New Audio Galore

During the hottest week of my short life time...Melbourne's worst heatwave I had the opportunity to speak with Esther Gokhale, practitioner and now self published author in the field of back pain. Her travels around the world observing many "untouched" cultures have helped her crystalize a belief that western culture suffers from back pain due to poor posture.

No real surprise for Alexander Technique teachers. However, her method of delivery of the information she has refined over the past 20 years is of particular interest to our profession in my opinion. In her short career she has attracted the attention of 20+ medical experts in the Palo Alto area of California with one such professional currently conducting a trial of her methods for back pain sufferers.

If Esther can raise so much interest in the broader "sickness" market by formulating her work into a format that they will embrace and recommend, then she has bridged the gap between "them" and "us". 

A brief look at her website: www.egwellness.com gives a lesson in how to use modern methods to network a philosophy into the wider community (based as it is on Esther's face-to-face formula she talked about on the call). Picking her brain on Monday night over the phone was not only enjoyable for me, it was enlightening to the listeners we had on the call. Here are a couple of comments I received the same day:

"Following the business development patterns was most interesting to me. I found myself thinking about a short training in this egwellness with Esther as an addendum to bring a potentially larger client base." Christie

"I think it [is] amazing how quickly she got people well. By the way, you did a wonderful job facilitating the call, and creating an atmosphere of openness." Aryana

Subscribers can now download the recording from the Free Subscription Vault.

But the good news is that I've just found an amazing resource of Walter Carrington audios...the first one will be posted here for everyone to enjoy. 

More on that later this week.

Subscription Gets New Audio and Journals

Each and every month I am loading up another 2 Journals from our back catalogue. This month, Dart and Barlows make it into the subscription vault. Also, an exclusive interview with Glenna Batson, a veteran of the Alexander Technique both as a student and teacher. Glenna has conducted research and works at the Drama Department of Dramatic Arts at University of North Carolina, USA. 

Beginning in 2009, the interviews I conduct will be advertised in advance. They will be held on a conference bridge that allows multiple people to be on the line at the same time and at the end of our talk I'll open the line up for questions. We'll aim to get our main interview covered in 40 minutes, then attendees can ask questions that are more relevant to their own needs.

All interviews are recorded and transcribed for subscribers to access at their own leisure. I'm so excited to launch this new phase of Direction Journal...just let me know of people you'd love to hear interviewed live...or people you'd like to have the opportunity to speak with candidly.

PC

Special Sells Out in 18 Days Flat

I hate missing out on things that I want...but it happens. Kinda makes me get myself organised in future. But whilst some people didn't like the email follow ups and reminders, many others didn't get around to check their email and are on a waiting list, lamenting.

But, all is not lost. Whilst having every single journal on your desktop is attractive and handy, you can still access all of the journals eventually via our subscription. 

A perk of Direction Journal subscription is that over the course of the next 12 months, every journal will be added to the subscription vault. So, you may have to wait a bit longer than the first 100, and still pay a little bit more ($128.40 instead of $95) it's still an awesomely good deal.

But, to only pay $128.40 for 24 journals, you must take out a Direction Journal subscription now.

Soon the initial joining fee will be $60, then by the time all journals are available, the initial joining fee will be $120. Now, that might be a steep investment to start with, but you can immediately download $564 worth of journals...so perhaps a bit more relative...a good deal nonetheless!

I would be investing in a subscription now so that I could belong to the community which is exploring and publishing Alexander Technique today.

Lots more is to be added to the vault, as we are just collecting together some of the most amazing content available online. Can't wait to share with you the big news...!

PC

Today is the day!

For the first time in the 23 year history of Direction Journal, we are giving the keys to our treasure chest of the entire back catalogue for a limited time.

You can get everything that has already been produced for less than $4.00 per copy!

But that's not all, if you've ever lost a copy and had to buy another, you'll never need do that again, because now you will be able to replace it at no cost! 

If you've ever wanted to find one particular article on a topic, but don't have the time to pull each volume off the shelf...now you can search each issue in an instant. 

