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
Equilibrium: Rights and Responsibilities
“They will see it as getting in and out of a chair the right way. It is nothing of the kind. It is that a pupil decides what he will or will not consent to do” 1
FM Alexander
In contemporary times, particularly in the West, many people have a sense of entitlement; the words ‘human rights’ are heard all too often. But what about ‘human responsibilities’? Not on a global, national, regional or even local level, but on a deeply personal level. Am I or could I be responsible for myself?
Take some situation in your life about which you find yourself inwardly complaining. (Best to start with something small.)
Stop!
Coordinate yourself!
Consider your options! Doing nothing at all, carrying on in the same way or what I call “The Monty Python Option”, i.e. doing something completely different.
You may think you have no options, but try and find some- even ones that you would in no circumstances do such as, perhaps, letting people down or being reckless (if you need some help with this you could always read The Diceman).
Then make a choice!
You may find that you choose to do the thing you are already doing, but now you are doing it because you chose to do it and, hopefully, in a more coordinated way. No one else to blame. Your choice, your responsibility!
This experiment can be a step towards taking responsibility.
It’s so interesting that in English we have this expression “take responsibility”. In all Romance Languages it is “assume responsibility”. The language reminds us that it calls for something active.
1. Teaching Aphorisms: The Alexander Journal No 7, 1972, published by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. Also published in Articles and Lectures by Mouritz (1995).
© 2014 John S Hunter
Tips4Pupils – Stopping and Inhibition; similar but different
I see ‘stopping’ as an umbrella term, which includes several different inner processes, one of which is
“… inhibiting a particular reaction to a given stimulus.”1
If I am in an agitated state, rushing, trying to do several things at once, end-gaining, unaware of my physical body – I can stop. Stopping means ceasing unnecessary activity, be it physical (muscular), emotional, nervous or mental. Miss Goldie called this ‘coming to quiet’: “Quiet throughout, with particular attention to head, neck and back“.
Stopping can be tried at any time one becomes aware of unnecessary “doing”. Sometimes, depending on the degree of agitation, we may not be able to ‘stop’ unless we withdraw for a time – even lie down. At other times it needs only a few seconds, just to remember to organise oneself. It is a psycho-physical calming down. Erika described it as “Clearing the clutter out of your mind so that you can make a decision”
As ever with Erika, “a means to an end and not an end in itself”.
Inhibition is on another level and is much more difficult – practically impossible without some experience of a quieter, more integrated (directed) state. It demands presence, awareness and a free attention at the point in time and space the stimulus is received. It is the key not to inaction but to new experiences – even true spontaneity.
Inhibition can only take place at one very specific moment; the one in which a stimulus is received. Yes, we are all receiving stimuli all the time, but I am referring to “inhibiting a particular reaction to a given stimulus.” This process takes place at “brain-thought level”, as Miss Goldie would express it, and not in the body. If the messages get into the nervous system, it is too late to ‘inhibit’. You can, of course, send countermanding messages, but that creates conflict; having energised nerve pathways, you are then trying to prevent muscles from responding. That is not inhibition, it is freezing – and is one of the causes of what is sometimes referred to as ‘the Alexandroid syndrome’. If you are too late to inhibit, then you can, of course, try and stop, i.e. come to quiet, clear away the clutter from your mind and make a fresh decision.
Neuroscientists inform us that when a stimulus is received, many reactions take place before we have become aware at a conscious level of the stimulus. That may be so; consciousness need not concern itself with everything. Nevertheless, there are certain key patterns of neural activation which take place by dint of being the paths of least resistance, and there is a micro-window of opportunity to ‘stay mentally fluid’ as stimuli begin to impact, and allow options to appear. This happens very quickly – almost in a different time-scale. It is a high-energy state in which the wonderful possibility of ‘the new’ appears, with all its freshness and at times, in the face of the unknown, a degree of trepidation.
One pupil expressed the dilemma very well:
“It is as though I step out of a prison. look around me and see that I am free. I could do anything I want. Then I turn around and step back into my prison.”
How much safer is the known!
Alexander did though see his work as evolutionary in scale. It takes time to get used to living in a new medium, as the first land creatures must also have experienced.
