Direction Journal

I heard a very good story the other day about a guy who sells boats in Florida. Every time he had a new boat to sell he would write a little bit about it and post it on his blog. Then, when he sold it, he wrote a little story (or got his customer to) about them, their new boat and where they were going to use it, why they bought it etc.

Do you know...his website stormed to the top of boat websites on Google's first page...outperforming much bigger websites, much bigger budgets!!

Why? Because he was posting fresh relevant content, boating locations, boat specs, social proof (customer testimonials) and information that people wanted to know about boats on a medium (blog) that is highly respected and loved by search engines.

So two things I'd recommend every Alexander Technique teacher do immediately if not sooner :)

1. Start a blog. The search engines love new content and will index your site high in search results...if you are writing often. Make sure you include in your blog regular mention of the following keywords: Alexander Technique, your suburb, your city...and any other areas of help you feel you're particularly good at (like back pain, or shoulder pain or stress relief etc)

Alexander Technique is being searched more and more thesedays...and with the publicity machine of Steven Shaw now taking USA by storm (you might not have heard the news Steven told us on the interview this week??) if you have new, fresh content on your site, at least weekly, Google will love you.

Thanks to people like Shaw and the Art of Swimming...you can leverage his reputation and gain new business.

2. Put a contact form on your page with or without an optin box. (too technical?) Every time someone comes to your site...offer them something now...something free, like a voucher for a complimentary lesson if they bring a friend...or a cup of tea with a group of beginners on Saturdays...you know, something unique to you. Whoever you're trying to appeal will only understand if you talk their language...do stuff they will appreciate. ok?

The golden rule of a website really is to make friends. Keep it simple and honest. Don't try to be someone you're not.

But if anyone arrives at your website and has to manually type in your email address (too time consuming); or has to pick up the phone (too lazy or too nervous) and there's no "call to action"...no urgency for them to do something NOW...they will click by and perhaps just go to their doctor for a pill...or buy a video on home stretching...yikes!

At the end of August I'll be interviewing Roy Palmer...an Alexander technique teacher who has really mastered the art of making friends with people online. Check out one of his successful websites now and put into your calendar our appointment on Monday 17th of August. It will be a learning curve that goes straight up for me!

PC

The time for this interview is not great for the USA listeners this time round...unless you're an early bird!

But for Australia, Asia UK/europe...finally it's our turn for a comfortable timezone :) And we're all in the same day for a change too!!

If you haven't heard of Steven...you've probably been underwater too long.

When I met Steven in the pool a couple of years ago I quickly realized why this man has built such a huge following...the water seems to be his second home and his softly spoken approach really puts you a ease.

And, to my relief...he makes swimming easeful for the less floaty like myself. I've always swum a bit like a housebrick...despite many, many years of swimming growing up...it was always associated with too much effort for too little gain.

We can't really get wet on this interview, but we will be learning how Steven has taken swimming and the Alexander Technique international, in a BIG way.

With 100+ Shaw Method trained teachers in his stable, there are public classes, private classes, residentials all over the world. Not to mention dvds, books, goggles!

How does one man do it? Or does he do it all himself?

I'm looking forward to finding out how we can all learn

better ways of bringing what we know to the world.

Check out the August 20th, 2009 article in Forbes.com here. 

More about Steven...

Steven learned to swim at an early age and his love

of being in the water led him naturally to join his local

swimming club where he took up competitive swimming.

At the age of seventeen he quit - burnt out from the long

hours of hard training and suffering from a severely

strained neck and upper back. At this point in his life

he vowed never to return to recreational or competitive

swimming.

While at University he was introduced to the Alexander

Technique as a means of relieving his pain and became

enthused by the ideas of F.M Alexander.

In 1990 he started the three year Alexander Technique

teacher training course in Israel. During this time he

began to re-explore his relationship with the water

and by applying principles of the Alexander Technique

in that element rediscovered his passion for swimming.

Together with his former wife Limor, he developed a new

approach to teaching swimming -

The Shaw Method of Swimming.

