Trauma-Informed Alexander (TIA)

People who help other people are mostly artists, creatives. Not biz types.

Artists struggle with business, because the business world is alien to their values. This world thrives within a military metaphor of triumph and defeat, whereas an artist is giving birth to something. Both can be bloody, but while business hinges on beating the other down, art hinges on lifting the other up.

When artists contemplate TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Substack, or even Facebook — they think: "I can't do all that. I can't push myself on everyone."

I've spent a lot of time coaching Alexscovery Teachers (aka Alexander Technique) on how to gather students and build a successful practice. Most are not very good at it.

Finally, I understand why: we don't like to be visible.

Maybe that's a fundamental trauma at the heart of every artist?

The artist likes to hide. I like to hide. We do not want people looking at us.

But how can you succeed if your work is not seen?

An artist succeeds by moving an audience. Even Vincent van Gogh - who only sold the painting shown above for 400 francs just before his death* - understood that his art needed to be seen. He wrote to his brother:

"I can do nothing about it if my paintings don't sell. The day will come, though, when people will see that they're worth more than the cost of the paint and my subsistence, very meagre in fact, that we put into them." (Letter 712, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh).

This kind of despair is common among artists.

The feeling that we can't succeed, that people won't understand, that we don't know how to push ourselves, that others are better than us. All these worries and fears create a cacophony of barriers – trapping us in places we don't want to be.

This is our trauma, and getting clarity about these issues is how we escape.

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Over the next two weeks, I will be writing about this topic, warming myself up for the one-day workshop I am offering in London on Sunday, August 23rd, and in New York on Sunday, October 25th.

Information and Bookings

It's my opportunity to go "visible" by exploring a leading-edge application of Alexander's discoveries. You are welcome to peek over my shoulder to read what I am thinking. And for those of you who have been following my PILANDES series - I will continue that in September.

NEXT: Why Are We Hiding?

Stay Tuned.

NOTE
This is the 1st in a series of 12 emails as a prelude to my Trauma-Informed Alexander workshop in London (August 23rd) and New York (October 25th). You can book at the link below. Email me for a discount if you are an AT trainee or financially challenged:

Information and Bookings

* More recently, scholars have pointed out that Vincent most likely did sell more than just the Red Vineyard painting shown above, but it is still a rounding error compared to the 900+ works that he produced.