1. ALEXTECH LIST BACK! - DIRECTION is now sponsoring this useful discussion list of Alexander teachers, trainees and students.
2. ABOUT ALEXTECH LIST - Kay Hooper reflects on her own journey with the List: from neophyte to qualified teacher. Why not join?
3. HOW TO JOIN ALEXTECH LIST - You can join at our website, or follow the instructions here to become part of it.
4. Alexander DIRECTORY - Thank you for your emails, 76 teachers elected to get printed free. But are you in the web directory?
5. SAMPLE POST - A sample post from the AlexTech list by Ed Bouchard discussing why the debate is so hot and how it can stay healthy.
6. CONGRESS PAPER - This is the paper that Cathy Madden and Jeremy Chance presented at the Freiburg Congress in Germany in 1999.
You can now join this rich discussion list at our web site - http://directionjournal.com/alextech/join.html
Since 1998 Jeff Haas has kindly managed the AlexTech Maillist, which has been a source of stimulating discussion and useful information. Recently he and his wife had a new little baby come into their lives and managing the list proved too much - as some of you know, the list became occasionally silent.
Jeff then decided to pass the list on for DIRECTION to manage and this important job is being overseen by David Billingham. David is both an Alexander Teacher and computer whiz and has been active in rebuilding and managing STAT's successful site. He will also be known to readers of DIRECTION as our resident reviewer of Web sites. You can contact him with any questions concerning the list at mailto:owner-alextech-list@alextech.net.
You can join the list our website - http://directionjournal.com/alextech/join.html
Or follow the instructions after Kay's article below.
The quieting of the AlexTech list was a bit of forced inhibition. Jeffrey Haas, who has so gallantly managed the list for the list five years, is now gallantly handling his new son. We long-time listers take off our cyber hats to him in gratitude for his fortitude and skillful handling of the discussions.
The list continues, however, managed by David Billingham on behalf of DIRECTION at their alexstech.net site.
The sponsor of the list is DIRECTION, the international journal of the Alexander technique. To contact David, email him at owner-alextech-list@alextech.net.
As I await the inevitable return of my favorite listers, I am taking this opportunity to share some of my experiences with the list. When my husband first found this list, I was embroiled in a group called "sorehand". The members of the sorehand group were a volatile mix of pain sufferers and care providers, many of whom made their living as computer workers. As a firm convert to the benefits of AT, I would run to my then-NASTAT list of teachers and make referrals. After some weeks of this, I received this email: "Who are you? Don Krim". I replied, "Who are you? Kay S. Hooper". How I could have rummaged through my NASTAT list so often without seeing the president's name, I'll never know.
Don and I had some exchanges which turned into an invitation to the Illinois AGM. My husband had located the AlexTech list by then, and I was beginning to get to know lots of names of prominent teachers. At the AGM I had the opportunity to put faces to some of those names, and my relative anonymity was beginning to erode. One of the best moments was attending a workshop and finding Don - in person. I'll always remember his warm welcome to me that day, even though I was not even a trainee yet. Thanks to the list, I found out about other workshops that proved valuable to me. I travelled to Boston to work with Chris Stevens and NYC to work with Sherry Berjeron-Oliver. At both of these programs I met more of my communicants.
Eventually I put out a request on the list for a training school that would fit my location and my need to keep family and work in tact. Several listers sent me to The Alexander Foundation (now the Alexander Alliance) in Philadelphia, and I became the first cyber-recommended trainee at Bruce and Martha Fertman's school. It was here that I would meet one of my favorite listers, Buzz Gummere, in person. And it was here that I would reach my long-term goal of completing my certification.
Part of the course includes work at Sweet Briar College in VA. My first summer there I had the opportunity to meet up with another keypal, Frank Ottiwell. My circle has continued to widen, and to mention all the people who have encouraged me would take more than the space allowed.
I do want to thank Jeremy Chance in public for his consistent support. He offered me the authorship of the FreeMail column for "In All Directions", then this Internet space, and now my own website under the alextech.net aegis. (http://www.alextech.net/at/hooper) Someday, Jeremy, we will actually meet face to face!
If you are giving some thought to the value of a being on the AT list, my story may inspire you to imagine ways in which you can learn, grow and connect with others of like desires. From a tiny spot in Central Pennsylvania, I have been fortunate to touch clear around the world through this list. It could happen to you!
The easy way to join is through our website -
http://www.directionjournal.com/alextech/join.html
Alternatively, you can do it now using your email. First, open a new email, and then follow these step-by-step instructions -
1. ADDRESS YOUR EMAIL TO - majordomo@alextech-list
2. IN THE SUBJECT BOX TYPE - subscribe
3. DECIDE WHICH VERSION YOU WANT DELIVERED - ***DAILY*** OR ***WEEKLY*** VERSION??? (FOLLOW 4A OR 4B)
4A. ***DAILY VERSION*** IN THE MAIN BODY OF THE EMAIL, TYPE IN EXACTLY THE FOLLOWING -
subscribe alextech-list
4B. ***WEEKLY VERSION*** IN THE MAIN BODY OF THE EMAIL, TYPE IN EXACTLY THE FOLLOWING -
subscribe alextech-list-digest
5. Check that you have typed it EXACTLY as shown. Make sure you have ALL lower case letters (NO CAPS) so it will work properly.
6. EMAIL IT TO - majordomo@alextech.net
7. You will instantly receive a reply asking you to approve your membership request. This is a safety measure to stop anyone else subscribing you to the list without your permission.