And finally, if you've ever wanted to share your journals with others but baulk at the cost of replacing them if not returned, you need never worry about that again either.

How can all this be achieved?

Go straight through to the full explanation now: http://www.directionjournal.com/specialcatalogue

But this one-time offer is only open to the first 100 people or until the end of November...whichever comes first.

A new era is about to begin at Direction and we're welcoming it with this promotion that not only gives you the power to make as many copies of the journals as you wish, but also to use the articles to spread the word about Alexander Technique...now that we are beginning to gain some mainstream recognition.

Don't put this off until tomorrow, you might miss out. The offer is that good.

I'll keep you posted on how many are left.

Best regards, Paul

The day before tomorrow...

What's happening tomorrow?

Well for starters...take a look on the right side of this page.

A member's vault has been built. A 2 month trial can be had for $1. Take a look and see what's included.

That is a big part of the excitement. As much as I'd like to break the news early on the rest of the excitement...I have a couple of more tests to follow through on and then you'll be given the keys to another treasure chest. I'll break the news first here, so keep an eye on this blog for advance notice tomorrow ok?

We've had a small but passionate response to the Pictorial survey. A larger response was expected, but I guess the excitement from Congress has dissipated somewhat now. And that's probably a more real assessment of the demand for images from a Congress anyway.

It would take us a month or so to produce a Pictorial issue and I guess the risk is always there...the horse might have bolted so to speak. Let's give it another week and I'll get some more images up in the meantime.

Anyway, I'll be back in a few hours time with the big announcement.

PC

Congress Pictorial or Not?

After much ado...(just my own) we have the first samples of photos in from the Congress photographers.

There are hundreds...and hundreds.

Rather than place them all here, we've chosen a cross section of the images available...and will add more soon. There are just sooo many! And the quality of the shots really is terrific.

Congress Photos Here

Go take a look and then visit our survey page to help us decide whether or not to publish these pictures into a magazine.

The concept is called a "Congress Pictorial." Your usual Direction Journal standard of production, but in full colour for a change. A collection of exerpts, comments, stories from the Congress may also be included to give additional body to the imagery. But it's the images that are so valuable to our work. 

We won't produce a Pictorial unless there is sufficient commitment and to that end our survey page has been constructed to find out for us.

Please take 5 minutes to visit the page and click on the multiple choice questions.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

PC

Congress Photos Are on Their Way!

Good news!

Just received an email from the photographers and the photos are complete. They aren't available to everyone yet as they're still in edit mode, but it won't be long.

Have you filled in the survey yet? Click Here

Unless we get enough responses, a print version of the 8th Congress just won't be possible.

Lots of progress on our catalogue, just let me say that you won't be disappointed.

PC

You go on without me...

I wish you well, I really do! 

I've had to cancel my trip at the last minute due to family commitments. After many months of planning and the inevitable building of excitement, the let down has been hard.

I guess, the new website will get more attention from me here, than swanning around in sunny Switzerland! Looking at the bright side is pretty hard at the moment.

Anyway, I'm very close to making the announcement I've been planning for well over 12 months. I'd love to let the cat out of the bag now...but...I won't!

If you don't know how these blog things work, just drop me an email at paulcook@directionjournal.com and I'll help you get it. Rather than rely on "old fashioned" email that gets eaten by trigger happy spam hunters thesedays, subscribing to a blog guarantees that you'll never miss an important update from our business again.

Stay tuned, I hope to have more news and more additions to the website by Monday.

And yes... enjoy the Congress without me...won't you dear?

PC

A work in progress

Welcome to the new Direction Journal website.

It's bare bones as you can see!

Rather than get it all looking perfect with loads of pictures and content...which will take me the next 6 months, I opted to launch it in "build mode" so you can be part of the experience of building a new website.

Hey, I'm open to suggestions, so please submit your ideas and we'll review and implement as we go along.

As I type this...we are only days away from the 8th International Congress in Lugano.

My tickets are booked, are yours? 

OK, back to work...I've got a 16 year old website to dismantle, a bit like going through the attic after you inherit a family asset!

PC