Using his unique approach he has over the years helped

thousands of people to find freedom and ease in the water.

Steven enjoys working with swimmers and non-swimmers

of all levels ranging from those who are fearful of putting

their faces in the water to triathletes or people training to

swim the English Channel. He teaches groups and

individuals throughout the UK and has introduced the

Shaw Method to Japan, the US and Canada. Steven is

available to run workshops throughout the world in

applying the technique to swimming.

Steven is the Course Director of the Middlesex University

accredited Diploma course in the Shaw Method and has

trained close to 100 teachers. He is the co-author with a f

ormer pupil Armand D'Angour of the 1997 'Art of Swimming

in a new direction with the Alexander Teachnique' and has

produced two videos. He recently completed his second

book Master the Art of Swimming and is currently working

on his third book which will be for parents and children.

**My friend Amanda Cole has just released a new CD, please support her wonderful work**

This groundbreaking recording features the Australian mezzo-soprano Amanda Cole in a program of fascinating and evocative Portuguese art songs. Now based in Dunedin, New Zealand, Cole conceived the project after discovering the little-known songs in music archives during a trip to Portugal in 2007. Using her gift for languages, she researched the literary, historical and cultural background to the songs, securing support from the Jack Straw Foundation in Seattle, USA and the Camões Institute in Portugal in order to perform and record them. She is joined on the album by the noted New Zealand pianist Sandra Crawshaw.

The pair worked extensively on the repertoire and ensemble with Cathy Madden, Alexander Technique teacher and performance coach in Seattle.

As the extensive album notes explain;

"saudadeis a wistful melancholy caused by the absence or disappearance of people or things to which one has become emotionally attached."

It also describes a sense of deprivation of pleasant experiences previously enjoyed. We might call this feeling “yearning” “longing” or “nostalgia”in English, but the Portuguese concept has a deeper cultural significance. Many of the poems from which the featured composers derived inspiration are representative ofSaudosismo, an early 20th century nationalist movement that was closely linked to a revival of the Portuguese Golden Age.

For the poets of this movement (thesaudosistas),saudadewas proclaimed as nothing less than the spiritual lifeblood of the Portuguese race: at once a sentiment, an idea and an emotion where all existence, body and soul, pain and happiness, love and desire, heaven and earth become one. It is a concept that still defines the Portuguese temperament.

Cole brings her own interpretation ofsaudadeto the album. The cover, also designed by the singer, depicts a painting she bought on the streets of Lisbon on her first extended trip to Europe as a student in the 1990s. Cole’s voice – dark, sensuous and suggestive – captures the yearning quality of the music and the hopes and longings of the Portuguese soul that animate it.

Saudade: a Portuguese Songbookis not only a musicaltour de force. It is also groundbreaking in musicological terms, linking the exploration of cultural and historical themes to performance in a way that enriches the enjoyment of the listener. The result is an original and deeply moving evocation of a little known poetical and musical tradition that is sure to surprise and delight.

Enquiries:amandina@xtra.co.nz

"The Art of Group Teaching"

I've always wanted to reach as many people as possible with my Alexander Technique. I put flyers out, ran newspaper adverts, put a notice on my website, emailed everyone I knew, sent letters to local practitioners who might send their clients...but still only a handful of people attended.

For Meade, 50-70 people to an introductory workshop is normal... and not just now that she has a reputation, but from the very start. Wow! How quickly could we touch people in our community if we regularly filled rooms like this.

But what do we DO with them when they're all sitting in rows waiting for their own cauliflower to open?

Meade has been doing this for 23+ years and now brings her knowledge to AT teachers who want to be more effective in communicating with groups. I'm looking forward to our chat and delving into the insights that Meade will be generously sharing with us.

To register your attendance at this conference, please click here.

More about Meade Andrews...

