Direction Journal

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.