Teaching As A Student

Teaching as a teacher is a horrible thing to do to a student.

For a start, it's an arrogant position to start from. How do you know they don't know? When you project ignorance onto another person, it's a pretty egonic position.

"I am the one who knows."

How does it feel to be taught by someone like that?

Of course, SOME kind of teaching is all about information, BUT NOT our work. There is no curiculum for Alexander's discovery.

How can you learn what you already know?

I remember discussing this with Walter Carrington years ago - when I was first having these kinds of insight about the work - so I remarked to Walter:

"We aren't really teachers are we?"

"Of course not my boy" he shot back.

What?!!

Walter's reply was so fast and sure - I was gobsmacked. I had been expecting a mini-debate, but canny Walter put a quick stop to that. I quickly came to the conclusion that I was not THAT confident about my postion, so I shut my gab.

Now I am opening it again.

Of course we say "teacher" because it is convenient and easy for outsiders to grasp. We offer "education" but our kind of education has very little to with the "education" people are used to. I mean - how many things are there in this world that you can study for 6 months and still not have a clue what the hell you're studying?

Don't you just love Alexander's discovery for that?

Nope. We ain't teaching, we're waking people up.

I wish I could call my trainees "BodyChance Communicators" when they qualify, but my trainees are still hooked on the identity of being "Alexander Technique" teachers.

Damn!

Still, my 139 trainees know these days to be VERY CAREFUL when they say 'Alexander Technique' in front of Jeremy, because I will immediately ask them: "What's that?!"

So how do you teach as a student?

Well, what you don't do is plough in saying:

"Hey stupid, you have to move your head and whole body. Duh!"

…and put your hands on, yank them up, and hope to God something happens that impresses them enough to pay for another lesson!

I know. I'm being extreme.

And you get the point now right?

And hey - don't lie to your Self and think you never did a version of that, because you know you did. I can still be caught at it. This is subtle stuff. There's another whole dispatch just on how to open a first "lesson" …

What you do is listen. You watch. You start by gathering information.

This is the stuff of ThinkingBody Online.

It's Step 1 on my Compass of Change, and if you register below you can get of a copy of my essay where I explain how I evolved the Compass to fit in with Alexander's discovery.

I am still working to get ThinkingBody Online up and running, but those people who register now - as I did with BodyThinking Online - will get a special offer. ThinkingBody Online ultimately gives you personal access to me in a Facebook group, as well as a heap of teaching ideas.

ThinkingBody Online

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