M01.08 Question One: What drives you towards this career? Or Technical Break-Through Event!!! (did you read yesterday’s blog?)

Updated May 14th, 2013. In a late night Skype chat with Costin in Romania, he solved my problem of gathering all your information from Survey Monkey and assembling it so that we have only the answers the first step of my 12 Step Plan. Here are your responses* *This document will be revised tomorrow to include up-to-date data. If yours is not here, come back tomorrow and check…   IN THE ORDER THAT THEY WERE RECEIVED… Suze Huson (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? As a clinical psychologist I noticed that talking is really limited for certain problems and I find a psycho-physical appraoch like AT very useful. Further my own development asked for changes and AT helps me a lot with that.   Nicholas Brandon (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Personal growth and transformation.  Being able to earn a living using my self as a tool.   Ulf Tölle MPH (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Interest in Movement, and esp. in Movement Health   malona alexander (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Learning and teaching simple but powerful ideas about the mind/body connection.  Love of  movement, and feeling comfortable in my skin.   Maleen Schultka (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? My whole self that wants to live a fantastic life, doing what I want, supporting my children and earning the money to do so myself. I want to push AT in the first row, in the front line of business, nobody should be able to say they have never heard of it.   Franis Engel (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? A lifelong interest in psychology, conscious awareness and potential.   Dr. Maria Weiss (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I have been teaching the Alexander Technique since 2001 and have been living from teaching since 2005.   Besides my academic education ( Magister artium in Music education for high schools, Magister artium in flute education, diploma in voice education, DMA in voice performance) I earned diplomas in music kinesiology, Reiki, Alexander Technique (AmSAT 2001, ATVD 2006, ATI 2013).     I want to find out more and more how the Technique can be applied to daily life or even more how to teach the Technique so that the students can apply the Technique from lesson one on.   Anya Tømte (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Horses has been my passion since childhood. I started working as a groom/rider at an early age, but recurring problems with tendinitis/RSI put a stop to it. It was through that problem that I discovered the Alexander Technique. However, what made me do the training course was that my riding and relationship to the horse dramatically improved as a result of my lessons. Learning to do less, and discovering the marvellous worlds that opens up as a result of it, is what drives me in my personal work; a desire to share it, and make enough money that I can keep paying my own teachers (and eat, and feed my horses), is what makes me want to have a successful business.   Judy (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Frances Kimmel (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Eve Bernfeld (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I want to earn a living in a profession that is honorable and helps people.  The Alexander Technique brings together elements of all the fantasy careers I ever had as a child: teacher, writer, doctor, detective, Jedi. . .  It also allows me to use all my prior training and experience (I have an M.A. in Theatre Education and have taught drama for over a decade, am also an actor and singer, and have worked in non-profit arts administration).    I chose to train to be an AT teacher (besides just falling in love with the work) because I fancied it would be a career where I could have flexible hours (for when I have kids) and a high enough hourly wage that I wouldn't have to work 40-60 hours per week in order to earn a living.  I have a close friend who is a very successful Pilates Instructor and I imagined it would be like that.  It never occurred to me that Pilates is a household name at this point, but nobody has ever heard of the Alexander Technique.      I didn't train in order to have a nice hobby while I do something else for money.  Earning a living is of the utmost importance for me, not only because everybody needs to eat, but also as a matter of principle.  I was quite proud that I was able to make a living in the theatre in my 20s.  I never imagined this would be so challenging (I was very naive--it didn't occur to me for a long time to think of myself as an entrepreneur!), but if this work is important, and I believe it is, I don't see why we shouldn't be able to earn a living teaching it!   Angela Bradshaw (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Alexander Technique relieved me of a debilitating RSI, and as a huge added bonus allowed me to restore my health completely and improve it!    I have always been driven to help people.  Health and wellbeing has always been my life path.  My medical background has enhanced my understanding of the work and it is enormously rewarding to be able to continue my work in healthcare in this way from a strong scientific foundation.   Victoria Stanham (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Getting money money money doing something I enjoy and has meaning for me. I want to work in something that requires that I work on myself (what better match than AT?). I would gladly work on myself all day, and I also want to make a living, a comfortable. I’m sick and tired of being broke! I’m tired of living on a tight budget and counting every penny. I want to have spare income to go on trips, take courses and workshops I’m interested in, study with other teachers I admire, go on holidays around the world. I would rather be very rich and relatively unknown, rather than world famous and broke, because I realized that I need the money to realize my dreams, and fame just feeds my ego with no other tangible direct benefit (indirect benefits yes, but I want benefits that I have control over!).  