BCLA's Opening Day Scuttlebutt

Tonight my new Centre in Los Angeles (BCLA) has it's opening party, and some AmSAT members gone rogue have discovered their own peculiar way of welcoming BodyChance to America. I don't usually bother with politics, but I can't resist commenting on a letter that was sent out this morning  to all the Californian Teaching members of AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique). In the nicest possible way – wishing BodyChance and Jeremy all the best – this letter politely informs everyone that those teachers involved with BodyChance's new school in LA may be kicked out of AmSAT, according to a Code of Conduct that up to now has been rarely enforced. The letter went out of it's way to name the teachers – blacklisting I believe it's called – and going on to say that if these teachers persist then they face possible loss of AmSAT membership and, the authors sadly conclude, they do not want to lose these members. So their threat is plain enough. It's an "us or them" choice - which is how all warfare is framed. Will AmSAT really assent to a holy war against BodyChance? My guess is that these more militant members of AmSAT won't let the matter rest with one letter - it's just their opening shot. It would be better they used their time to build their struggling businesses, rather than putting all this energy into trying to disable BodyChance in LA. I think their threat poses a longer term problem for AmSAT, and our wider Alexander community, which I am not sure that the authors of this letter quite grasp. AmSAT, should it act on the wishes of these writers, would suffer a backlash which could well be the undoing of a rather self-serving Code of Conduct. Ironically, their letter gives me hope for the future. Alexander Technique teachers all over the world regularly teach in Teacher Education environments that are not within the framework of the STAT-affiliated societies. This happens all over America, involving lots of AmSAT qualified teachers teaching at "non-approved" (by AmSAT) schools that end up supplying members to the alternate ATI (Alexander Technique International) Society. Up until today, there has been a generous, altruistic but unwritten rule that it is OK for an AmSAT teacher to help out on one of these "non-approved" schools, providing the teacher isn't actually a Director of Training. I know, as AmSAT politely kicked me out as a member many years ago because of my Japanese ProCourse, but still turned a blind eye when other members taught at my "non-approved" school. However, if the AmSAT Board  agrees to kick out teachers just because they work for BodyChance, it opens up a new can of worms. Can they then still continue to allow teachers to work in other non-approved schools? I think AmSAT generally has more integrity than that – which means the threat to enforce this existing Code of Conduct on BCLA means that AmSAT must now enforce this rule uniformly; or debate and discard it. BodyChance offers those teachers in it's employ an income. Teachers won't take kindly to being told they can not earn their income teaching in a manner they choose, particularly given the sorry financial state of our Profession. I am sure there will be many AmSAT teachers willing to push back against the enforcement of this Code of Conduct. A holy war within AmSAT itself? I am grateful the authors of this letter are threatening my employees with disbarment – it will give life to a much needed enquiry into the almost medieval restrictions placed around teacher training which are choking the life out of our profession. NOTE: Previously I attributed this letter to "Directors of AmSAT Teacher Education courses in Los Angeles and San Francisco." In fact this is incorrect, as there are Directors of Training who did NOT sign this letter. If you are curious who they are, I suggest you contact an AmSAT SoCal teacher and ask.