My Twinks & Teens Nightmare

One of my recurring “nightmares” is being a goofy old pupil amongst twinks and bitchy teens at a High School for youngsters – just like you see on TV. Think Riverdale. A gentle wave of derision ripples towards me as I walk into the classroom to take my seat…

I keep having this nightmare even today!

Well, I did it.

I went back and finished my schooling. 

In fact, I attended a technical college in East Sydney for Mature Age Students – that’s me – and had a lot of fun. I was awarded three credits which got me into the University of NSW. At Uni, I completed the first dull “foundation” year and was finally about to start my exciting 2nd year specialising in Physiology…

Then - in January 1986 - Marj turned up in Sydney.

After her workshop, my passion for Marj’s radical teaching style began to overwhelm my interest in a Science degree. Marj was already 86 years old – how much longer would I be able to study with her? After all, this was the first teacher who graduated from FM’s Teacher Training School.

University wasn’t going anywhere, but Marj could die any second.

So I left University and travelled to Lincoln, Nebraska in the American summer of ’86 and met a whole slew of new American friends who had been studying with Marj for years.

It was there I learnt more about the scorn Marj’s work generated from some of my Alexander-style teaching colleagues. There was an official movement against accepting people trained by Marj as legitimate teachers.

One British teacher – who was brave enough to come all the way to Marj’s 4-week summer camp in Lincoln – uttered her shock and dismay when she witnessed how Marj taught…

“Why don’t you teach inhibition?” she asked Marj one day in class.

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Inhibition is a critical concept in Alexander’s way of teaching. FM would say to you:

“I want you to stand up from the chair.”

Then you had to say (think):

“No. I will not stand up from the chair.”

Then FM would use his hands to guide you out of the chair.

If you didn’t “inhibit” he couldn’t guide you.

If you didn’t “inhibit” then you’d stand up from the chair in your usual way. 

Suppose you stood up in your usual way. In that case, Alexander’s hands could not assist you to experience Nature’s default mechanisms in full force, i.e. how Alexander’s Discovery of head/spinal coordination could blow your mind away. One person who had lessons from Alexander put it like this:

“It felt like he sucked me up out of the chair by putting his hand on the top of my head!”

But Marj did not use the word “inhibition”. She didn’t take people out of chairs. She didn’t talk about stopping or saying no. Instead of one person in a chair, it was 60 people watching one person having a lesson. All Marj’s language was positive: about movement; about what you wanted; about saying “yes” to your wish.

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So it was understandable that this London-trained teacher felt out of sorts.

Marj’s reply to her question –the way she managed this moment of change – would stick in my mind for a long, long time. It would slowly transform my entire teaching technology.

Tune in to my following Daily for her reply!

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This story – and many more – is included in my series of videos, which go into great detail about Alexander’s teaching technology and how Marj adapted and changed it for the modern world. It took me more than 20 years - and training over 100 teachers - before I could finally make sense of it. And any teacher passionate about the work will love these stories - and exercises and explanations included in my ThinkingBody video series. 

Click on the link to learn more and gain access…

https://bodychance.mykajabi.com/store/TGFBWut4

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