Meade has taught and performed as an actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and movement coach for dance and theatre throughout her career. She trained at the Alexander Alliance (1983-86), and most recently completed a teacher refresher course with John Nicholls in New York City, where she also attended Jesssica Wolf's course in the Art of Breathing. Meade has taught throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Meade currently maintains a private practice in Boca Raton, and teaches in the graduate acting program at Florida Atlantic University. She also travels to teach in NY and DC, where she directed the dance program at American University, and continues to present workshops at the Studio Theatre, her professional base for 20 years. Meade presented her work "The Art of Group Teaching" at the Lugano Congress, 2008.

To celebrate the release of our first Direction Journal in 4 years, The Garlick Reports Compiled, we are launching two new subscription packages.

Late in 2008 a new “membership” section was created at the website.

Whilst we've been busy beavering away creating content like Walter Carrington audios, Live Interviews, articles, journals, congress papers etc, the whole concept of "membership" might have been lost on many.

So, we’ve simplified the whole “membership / subscription” thing. (hopefully!)

Now there are just two types of subscription available at Direction Journal, NOT “membership”. I won’t be mentioning “membership” ever again, ok? Well, maybe once.

Subscriptions Free and Subscriptions Paid.

A Free Subscription is a taste of our resource base. All of the Walter Carrington audios are available, with 2 new recordings loaded each month, a selection of Congress papers from 1988, 1991, 1994 plus a few bonus live interviews added every now and then from the paid subscription vault. Also a Directory listing is included, valued at $20 per year.

A Paid Subscription is the full deal. You’ll receive all benefits of the free subscription, plus every new issue to your door, all back issues online, the complete Congress Papers from 1988, 1991, 1994, recordings and transcripts of live interviews, plus more products and services to come. PLUS a pdf of every new issue for printing replacement copies from your desktop!

For more information on each type of subscription (see, it rolls off the tongue better than membership) click on the blue links above, or here.

If you were one of the first to join us back in November by paying $1 for a 2 month trial…we hope you’ve made the most of the 6 months of “trial”!

For Direction Journal to stay alive this time, we are looking for an ongoing commitment from you and the Alexander community. A brand new issue is in the pipeline for delivery before Christmas and the plan is to produce a print version quarterly. 

But wait there's more...

We're working on a community concept that just might be a revolution for publicizing Alexander Technique internationally and at the same time give AT teachers a place to develop their own businesses online. But more on that soon.

If you value the independent voice and creativity that is Direction Journal, subscribe now.

PC

Apart from a couple of final conversations with our designer and the printers...we are almost ready to go on the first Direction Journal since Volume 3 No. 4 in 2005.

Over the first 18 years of Direction Journal, Dr David Garlick was a pillar of its success. His passion, dry wit and unique talent at bringing the scientifically complicated to the Alexander Technique community was renowned.

Thanks to technology, Croatia, India, UK and USA...plus a tireless Editor in Melbourne...just relocated to the Gold Coast (!) we are able to now bring together all 20 of Dr Garlick's reports into one handy issue of Direction Journal...albeit squeezed into 40 pages.

If you've ever referred back to your Direction Journals...wondering "where did I see that reference to red and white muscle fibres that Dr Garlick explained so well...?" Soon it will all be at your finger tips. PLUS, you will also have an opportunity to print replacement copies from your desktop (as part of a subscription package)

We will only be printing exactly enough copies for orders. Gone are the days of carrying stock.

The new magazine will cost $22 + postage and handling...OR included as part of a subscription package.

Stay tuned for details on our new subscription plans.

PC 

I first met Catherine via email when I took over Direction Journal in late 2001. She was the incumbent issue editor of our “The Future” issue (Volume 2 No. 10) which had been put on hold due to financial problems. Catherine had interviewed 6 master teachers of the Alexander Technique; Marjorie Barlow, Walter Carrington, Richard Gummere, Elisabeth Walker, Erika Whittaker and Peggy Williams and also brought together all of the writers for that issue…a commendable job.