I find the AT a wonderful way of coming into Contact with myself and others, of uncovering the self from its layers of self-imposed falsity, of experiencing the thrill of discovery of our own potential, reaching beyond our self-imposed limits.   Eleni Vosniadou (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? AT is the passion of my life. It is one of the few things that make sense in this world and it enables and empowers me towards a happier life. I have chosen the career of a teacher in this method because through teaching it I move towards fulfillment. Practically, I want to make a living doing this. A good living. I have made my calculations and the amount that I want to make yearly cannot be made just by waiting for them to come. So, here I am!   Jeremy Chance ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? money   Nicky ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Belief in the power of life energy which is all around us and which the work of FM let flow again. Belief in the discoveries of FM which are still absolutely valid in our time but in the context with the neuroscience need to be expressed in a New Way. It's a mission for a healthier world.   chanson chanson ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I'm good at it!   sara oz rish ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? i like to help people - but more over in this time in my life i would like that people will know how to use their bodies - so they wouldn't have to go through what i had to go.   Denise Dumeyer Kangas ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I love introducing people to their potential.  The freedom that they embody when they shed what wasn't necessary all along.   Lisa First ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I have done the Alexander Technique since I was seventeen and it has remained the most meaningful work in my life!  I can't think of anything I would rather do more!   Suzanne Duncanson ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I love being able to inspire people to find the joy of the Alexander technique and leave pain and stress behind.   Viktoria Veszelik ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I find teaching interesting and inspiring. To be able to show to people that they have choice. And change needs to get to the body as well, think about body and use. I do two business now (managing a family IT business and being an Alexander Teacher) and I realized that I am so much more into learning more about AT and teaching AT. :) So when I asked myself how do I see myself in 5-10 years I see myself as a Teacher, maybe business women who works on the reputation and spreading of AT.  But one comes from the other; with the family business I had the option to be more flexible in time so I can take students. Now I am working on shifting my work more to AT then the other.   Harry Hobbs ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I haven't come across anything that gets me as excited as the Alexander Technique. The idea of providing an experience outside of habit for another person makes me passionate for this work. And among all the mind/body modes people try these days, the Technique is the only one that has proved to be worth its salt.   Jessica Locke ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Wanting other people to experience this incredible work.   Peter Inglis ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? A lifetime of seeking self actualisation via performing arts.   Maria Bucht ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I enjoy being able to help people grow and to help them both enjoys themselves more and be able to be their own best friend.   Ana Sizer ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The exciting idea of always lear something new and to be helping people.   Shula Sendowski (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? What drives me:  The need and ability to work on myself and others, the desire and ability to teach.  The need to succeed in my teaching.   Karen DeHart ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I was smitten with the Alexander Technique in my first lesson. It was a magical release from pain, limitations and fear, and the most personally empowering experience I could remember. I wanted to know how to make that magic last for me, and how to give it to others.     One of the things I love as an artist is the kinesthetic experience of painting and the gestalt of seeing.  AT gives me that experience and lets me bless others too.     And, yes, financial well- being, too.   diana miller ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Realising I can use my time and energy to help others and still work and help myself. It's a journey that has changed my perspective ,use and thinking in life! So the impulse to continue developing drives me towards this career. A desire to give others the opportunity I was able to take when I studied AT. Also wanted to work for myself having spent years working for others.   Stella Weigel (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I'm fully aware that, with my shoulders and back as they are, I will benefit from ongoing work on myself whilst working on another as I move forward towards this career.   Stephanie Kalka (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I see so many people in pain and discomfort. I used to be one of them. The Alexander Technique is a way out and I want to use it to inspire others.   Theta Michele Drivon (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The belief that it can benefit all people. Because I feel best when I'm teaching and working on myself and exploring the principles of this Technique. I believe it holds a genuine key to consciousness, freedom, enjoyment.   Sue Rotheram (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The joy of teaching and teaching something I really believe in.   Eduardo Gómez Haedo (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Doing every day more of what I like and has meaning for me, make money, do things my way.   Louise Hérard (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The desire to explore the meaning of truth   Fumi Sasa (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? 