Direction Journal

A great response from one of our subscribers on the Audio Interviews...

I’ve really been enjoying the audio interviews.  John Nicholls, whose refresher course I took this past year, was particularly engaging.  His thinking about group teaching is right on the mark for what I am facing right now.

I’ve been giving intro workshops to staff at my university, under a wellness initiative. These are people who are not paid that well to begin with, and because of the economic mess in Maryland, we’ve all had salary reductions.  Some of these people’s spouses have lost their jobs, so stress is very high. They are so appreciative for anything that makes their lives a little simpler. And now a number of them want to take a group [Alexander technique] class, because they couldn’t possibly afford private lessons.  I was struggling with the decision, knowing that they could move ahead so much faster with individual lessons, but I weighed that against the possibility of their getting no training, and thinking of that, it was obvious that a group class is the way to go.

It will also pull them together as a community in a positive way, rather than their connection being through the terrible anxiety about money and the possibility of losing their jobs.

I am coming up on a break this January, and I’m looking forward to listening to some more of the Carrington talks and reading more of the Congress papers.  Thanks again for all your work to keep this vital journal alive.

Best regards,
Wendy

Paul's note:

Thanks Wendy. I too am looking forward to seeing how group Alexander technique work develops as demand increases over the next few years. The Group Dynamics Issue will hopefully open a discussion on the necessity of this medium to share Alexander's discoveries with many others, create communities, increase support for our work and to help Alexander teachers make more than a living. There are many brilliant group facilitators in our community to learn from and I've brought just a handful of them into this latest issue. Keep a lookout for a new section on this website dedicated to group work, we're in the process of structuring it for the benefit of all teachers and students.

PC