When I attended the Oxford Congress in 2004, with a mountain of Direction magazines to sell, Catherine’s workshop was one of only two I signed up to experience. “Teaching Without Touch” was for me, a novel concept, having graduated from a more "traditional” training course. If we didn’t have physical contact with our student, there probably wasn’t much we were teaching them!

When Catherine and her training school co-director, David Mills suggested we grab somebody off the street to introduce to Alexander Technique I had to inhibit my skepticism. Why would a complete stranger to our work even want to experience it, let alone obtain benefit from such a quick experience?

I don’t think the volunteer I helped to bring in from the street really knew how their perspective on life could change so easily, so quickly. The process Catherine uses to introduce new thinking to people was revolutionary to my idea of how to help people change using AT.

Join me on this call for an insight into how Alexander Technique can be introduced and taught to groups, large or small.

Click here to register and post any questions you'd like discussed as we only have 60 minutes to fill.

More about Catherine…

Began studying the Alexander Technique in 1973 with Marjorie Barstow and qualified as a teacher in 1976. Has worked in United States and Europe.

• Presented at the 1991 Engleberg Congress, Switzerland
• Guest Teacher 1994 Sydney Congress, Australia
• Presented "Teaching Without Touching" at 2004 Oxford Congress, UK
• Helped found Alexander Technique International
• Co-founded The Performance School in 1986, an Alexander Teacher Training course based in Seattle, USA

Catherine is also an American Sign Language/English interpreter with a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She came across Formal Consensus via her involvement with ATI which has led to an exploration of conflict resolution, dialogue and decision making processes. She enjoys horseback riding, Aikido, tap dancing, bike riding and learning languages.

I read Body Learning first, then I read Use of the Self. I wonder how many others around the world have found their way to Alexander Technique via this route over the past 28 years since it was first published. His writing is prolific, his calendar booked solid internationally and yet he speaks from his easy chair as if time is only a commodity that the unenlightened must labour with. (see clip below)

Juggling  was something that I had naively put into the same basket as learning a second language, perfecting the violin and ice skating. Either you learn it when you're young or spend half your life trying. But Michael gently rearranged my limiting beliefs by teaching me to juggle in under an hour...by reading his book !

Michael Gelb has worked with the top corporations in the world and takes time from his busy schedule to speak with me about life, his passions and the future for Alexander Technique.

Visit his website here for a biography that reads like several (of my) lifetimes.

Reserve Your Space Early!

My good friend and guest on our next call will be Jeremy Chance. Founder of Direction Journal in the mid 80's and now a successful Director of a training school known as BodyChance, with campuses in Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan, Jeremy needs no introduction in the Alexander Technique world.

Jeremy trained in England in the late 70's and then went on to train again with Marjorie Barstow.

His love affair with Japan began with meeting his wife Jaldhara in 1987, and continued after marriage in 1999 with the opening of his training school in Tokyo. After many reinventions and years of perseverance in a vastly different culture to where AT originated, Jeremy has now cracked the formula with his BodyChance training model.

Our talk will focus on the keys to success in reaching people who know nothing about your profession, don't understand the language and don't have the social structure to support such a self-empowering learning dimension as the AT work.

Perhaps these skills are needed in any culture?

Body Chance Japan website

Body Chance Australia website

Live Interview Announced with Josephine Gray, Sunday 17th May 2009

About Our Call

Our conversation is going to focus on Josephine's work with the IT division of Chevron/Texaco which was brought to my attention via her Lugano Congress Presentation. 

If you're wondering how to attract the attention of corporations and perhaps reach a wider audience with your work, Jo will be open for questions at the end of our call. There are very few AT teachers successfully working in the business sector...seize the opportunity to learn from Jo's mistakes and pick her brain on the secrets to securing higher paying work.

More about Josephine...

Josephine started studying the Technique in 1983 in San Francisco to rescue her career as a professional violinist from a debilitating repetitive strain injury. She has studied the Technique in London and Rome and has a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance. Josephine has taught the Technique for 5 years to actors at the American Conservatory Theater Summer Congress and to singers at Opera and the Arts for Young Girls. 

Visit her website here.