1. Making the differences in people's lives with AT - I trained in AT at very young, right after my college graduation. Even I was a young teacher, I have made my stuedents happy and send them back to work places, sports, dance floors and performing stages. It has been 20 years, I love seeing the life change in my people.  2. Freedom of teaching schedule, work environment - I am a dancer, love moving the body. I do not see myself sitting in front of computer from 9 to 5 in a small cubicle.  3. Money - I am so fortunate to be able to set my own fee now. University teaching gave me only $17 raise in 7 years, asking every semester, this gave me a strong motivation to go fully independent on my AT practice.  I just paid downpayment to purchase a condominium in San Francisco, a big commitment to live in an expensive city. It's time for me to upgrade my earning and create a system to produce the passive income, so I can retire by age 50.   Deni Jones (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The amazing work of the Alexander Technique:because I know how good it is; becuse it works; because so many people would benefit from it;because everyone should use it ! Also my euphoria in teaching it ! It's a'natural' for me.  It make me feel better too !  I would also love to earn money at something I love to much and teach so well - and would benefit so many people who don't know about it yet !   Angela Leidig (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Enjoyment, helping others, my own learning, love of the Technique and how it has helped me   Diego Kantor (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I´ve been dancing contact improvisation for many years and injured my shoulder. I´m also a audiovisual producer.   Andrea Bruno (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I believe that sharing this work with others will help me maintiain the work.  I welcome the opportunity to be involved with others that believe in the work.   Pia Quaet-Faslem (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? After a highly intellectual academic career, finding the Alexander-Technique was a life changing experience.  Teaching the Alexander-Technique, I am constantly involved in a learning process by teaching. It never gets boring. It is highly rewarding by itself. Also, I see teachers 70+, who move around at ease withthemselfes, agil, healthy, beautiful. This is what I aim for when I get old (I am 42).    Nevertheless, I also face the challenge of needing to earn money with this work. In my "old" company life, money was never an issue - I got plenty. Now, not being employed, this is different. Till now, my husband has cared for most of the families income, but it is not sure, whether he can continue this. I want to take care for my family and myself financialy.    When I was beginning to take this money aspect more seriously in my mind, your blog appeared on the internet - a huge help!   Meike Strohbach (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I love to exchange with people and to discover with them how they can make their life easy and joyful with help of becoming more conscious abaut their way to react. I want to make spent my life with the Alexandertechnique and my capacity to energetically support healing processes. The energetic work comes by itself (muscles blockage just go and are freed from inside resulting in a pulsing wave through the whole body) or can support explicit wishes from the pupil (a mental blockage, an emotional problem). Thus people go out of my lessons calm in mind and free in the body.    I am fascinated by using kinesthesia,  inclusive awareness and joint flexibility while making music – I love to work on improving sound richness, resonance and security while presenting on stage (Musicians, actors and presenters). For me soundwaves can be felt inside the body and be translated into movements that go together with breathing and do support the soundproduction (singing, making music). I can support calming the mind by singing (with overtones). In a sense it could be that I can teach best emotional/nervic sensible people.   Pablo Vasca (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I like the work very much. I soon will retire and so started training in AT to have a lovely work for my pleasure and growth. After finishing training I would like to give some private lessons during my spare time. I don't have to make a living from this, but I would be interested to know how to build a small practice effectively.   Natalia Danielczyk (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? A wish to do something useful, personal interest or even fascination with the workings of human body-mind, huge potential for development in many dimensions - the business, myself as a person and teacher, the work itself in the context of recent and future science development, many perspectives available and the uniqueness of the work (which also means that there's not so much competition, at least where I am - I could be a kind of a pioneer here:)   Kyoko Miyoshi (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? To earn my living  To continue inquiry hole life long  To live an interesting life  To meet people having similer interest and enjoy living with them  To spread happy life awaking every moment   Ariel Weiss (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I am in awe of the power and simplicity of this work and its ability to unfold endlessly. I am 30 years in and never get bored!  I like people and adore helping people do all sorts of things better.  I need to pay bills and my daughter is going off to college in a year and a half.   Jennifer Roig-Francoli (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I absolutely love connecting with people in a meaningful way which inspires them and inspires me to improve, fulfilling our potential and deepest purpose in life.   Jennifer Mackerras (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I have a passion for seeing people be more successful than they currently are.  I am also keen to improve my earning potential so that my family can make fairly fundamental changes to its income structure.   