Alexander Technique

I'm not trying to diminish anything.

Some people practice martial arts and they also are engaged in somatic traditions like Alexander Technique or the Feldenkrais method.

That's what's called an ecology, right? So your life is made up of this ecology.

You have this practice, this practice, this practice, your job, your work, your relationships with people, your activities and hobbies.

Why am I here? Or Meister Eckhart, right? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Why do bad things always happen to me? Why can't I never get ahead? Whatever those are, those are different things that also should be brought into this ecosystem and are part of this ecosystem, really.

And then somatic practices, and how is that different from, for example, the internal arts or martial arts? Well, somatic practices are practices that work within the body.

So these are things like the Feldenkrais method, right, or the Alexander technique, body scanning, breath awareness, pandiculation.

And then relational practices, and what are they? Well, many levels, right? So that's how we relate to ourselves.

I always like to say kind of where it came from so we can understand what it is.

So body mapping came out of the Alexander Technique.

And a brief what is the Alexander Technique, if you're uncertain, is Alexander was an actor.

And he realized he was having sore throats as he would perform and recite Shakespeare.

They weren't quite happening as much in practice, as much in performance.

So he decided to just watch himself in the mirror and try to figure out, what am I doing? And he realized a number of things.

And one of them is kind of pulling his head back and down or... adding tension into his voice to kind of perfect the outcome instead of being free through the process.

So he developed the Alexander technique and lots of musicians, dancers, actors use the Alexander technique.

And that's, that was, that was mad.

Doing a lot of things, doing things like Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique.

I'll fall asleep in those classes.

Stop

it still promotes the following treatments under the complementary medicine banner.

Acupuncture, chiropractic, aromatherapy, naturopathy, spiritual healing, crystal therapy, good grief, reflexology, energy therapies, Reiki, Qigong, electromagnetic field therapy, TCM, Ayurvedic medicine, Anthroposophical Medicine, not sure what that is, Healing Touch, Rolfing, Ferenchreis, Alexander Technique, and Homeopathy.

Secondly, NICM and UWS are nominated for planning to establish an on-campus TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine, clinic for the general public.

So, yeah, not any press interest that year that I could find.

[laughs] So, um, you, you, you...

That was a- an interesting background 'cause you, uh, you learned meditation and yoga and the Alexander technique.

Talk about how that kind of set everything up for you.

You know, um, it, it really did because it got me in tune with my body and really paying attention more with my body and the subtleties of that.

And, and I mean, I guess, so, you know, that, that is the full circle with me and everything horn related.

So, you know, the f- the, the, the alpha and the omega of my horn story is that I had the great blessing of teaching, um, Bernard Scully the Alexander Technique.

So my own musical background is in opera.

Um, my academic background was, uh, you know, obviously in foreign service at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, which, you know, obvious connection to music.

Kind of my thumbnail sketch of my experience is that actually when I was a graduate student in Bloomington, I had a very bad car accident, um, right out in front of the School of Music on Third Street, just down the street from where you are, Katie, and that really changed the course of my life.

I had just come back from an audition tour and, um, I was debilitated for a number of years.

Um, and during that time, you know, I had, I'd had some connection to the Alexander Technique.

I mean, I knew what it was, roughly speaking.

I think it was called Kyogen, the dance that we did.

Afro-Haitian dance and, um, Alexander technique, Stanislavski technique.

I learned what a monologue was from going from after my, uh, audition.

Like, I didn't even know what I was doing.

That's what all the training is for, getting the obstacles out of the way.

And one more thing she carries with her from her Alexander Technique teacher, which she says she finds strangely comforting.

Allow all the possibilities to be on the table, including complete catastrophe, because only then are you free to move.

Release the audience from having to like it.