiential. At a time when psychology was moving more and more into the realm of the unconscious, Alexander was exploring consciousness, in particular at the level of the interrelationship between the physical and the mental aspects of human functioning.

What he discovered is that as humanity evolved we developed our intellectual capacities more quickly than our physical and sensory capacities, and this resulted in a parting of the ways, a dualism. In a properly integrated human being there is a constant two-way flow between mind and body; intention flowing into activity modulated by feedback.

Certainly Alexander was not, as perhaps some may have thought, a “blank sheet of paper” (but then if one thought about it how could he – or anybody – have been). Recent research is bringing to light a great deal of material about the period in which Alexander was developing his ideas and practice. What is clear from this research is that many of the principles and ideas used by Alexander can be found elsewhere (and some of them I will explore in these writings). To me that is not at all surprising. There have always been human beings who are interested in philosophy, health, self-improvement, posture, energy, mind and body, respiratory and vocal techniques, etc., etc. One has only to look at some of the most ancient texts – or other forms of transmission – to see that these questions constitute fundamental issues for human beings. When one starts along this path, one is not the first or the last to do so. It is a path of discovery shared by those human beings who have that particular interest, which might be termed “evolutionary”, in the exploration of the self. What one then finds along that path cannot in essence be very different from what others have found. We are not different in our functioning or our possibilities from our ancestors. If Alexander ‘borrowed’ or ‘stole’ from others, from what sources did these others in their turn draw, and similarly those before them and so on? What is important is that a human being has the potential to develop; some do and some don’t. The ideas are around us and can be found. The point then is to make something practical and useful for oneself in order to embody the ideas; very few achieve that. Alexander was such a person, and that it why so many of us are interested in him rather than the various ‘others’ who may have shared parts of his journey. That he found something of a different order is apparent to any sensitive person who has worked with or even been in the presence of those who were his pupils. A tree is judged by its fruit.

Although others may help to open the door into the ‘inner world’, once you are there you are on your own. Nobody can do the work of integrating your organism for you; and in just this lies the mystery (though this does not appeal to the scientific mind). ‘Non-doing’ or a “directed (integrated) state” are not things that anybody discovered or invented, they are states which can be entered into.

Certain ‘researchers’ into early influences are now trying to make a case that Alexander was at best a synthesiser and at worst a plagiarist of other peoples work.

I have to say that I find their arguments very weak, because there is no evidence that any of the people who might have influenced him, directly or indirectly, ever reached such a level of realisation as he did, otherwise there would be many more traces of their work. Where is the fruit of those trees?

I can’t help thinking that if some of those ‘researchers’ (not all) had ever spent half an hour in Margaret Goldie’s teaching room or had felt Patrick Macdonald’s hands on them for even ten minutes, they might understand that they are barking up the wrong tree altogether. But there again, perhaps they would not.

© John Hunter 2015

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