David Nesmith (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? For me it feels more like a vocation that chose me.   Nikki Brin (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Helping people.   Having a career that makes me feel like I make a difference.   Having a career that helps me out  as well as helping other people.  Freedom compared to my current career.   Adrian Farrell (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Fascination at the power of human development.   Lisa Clarke (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Loving how I change and grow through applying the Alexander Technique.   dawn robinson (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Think the Alexander Technique is wonderful and has so much potential. Also provides the flexibility for me to create with it a business that suits my life and interests. Need to earn money but I do want to have a sense of achievement that I am making a difference to peoples lives and that I can build a successful business.   Itsuko (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I am learning AT in LA. I have joined some classes at BC in Tokyo and taken the book course on the web. So I am interested in your approach because it is different from others.   Diego Kantor (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I´ve been dancing contact improvisation for many years and injured my shoulder.   Philip Nessel (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I am guided by the conviction that, through the AT, I can make an important contribution to contemporary efforts in Cognitive Science to heal the centuries old wound of body mind dissociation in global culture.   Erik Seadale (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? This is one thing I know how to do well.   Brant Patford ([email protected], ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I've started evolving a Word document with all this information which I'd be happy to email over rather than copy and paste without the images and formatting.   Nicole (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? Belief that the discoveries of FM are still valid and Need to be  made known to many many more people in the world.   Dominique Jacques (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? The joy and excitment I have, being a catalyst for people to change and evolve into being freer   Rodrigo Suarez (, ) 1. What drives you towards this career? I have been teaching the technique in Mexico City in a full-time basis for 13 years. I love learning Alexander Technique myself, so I need money to go and take courses abroad. I enjoy contributing deeply to someone else's well being, I enjoy the variety and creativity of teaching: helping people in very different situations: running, being more expressive in  their music playing, giving birth, dealing with strong emotions, getting read of strong physical pain, using the voice.  Since the last 3 years I have a new passion, as strong as A.T.: I've been studying Nonviolent Communication and now I'm also teaching it. This approach includes very effective tools to process feelings and getting in touch with your needs. I see it as a complement to Alexander Technique, partly because to reduce muscle tension you need know how to deal with your feelings. I need money to continue taking NVC courses abroad and to certify as a trainer.  I am quite busy teaching Alexander Technique. I would like to have more time to rest and to work on myself. For Thar I would probably need to charge more for my lessons.   I'm 37 now, time to start thinking about having children. If I have children I would like to earn more money so that I can keep a family and still have time to rest, play, work on myself and take courses.  I've just started giving courses together with my girlfriend. She teaches clown and is also into NVC. I'm driven towards doing more things together with her.  Now, if I'm very idealistic about the future that I dream of, I would like to be in a place with space, clean air and plants rather than a big city, eating organic food, teaching A.T. combined with N.V.C. I would like to contribute to the spread of N.V.C. in the world in a big scale because I believe that it is a tool that the world needs for peace and for everybody's needs to matter.   Alain Lafontaine (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? It helped me to get rid of my pain,at least to manage it   I am a kinesthetic person,(pianist) I love to work with my hands. I love to teach individually, I am also piano teacher. I just love the technique. I had a wonderful and inspiring first Alexander teacher (Eilleen Troberman   Jackie (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? I am 57 this year and I do not wish to retire ever. I want to live and teach the Alexander Technique until I drop, I came to teaching the technique late (25 years after my first lesson), I do not want to stop!    I want my partner to work less; I want to earn enough for him to believe it is OK to work less.    I want to earn enough money to get my teeth fixed.    My fabulous daughter is talented and ambitious and poised at the beginning of her career(s), apart from love her to bits (which is easy peasy), I believe one of the best things I can do for her is to be engaged, passionate and connected with the work & the AT world.   Tom Koch (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Sara ([email protected], James) 1. What drives you towards this career? I want to do something that uses all of my skills and talents, and I want to do something that makes money wile healing the earth.  I believe that by teaching people to make better choices in their lives that the earth will start to heal along with her people.  I want to say I had a positive impact on the lives of the people around me.  I also want to do something that's a little risky, but is worth the risk and it's not just about money. I have a drive to heal people and I believe the Alexander Technique can do that in a way that's going to make a difference.   