This issue was published in October, 2000. Listed below are some of the articles featured in this issue. You can order this issue now by going to our order page.
This listing is organised into three levels -
by Riki Alexander. Many of us have the luxury of deciding whether to discuss race or not. For people of colour, race is not an optional topic of conversation - it is something they live by. In this article, Riki discusses the time when NASTAT (now AmSAT) members tried to denounce formally certain passages in Alexander's "Man's Supreme Inheritance". The response they got both surprised and disheartened them. Do we have an obligation to keep discussing the issue of race and racism?
by Glenna Batson. With little emotional distance allowed between lessons and life in Ecuador, Glenna learns more about teaching "con alma" (with soul). A somatic oasis - a source of salvation? Or could the Alexander work, when imported into Ecuadorian culture, end up functioning as a form of conditioning, of homogenisation?
by Robin Gilmore. Robin Gilmore is the issue's Editor. For 6 years in Japan she directed KAPPA, a four year training program for teachers of the Alexander work. In Japan she discovered: linguistic idiosyncrasies; glimpses of the unknown; the practice of not bowing as an exercise in Inhibition and much more - detailed in this fascinating article. KAPPA, she concluded, was always a work in progress.
by Marcia F. Freeman. Working with people who "listen" by watching, the Alexander teacher needs a way of communicating Alexander concepts through sign language. Having discovered that sign language can convey the central concepts quickly, the challenge then becomes translating the subtleties of the work.
by Tommy Thompson. Is there such a way of life? And, if so, how would we live it and bring it into the teaching context in a multicultural world?
by Rosa Luisa Rossi & Cathy Madden. While working together in Europe, Rosa and Cathy compare notes on multicultural teaching as they travel through the Swiss landscape. Rosa poses the question, as a non-English-speaking Alexander teacher, is it a must to bring oneself to a higher ability in the English language?
Hella Linkmeyer is interviewed by Frank Sheldon on her work with African Bushman, where she visited the !Kung (click your tongue) Bushman of the Kalahari Desert in Nambia.
by Mervyn Waldman. Mr Patrick Macdonald, A Master Alexander Teacher (1910-1991), demonstrated a special use of his front hand while teaching. Mervyn has analysed this usage and explores the multitude of directions through all the fingers of the hand and wrist in applying this technique while teaching. The article is illustrated with seven photos showing the directions he uses.
by Nicola Hanefeld. Nicola was the official photographer at the International Alexander Congress in Freiburg in 1999. Here she presents a montage of 8 photographs showing different expressions and usage's of the hand.
by Louise Gould. Quote - "One vivid memory I have of the Freiburg Congress is of a voice crying out from the wilderness for 'more hands-on!'." Louise reflects of her experience, offering many word pictures of a Congress that some are saying was the best ever. Certainly one of the most friendly.
by Richard Brennan. How do we eliminate what appears to be so normal? On a world trip with his family, Richard reflected on the multitude of "uses" that seem to arise from cultural habits.
by Grant Ragsdale. Why would anyone put aluminium foil on their neck and march, quote - "up and down the living room in strange reflective atttire holding bent wires out in front.."? To know the answer to that question - you're going to have to read this article.
by Jeremy Chance. Jeremy explores multicultural issues of the future - cars with attitude and buddies with the police.
by Robin Gilmore. "In January of 1999, an appointed official in the Washington, DC mayors office was forced to resign due to his use of a word. That word is not a racial slur, but it sounds like another word which is..." Robin sets the Multiculural issue in a context.
by Dr. David Garlick. At the Freiburg Congress, Dr. Garlick presented exciting new research on muscle fibres, with significance for the Alexander Technique.
by Michael Holt. Michael revisits the issue of Alexander's racist comments in MSI and illustrates the fact that he wasn't the first great man to have some unacceptable beliefs. In contrast to Riki Alexander's article, he questions the need to keep revisiting this aspect of Alexander's past.
