| I have been learning
the AT with Harriet for almost three years now and I am still
intrigued by it. The intriguing thing is that I am not really
aware of learning anything at all, but during the course of the
lessons I have discovered a better way of dealing with the business
of everyday life. This has brought with it an increased sense
of well-being – a sense of being more in tune with myself
and living life – to a greater degree - on my terms.
I don’t want to give the impression that learning the
Technique has solved all my problems, but what it has given
me is a new way of dealing with worrying or stressful situations
that are part of normal life. In learning this skill I have
discovered new, often simpler, ways of doing things – with
surprisingly good results.
It is important for me to say that I believe that I have found
an excellent teacher in Harriet. She has an expert knowledge
of the Technique and a personal commitment to it, but she also
has had the patience and understanding to be able to show me
how to make good use of the Technique in my situation.
What follows is a more detailed and personal account of my
experience of learning the Alexander Technique with Harriet.
AT Workshops.
My first experience of the AT was at a workshop run by Harriet
three years ago. The workshop offered to help me develop my
Personal Presence and was of particular relevance to me as
a teacher. I went along expecting to do various exercises and
to come away with some sort of recipe for success. I didn’t
expect it to be easy, but I did expect some obvious results.
As is often the case with AT, what actually happened was completely
different from what I expected. I remember being in a small,
friendly but disparate group and being invited to do some simple
(surprisingly simple) activities e.g. rolling a ball across
the circle in various ways …… We were then asked
to consider how we had felt whilst performing these activities
and to share our thoughts on this. Our attention was thus drawn
to the link between our emotional and physical worlds. Some
of the activities seemed silly, some bizarre.
What I realised later was that I had never really stopped
to think about why I did the things I did and why I did them
in a particular way. It dawned on me that a lot of my behaviour
was automatic and it really was worth stopping to consider
my choices – yes, I did have choices - more carefully.
I was hooked.
Three years later I still think back to those activities.
I can now better understand their relevance to the issue of
Personal Presence and still find the questions they raised
interesting. Not that I have answers to all those questions,
even now.
Since then I have attended other Workshops with Harriet on
different topics. They tend to follow the same pattern: deceptively
simple activities, reflection, sharing, intrigue, insight,
the possibility of change, surprises.
I had left the first workshop with the feeling that the Technique
had something valuable to offer, so I arranged some one-to-one
lessons with Harriet.
One-to-one Lessons
Sense of Calm.
I can still remember my first lesson. I was struck both by
the sense of calm in the room and by the calm way in which
Harriet conducted the lesson. I don’t remember much of
the detail of the lesson. But I do remember that that evening
my husband said to me: ‘You’re different. Something
about you has changed.’ I believe that I had brought
a deep sense of calm home with me, although I wasn’t
consciously aware of it, and was amazed to think that this
had communicated itself to another person.
This sense of calm seems to me to be fundamental to the AT.
It is a good place to return to when things get tricky, or
perhaps I should say it is a good place to start from.
Mind and Body Working Together.
Since then Harriet has gently guided me towards new ways of
sitting, standing and walking, enabling me to release tension.
She has taught me to recognise the bad habits that have developed
in my physical and emotional self and to change to new, “easier” ways.
What this means in everyday life is that I can recognise when
I am going about things the ‘wrong’ way. It could
be that I am trying too hard at something or that I am asking
too much of myself or others. This often leads to tension,
conflict, disappointment - as we all know.
On a day-to-day level this has meant that I go about things
like shopping and preparing meals with a different attitude.
I generally feel less stressed. This has led to a new openness – a
willingness to try new things. This may sound trivial, but
I am now prepared to try new vegetables or new recipes, which
has made life more interesting both for me and my family. Similarly
(- in the sense of innovation !) I suggested to my husband
that we take up ballroom dancing. This is something I have
thought about for a long time – influenced no doubt by
TV shows – but never really had the courage to do. So
far we are both enjoying the experience.
Going back to the AT lessons: whilst working on the way I
behave physically, Harriet and I generally have a quiet conversation
about, well, anything that springs to mind - some aspect of
the Technique that I’ve found useful or something that
has happened to one of us recently. The conversation often ‘settles’ on
something that has been troubling me: perhaps a problem in
the family or something at work.
My experience is that Harriet is able to help me to look at
such a situation from a more detached perspective and so offer
me new insights into the way I have been behaving. It is often
the case that my own thoughts or emotions (my emotional bad
habits) have been getting in the way of a happier situation.
Typical bad habits could be misplaced good intentions or over-anxiety.
It can sometimes be weird to look at things from a new viewpoint.
It can be unsettling or it can bring with it a sense of relief.
This new way of looking at things usually involves me in changing
my behaviour and so taking risks. It has been important for
me to realise that making these changes must be a gradual process,
but I have had enough confidence in Harriet and the AT to do
so. As a result I have been able to untangle situations that
have caused me, and others, distress for a long time and find
better ways of doing things.
Recently Harriet has applied the principles of AT to help
me improve the use of my voice. I have learnt to release unnecessary
tension and make more effective use of my breath and speech
organs to produce ‘better quality’ sounds – often
to my utter amazement.
But this was only possible once I had dealt with the emotional
demons that told me ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I’m
not good enough’, which seemed to have a stranglehold
on my throat. I had to face up to these thoughts – I
think it helped to articulate them - and learn to put them
in their place, before I could make any progress on the physical
aspects of voice production.
Recognising these demons in relation to voice work has done
me a lot of good. I can now recognise how much damage they
do in other areas of my life and aim to discount them there
in the same way.
The skill of the teacher.
When I started to learn the Alexander Technique with Harriet
I used to enthuse to my friends about the Anderson Technique.
I think this was a very telling slip of the tongue. I found
the Alexander Technique interesting, but I was also very impressed
with the way in which Harriet presented it. She was invariably
calm, patient and precise – in tune with the principles
of the Technique. I found her manner very re-assuring, especially
as I found some of the Technique puzzling at first.
For me one key aspect of AT is the way in which it responds
to the needs of the particular student. So I have especially
appreciated Harriet’s willingness to listen and respond
thoughtfully to my problems, to explain and to discuss. She
has always been able to give me precise, useful information
about the Technique and its application. I very quickly had
a feeling of confidence and trust in her and her work, which,
after all, is essential when dealing with the fundamentals
of life – how we move and how we think.
Janet Beyer, mother, housewife and part-time teacher
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