What Makes a Great Alexscovery Teacher - Part I

Great Alexscovery teachers need to know a lot about a little.

And a little about a lot.

The little thing we need to know a lot about is Alexander’s 1st Discovery. 

We found out - via neuroscientist David Anderson at the Berlin Congress - that this was also discovered by Albert Grenier in France, who went on to apply it to newly born babies. To this day, it is widely practised in France. Curiously, Grenier’s discovery did not infect paediatricianal practices with infants in other nations. The weird inability of this discovery to disseminate is something we are all familiar with.

How would I describe FM’s 1st Discovery?

Head movements calibrate vertebral coordination of the limbs while you do what you do.

Comprehending, observing and applying this discovery is the core skill of any great Alexscovery teacher. I am at a loss to know why people find it so hard to define what we do?

This core skill is one a trainee must embody in their own movement before undertaking the task of guiding others. That’s it! Why is that so hard to understand?

Everything else opens up from this core undertaking - just as it did for FM when he first tried to implement it within himself.

Once upon a time, I was often plagued by the question: “Am I doing the Alexander Technique? Am I being unethical by teaching the way I am right now?” Well, as I now often advise my trainees - if you are attempting to help a person utilise FM’s 1st discovery in their way of living, then yes - you are being ethical. 

So anything - ANYTHING - is allowed when guided by this simple understanding.

Can you see why I almost despise the moniker “Alexander Technique”? It limits individuals' thinking and plunges them into despair the minute they innovate some new way of teaching. It is death to creativity.

Well, I am getting a little carried away. Sorry.

When you are paying attention to how head/spinal coordination governs the overall movement in your student’s activity - you are professionally unique. There is no other profession as obsessed by this little thing which I call Alexander’s 1st discovery.

However, to be effective as teachers, we also need to know a little about a lot of things.

What do I mean by that?

Stay tuned!