Is Online Learning the new Group Teaching?

Back in the 70s, when I first arrived in London to train, the big scandal was group teaching.

Of course, EVERYONE KNEW you could not teach Alexander's discovery in groups. It was almost a heresy back then, a betrayal of principle. What are you thinking!?

Except that "unreasonable" teachers started to teach in groups.

The story I heard - back then - was of an infuriated Dr Wilfred Barlow, at the last STAT AGM he ever attended, pointing a finger quivering in anger at Walter Carrington:

"It is because of you!"

The STAT debate was about residential workshops being run by Walter's teachers. These had originally been launched to teach the Dart Procedures, and were now morphing into group workshops on Alexander's discovery.

Today it's almost a joke, but back then, lifelong friendships were destroyed.

Like crystals forming continents apart on the same day, in the 70s Marjorie Barstow had also started her experiments in group teaching at Austin University in the USA.

Now there is a throwback debate raging in the Alexander community.

Teaching Alexander's discovery Online - or Onlining. If sitting is the new smoking, then Onlining is the new Group Teaching à la Alexander-land.

Well, I've got bad news for the folks who believe that Online Learning is a betrayal of principle: it ain't going away. I am a big advocate. In fact, this year BodyChance Basil is launching Music Online - an AD* education service for musicians outside the metropolitan areas of Tokyo and Osaka.

BodyChance also has an extensive email marketing machine to educate our friends on the benefits of Alexander's discovery. In the last 7 days there have been:

• 31,361 emails sent out
• 20,677 emails opened
• 964 clicks on a link in email
• 96 people subscribed to something

This is Online Learning. Do you support your students by writing to them via email?

Most of our trainees started off as readers of our "mailmag" - often reading for 1 or 2 years before deciding to come to our studio. And we encourage this behaviour in their own practises. In fact, we train them to do it.

But what do you blog about?

That's where BodyThinking Online comes in. Turns out, most people feel reassured when your work has an anatomical underpinning.

Anatomy gives substance to the ethereal nature of our work.

It also gives you something to work with online. In the absence of kinaesthetic touch, what are you going to do with a digital student? By being able to observe, analyse and advise on the basis of a person's anatomical design, you've got a head start.

Movement analysis is a significant communication tool.

BodyThinking Online is the tool I built to super-size your ability. My wish was to enliven the dry anatomical information with examples and anecdotes from my 40 years of teaching. If you want to teach online, this offers you a chance to enrich your communication.

You need to register to get my special offer, and it ends May 7th.

BodyThinking Online.

*AD = Alexander's discovery. I am want to do away with AT - and I would change the name at ATSuccess, but I am too lazy to do all the work it involves.