Doug Shenefield (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? The moments when I help someone connect with their thinking in a new way and there is that aha experience we share. The fun of exploration in what is happening now and can that change. Not being part of the corporate world at a desk pushing paper. Not being in the deadline oriented world of the trades, which I am very familiar with.   Dream Holloway (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Lisa Lutton (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? At the moment, the recollection that I love this work, even though I don't feel that love for it very often right now.  For about two years I have been doubting my commitment to the Alexander Technique, and though I have periods of rekindled enthusiasm for it, I seem to be stuck in my motivation.  But up until about two years ago I was deeply committed to this work and very enthusiastic about it.  That enthusiasm returns every time I stand in front of a group and talk about it, but there are fairly long periods of doubt that I'm in the right career.  i can't tell if that's just fear, or something more fundamental.   Taeko Sato (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Emma (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Iren (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Yosuke Kusunoki (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? To be a   susan duic (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Rick Carbaugh (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? Family. Relationships. I'm good at teaching.   Clare Maxwell (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? My experience of continual growth, healing, and change that I experienced as a result of the Alexander  work, and the joy that I experience sharing it with others. Also, the way in which the Alexander work revolutionized my dancing and choreography.   Matthias (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Manami Nakajima (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? Alexander Technique   Rossella (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? Love for the Technique, pleasure in teaching and practicing it, joy in seeing other people get better.  A better life for everything that gets a touch of AT.   Susannah (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? I love helping people feel better, empowered, and sometimes even more creative.   Nancy Williamson (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Yoshihiro Nakamura (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   jerry (, jerrATemai.com) 1. What drives you towards this career? de   raquel (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   dawn robinson ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? 2nd version of questionnaire - please disregard previous one!  Such a big fan of the AT - it saved my back but more than that I love the feeling of effortless being and lightness so really want to pass this on to others. I do need to make some money but also building a successful business where I feel that I am making a difference to others is so important to my self esteem. The sense of achievement would be enormous and this is what is driving me   Karen Simmons ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Gary Levy ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? Convictions about the AT work and its benefits   Alice Pryor ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? The desire to continue to share the skills I have to help people.   Andrew Titcombe (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   Deni Jones ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? Because the Alexander Technique is the 'best thing since sliced bread' and everyone needs to know about it !   Jacek Kaleta ([email protected], [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career? I decided to train as an AT Teacher in 2006. It took my six years to prepare for this! I finally finished saving all money last year and started my training last September.    What drives me to this career is three-fold:    - a deep personal interest in this work for my own personal benefit – growth and living my life to the full of my capacities.     - a desire to be able to help other people – to overcome their problems and move towards more balanced and fulfilled lives.    - a desire to be financially successful – to be able to have a stability and possibility of realizing our plans, for myself and my family, and the capacity to help others.     I see a great possibility of success. There’s a huge empty space waiting to be filled in Poland. I have full trust and confidence in the Technique and I truly believe it can make a huge difference in other people’s lives.     Money used to be an issue for me before reading your blog. I didn’t appreciate its importance in my overall plan, but I overcame it quickly – thank you! I already had a fairly healthy relationship with money before, but now I include it as one of my main motivators. I set myself quite ambitious financial goal to achieve by the end of the year. If I fail, it doesn’t matter. This ambitious goal has already changed the way I think about my practice, and informs me in what I have to do to be successful.     I need money to be able to support my family; my parents are growing old and there are other people in need around. My plan is to give away at least 10% of my money, so the more I earn, the more I give away!     I also want to be successful financially in order to be able to make the Technique my only professional occupation. This is very important for me. I waited 6 years to be able to start my training – this is what I want to do full-time, without any compromise. I want to have a satisfaction from doing the job I like and don’t want the job–life separation. I want to be able to say: “I’m living my life at work”. No matter how small % of AT teachers is able to work full-time (1, 5 or 10) these days – I want to be the part of this group.   Janet Shulman (, [email protected]) 1. What drives you towards this career?   ***   If you read this far – wow! I did. Twice so far, and many more times to come I hope. It’s how I come to know you, and you know each other. We are on a tsunami at the moment, let’s keep going… TOMORROW: More to look forward to.