1. Teaching Aphorisms: The Alexander Journal No 7, 1972, published by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. Also published in Articles and Lectures by Mouritz (1995). “Boiled down, it all comes to inhibiting a particular reaction to a given stimulus.”
© 2013 John S Hunter
Being with Erika: #10, A Lesson in Stopping, London, 1993
Whenever Erika was staying with me I was always keen to get her to talk about her insights into the Alexander Technique and the key individuals involved in its discovery and transmission. Sometimes this became a distraction from actually ‘entering into the moment’.
Erika taught me a lesson, without words and without touch.
After dinner one evening I was washing up. Erika picked up a tea towel and began to dry the dishes. I was impatient to go and sit down and talk about the Alexander Technique. Erika was living it. The more I rushed, the more contrast I sensed between my movements and the freedom with which her arm would appear from somewhere behind me and pick up a plate or bowl or cup. But still I carried on along my furrow of end-gaining.
Then the hand stopped appearing. I turned a little so I could see her in my peripheral vision. She had “stopped”; not ‘frozen’, not ‘paused’ but ‘stopped’. Sometimes when one was with Erika, one became aware of her thought processes. She had stopped, and was giving herself a choice. I felt at that moment that she was perfectly free to put down the tea towel and simply walk out of the kitchen, or to remain quiet and still, or to carry on drying the dishes. She chose to carry on.
By now I had got the message; not only about my own rushing, but more critically about the difference between ‘pausing’ and ‘stopping’. Stopping opens a door into other options.
Even a seemingly mundane activity like ‘doing the washing-up’ could be a medium for teaching.
© 2013 John S Hunter
Other Posts on Being with Erika:
#01, London 1985 – Annual Memorial Lecture
#02, Brighton 1988 – Key Note Address
#03, Melbourne 1991 – “Come for lunch!”
#04, Melbourne 1991 – Tea Ceremony
#05, Melbourne 1991 – Jean Jacques by the Sea
#06, Back in Melbourne, 1992
#07, “Where did you train?”, London, 1993
#08, “It’s all the same”, London, 1993
#09, “Making the Link”, London, 1993
#11, Hands, London 1994
#12, “Yes, but you’re worrying!”, London, 1993
#13, “Nothing special”, London, 1994
Being with Erika: #09, “Making the Link”, London, 1993
I can no longer be sure of the chronology of all the following events as, after such a long time, the occasions Erika stayed with me for one or two weeks, spanning a period of some five years, have mostly blended into one.
It is interesting to record, however, the way she addressed some of the difficulties young teachers were having – rarely related to a technical question about ‘hands-on’ or what we normally think of as ‘use’, but something more existential.
To one she suggested taking up a craft, perhaps even getting a loom, recognising this person’s need for a creative outlet.
Another teacher who came told her of his constant planning inside his head from the moment he woke up in the morning. She got him to sit beside her and watch together in silence the planes flying into Heathrow airport in the distance. He told me later how, at some point, he felt the ground appear underneath him and all his tensions and worries just drain out of him; he ‘stopped’ – and came into being.
Some did come with very definite questions about this or that ‘procedure’; not being open to other possibilities, they missed an opportunity for another level of self-discovery.
One came with a question which was to capture very succinctly a problem which many had. “How do I make the link between what I have learnt in my training course – and do with my pupils – and my own ‘everyday’ life?”
I personally felt it important to pursue this theme of “making the link”; it also gave me some insight into Erika’s comment “all about teaching“.
© 2013 John S Hunter
Other Posts on Being with Erika:
#01, London 1985 – Annual Memorial Lecture
#02, Brighton 1988 – Key Note Address
#03, Melbourne 1991 – “Come for lunch!”
#04, Melbourne 1991 – Tea Ceremony
#05, Melbourne 1991 – Jean Jacques by the Sea
#06, Back in Melbourne, 1992
#07, “Where did you train?”, London, 1993
#08, “It’s all the same”, London, 1993
#10, A Lesson in Stopping, London, 1993
#11, Hands, London 1994
#12, “Yes, but you’re worrying!”, London, 1993
#13, “Nothing special”, London, 1994
Upward Thought 
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