8. REPLY to this email to become a member.
THE END!
If this sounds too complicated, just use the simple form at our website -
http://www.alextech.net/alextech/join.html
Full details on how to handle list commands are available by emailing mailto:majordomo@alextech.net and typing "help" in the message part of the email.
DIRECTION has now printed the "hardcopy" edition of its online search engine for all Alexander contacts. Thank you to all those 76 teachers who sent their details - your name and email is listed free in the printed version.All subscribers to DIRECTION will receive a copy with the next issue, posting out next week.
Are you also listed at our web site? Now that it is getting known, DIRECTION's simple, quick and very comprehensive database of teachers is getting popular. Try it if you haven't already at -
http://www.directionjournal.com/md.html
DIRECTION subscribers can get listed here for just $20 a year. Already over 600 teachers in over 25 countries have elected to be listed. We offer free listing to all training schools and Societies so it is easy for new students to find the school closest to them.
If you want to get listed, you can do it online at -
For a free web listing, go to our site and register your URL -
http://www.directionjournal.com/linkapp.html
The following message was posted by Ed Bouchard to the AlexTech Mailist on Tuesday, August 8th, 2000. As background - it has recently been getting hot on the list, with tempers showing and personal slights edging their way into the informed discussion.
Ed compares this to the evolving co-ordination of young person and puts it nicely in perspective. If you are thinking of joining the list, this gives you a flavour of the postings...
***
by Ed Bouchard
Regarding the oft heated exchanges about the development of the Alexander technique among various parties in this discussion, consider an 1866 insight from John Hughlings Jackson:
"It has been said that he who was the first to abuse his fellow man instead of knocking out his brains without a word, laid thereby the basis of civilization." (in Inhibition: History and Meaning in the Sciences of Mind and Brain, by Roger Smith, U. of Cal. Press, 1992, p. 179).
John Hughlings-Jackson (1835-1911), "the father of English neurology," parceled out science with a Victorian mindset. Still, let's draw out an analogy, a la Hughlings-Jackson, of debating with reciprocal inhibition. Just as articulating agonist and antagonist muscle groups furthers an individual's coordination, articulating opposing positions furthers the collective understanding (Hughlings-Jackson's "basis of civilization"). To that end, critiques (made mainly by Coffin but I'm sure there are others) of so-called "revisionists" (mainly Staring, Rickover, Dennis, and Bouchard (me)) serve to move thinking along - as have Staring's equally sharp critiques of Alexander teachers (also including Bouchard).
But there is good use and poor use in debating too. Reciprocal inhibition, as articulated by Sir Charles Sherrington in 1906, is a recognition that muscle groups work in antagonist or agonist pairs by a give and take process whereby when one group activates, its contrary partner inhibits e.g. the biceps and triceps. The opposite of reciprocal inhibition is co-activation, e.g., biceps and triceps activating together. While reciprocal inhibition has a basis in reflex (and usually below consciousness) processes, there is a training effect. A definition of coordination is that antagonist and agonist co-activation is a measure of un-coordination -conversely co-activation absence is a measure of coordination (Basmajian & De Luca, Muscles Alive 5th edition, 1979, pp 225-230). (Actually, it's more complex than that but this definition will do for now.) In the debate/reciprocal-inhibition analogy, listening corresponds to inhibition. Accurately absorbing information corresponds to accurate proprioception, which is necessary for an appropriate response. -- motor or conceptual. When the listener responds, the opposite side takes over the listening. Not-listening but instead putting forward what you believe (want, expect) the other to say corresponds to co-activation.
In the past (March 17), John Coffin cited a failure between the opposing parties (me among others and him) to reach agreement "on standards of perception and concept formation" and implied that constructive airing of disagreements is not possible when the parties have "incompatible standards of truth and evidence." I guess we disagree about that too. But whatever our respective standards of truth are -- or whether they are in actuality so different -- a discussion is about the understanding, not the participants. According to electromyographic gait studies, it takes a toddler some time to develop coordinated gait (ibid). While neck and torso reflexes beneficially dominate a toddler's trunk use, first steps are beset with considerable limb co-activation. Ungainliness is characteristic of learning any new activity. Acquiring a new understanding of how the Alexander technique developed no less so. No doubt both sides will debate co-actively, over responding with over-the-top, uncalled for personal invective. But as Alexander teachers and persons concerned about the Alexander technique, we are in this together. We may never achieve coordinated manner of discussion, but it may be worthwhile to pay attention to our manner of debating use. However, even when we fall down, we're making progress.
Here it is - an exclusive to FreeMail. This is the complete text of the presentation made on Friday morning to all participants of the 6/99 Freiburg Congress in Germany. As at the time of this FreeMail (August 2000) the paper has not been published - so this is the first time it has been made available to read.
Note that the "transparencies" mentioned in the text are not shown in this email. If you want to see them, they will be put up at the website in a few weeks time -
http://www.directionjournal.com/congress/fc/maddenchance.html
It is long, so we have not reprinted it here. Go the the link above to read it.
NOTE:
This was the original text prepared for the Congress. Due to time limitations, much of this material was cut out of the final presentation. The version that will be published in the Freiburg Papers will reflect some of those changes, but will differ again from the version we are publishing here.
http://www.directionjournal.com/congress/fc/maddenchance.html
We apologise but it does not currently display with the graphics - we will fix that in a few weeks. Remind us if it still isn't done - we're human too!
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