This is the 12 page yellow insert which features news and views from around the world. Regular features in this section include -
Mis Direction - a comic look at the oh-so-serious issues of the electronic era
FreeMail Internet Roundup - A review of the more interesting posts on the AlexTech mailist that is sponsored by DIRECTION. Click here to join the list.
ATI News Roundup - An article on Transactional Analysis and the Alexander pupil is reviewed.
Epiphanies - An example from this issue, quote - "When we are truly in this interior simplicity our whole appearance is franker, more natural. This true simplicity makes us conscious of a certain openness, gentleness, innocence, gaiety, and serenity." FRANÇOIS FENELON. There are 4 other lovely quotes to ponder.
STATNews Roundup - More of the goings on from the largest of the Alexander Societies.
Fresh Voices - The first in a new series of expressions directly from individuals currently training to be teachers. We start with a group in Germany.
AUSTAT News Roundup - Lots of interesting articles, news and ideas from
the Newsletter of the Australian Society. Quote - "A haiku from Seamus
Heaney finishes the newsletter on a hopeful note:
Dangerous pavements
But I face the ice this year
With my father's stick."
Walter Carrington Recalls FM - The next of a long series of Walter's recollections of Alexander, this time on the effects of FM's stroke: "He did less, and as he did less, he got better results, more effective results."
WWW Web Reviews - David Billingham comments on these two Alexander web sites - one in the UK, the other, Cathy Pollock's site in the USA.
Book Reviews - In this issue reviews of "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design" by Galen Cranz; "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" by Michael Gelb; "The Hand: How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture" by Frank R. Wilson - all reviewed by Lawrence Bruce. Also reviewed by John Coffin is "Collected Writings on the Alexander Technique" by Frank Pierce Jones, edited by Theodore Dimon and Richard Brown.
There's still a more in this issue not mentioned - but you can get your own copy by ordering a subscription through the link immediately below.
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DIRECTION Journal is now distributed to thousands of readers spanning 40 countries. Every issue produced is commissioned and contains exclusive articles by teachers expert in their Alexander-related field. It is also provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and new discoveries from research findings for and by the global Alexander Technique community. DIRECTION is the leading global periodical on the Alexander Technique.
In All Directions
16 pages of humour, gossip and politics, including coverage of four major Alexander
newsletters.
Walter Carrington recalls FM
In anecdotes full of meaning, Walter recalls some revealing and amusing incidents
of Alexander's life.
Book Reviews (edited by Lawrence Bruce)
Every year it seems there are even more books on the Alexander Technique. Now
we cover every one of them.
The Garlick Report
Dr David Garlick, a medical research scientist at the University of NSW, writes
of his Alexander research. Click here to
read a Garlick Report.
FreeMail: the e-volution of the Technique
Kay S. Hooper reviews AlexTech, the Alexander Technique Internet sites.
Friends of Alexander
Margaret Long, resident of Alexander's birthplace Tasmania, presents a fascinating
history of F.M.'s friends.
Mis Direction
Every issue, Mis Direction takes the mickey out of those who have forgotten
how to laugh at our work.
ViewPoint
A provocative column that regularly generates many thoughtful reader responses
- featuring a new writer every issue.,
Upcoming Issues
The Future - edited by Catherine Kettrick
Where are we heading? Do we have a vision of the future?
Yoga - edited by Ken Thompson
East meets West in this exploration of parasite and principle.
Rehabilitation - edited by Glenna Bateson
Can we really continue to say we are just educational?
Running - edited by Andrew Woodward
How to keep fit and move well while we do it?
Healing - edited by Mika Hardar-Borthwick
Is healing educational and part of Alexander work?
Communication - edited by Lawrence Bruce
Do words have more power for transformation that we recognise?
Scientific Method - edited by Peter Grunwald
What does state-of-the-art research say about Alexander today?
Marketing - edited by Marsha Palaudan
What do pupils expect? How does the web affect Alexander Technique?
Learning Methods - Edited by Kay Hooper
Learning how to learn is more important than learning itself