M02.15 Nature's Plan Goes Online

Could you build an online business? For a community that spat the dummy over teaching in groups, it's quite a move. Of course what is obvious is that kinaesthetic information can not be delivered down an optic fibre. So how can it work without touch? Building An Online Alexander Technique Business First off, I are talking about delivering an online service to a hobby niche: people who have a skill-based movement they are perfecting over a lifetime. Musicians, dancers, sportswoman, martial artists, snooker players, golfers – you get the idea. They have been studying their activity plans for years. (see earlier blogs on Co-ordinations Plans and Activity Plans) Secondly, niche fanatics most often have precise awareness and knowledge of their activity plan: they are sensitive to any changes that occur, even the slightest. When you suggest "co-ordination plan" changes (head moves your Self so you can…) they can both apply and experience the difference through your delivery of targeted activity/co-ordination plan information. Thirdly, what we are delivering is a software program that utilizes hardware already in the possession of every person on the planet. Alexander Technique teachers don't dish out experiences, like it is a commodity in our possession. Something is in our possession, but it is not the inherent ability for every person on the planet to move deliciously. That's theirs. They do that, not our hands. What we have is new set of conscious instructions to restore what has been confused and abused innocently by folks now suffering as a result. Taking these three points together, there is a logical argument that Alexander Technique discoveries can be delivered online. I do not think of it as an "alternative" to the direct contact with a teacher, rather I see it as new stage in the delivery of the work, a "pre-step" that will effectively leverage your knowledge to contact more people. That's why I advocate that you 1. Get a niche and 2. Blog about it. You are building your own intellectual property within the sphere of an activity plan. My plan to take the work online is based on the premise that experience can be triggered by cognitive intervention alone - it's was Alexander's own path. No-one gave him lessons. Marjorie Barstow returned to that path, by insisting that your understanding move in tandem with your experience, instead of accelerating past it. We have all had those "wow!" experiences that we cognitively have no idea how to recreate. Elisabeth Walker once told me that the overall thought dominating her mind after her first lesson with Alexander himself was "How can I get this back?!" Alexander himself is said to have declared that you can do what he did, but the trouble is "…none of you have the discipline." Niche fanatics have the discipline. They have intimate knowledge and experience with an activity plan, and anecdotal evidence I have gathered seems to indicate they are quite capable of experimenting with co-ordination plans on their own. This is leading edge stuff and I don't expect you to agree – I am certainly daunted by the challenges inherent in such a project. But we have to begin. There is no other way. And the beginning is to evolve the work into detailed activity plans – this is the knowledge base that is weak to the point of non-existence in our community. If you are not sure what I am talking about, that is part of my point. Niche teaching isn't just about financial success, it is also a powerful way for people to realise the work. Niches eliminate the need to fully explain the co-ordination plan a.k.a. Alexander Technique. Go get one today!