Workshop ‘Current Science and Alexander Technique’ in Vienna

Our colleagues at the Wiener Ausbildungzentrum für Alexandertechnik are organising a workshop ‘Current Science and Alexander Technique’ with Dr Patrick Johnson and Dr Tim Cacciatore in May in Vienna, which we would like to recommend to all Alexander Technique teachers and trainees.

May 4th and 5th, 2019 – 10 am – 5:00 pm Saturday, 10 am – 4:00 pm Sunday
€ 170 ( € 150 if paid before March 30)

For questions and booking please contact Andreas Sandri: alexandertechnik@sandri.at
A PDF poster can be downloaded from G.A.T.OE. (Gesellschaft für Alexander-Technik Österreich).

 

Details
The goal of these workshops is to confront our current relationship with science and to get our scientific explanations and concepts up-to-date. We combine lectures, group activities, and discussion to identify and debunk misconceptions and to build new, current models that support what we do and how we communicate.

We emphasize rigor, jargon-free communication, and reference to current experiments.

Specific topics will include postural control, sensory appreciation, body schema, stress, biomechanics of procedures, emotions, inhibition, and direction. Activities will include body illusions, experiencing body schema in action, inhibition tests, and plenty of break out discussion groups. We will also be debunking outdated concepts such as tonic neck reflexes, righting reflexes, ingrained startle pattern, tensegrity, and natural movement.

About us
We have been giving these workshops for three years now, live and via webinars, in Ireland, Spain, England, Israel, The Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and the USA for both AT teachers and teachers in training. Our initial goal was to communicate rigorous science of Alexander Technique in ways that are accessible and fun. The workshops have since grown in both content and scope. They are now part of a broader dialogue about how to think objectively, scientifically, and professionally about what we do. We are excited about the enthusiasm and content they have generated.
 
Dr. Johnson is a PhD. physicist and a practicing STAT/NeVLAT certified teacher of the Alexander technique with over 15 years of research experience and 8 years of AT teaching experience. Dr. Cacciatore is a PhD. Neuroscientist and STAT certified teacher, author of many peer reviewed scientific articles on Alexander technique, with 20 years of research experience.

For whom?
This workshop is for Alexander teachers, teachers in training, and students who want to understand Alexander technique from a scientific perspective. No background in science is needed. For participants who have taken workshops with us before, this workshop will serve both as a review and reinforcement of concepts and will include new material – we are constantly updating our material

Location:

Wiener Ausbildungszentrum für Alexandertechnik.
Lustgasse 3, 1030 Vienna
Austria

Time:
May 4th and 5th, 2019 – 10 am – 5:00 pm Saturday, 10 am – 4:00 pm Sunday

Price:
€ 170 ( € 150 if paid before March 30)

Contact:
alexandertechnik@sandri.at

Open Hours Saturday 23/02/19

Saturday 23 February, 10:00 am – 12 noon

If you would prefer to find out a bit more about the Alexander Technique before trying a lesson, then come along to an Open Hour. You can meet us, hear a short talk about what the Alexander Technique is, and how it could benefit you. You can also experience the Alexander Technique for yourself in a short practical demonstration (time allowing), and have your questions answered.

This event will be in English and German.

You can just drop in during the Open Hour, there is no need to book in advance. We look forward to meeting you!

Head balance

Central to the Alexander Technique is the balancing of the head on the top of the spine. Not for aesthetic purposes, although a well-balanced head looks beautiful, but because it requires a lot less muscular effort. The weight of the head is in the region of 4.5–5.5 kgs in an adult. Lift up a 5 litres water bottle and you have will an approximate feel of the weight you are carrying on your spine during the day. Various studies have calculated the extra effort involved if the head (and frequently the neck as well) is forward from your body’s line of gravity. One study suggests that even just 15 degrees protruding head and neck is the equivalent of carrying 15 kgs of weight instead of 5 kgs. This means back musculature have to work a lot more and the increased pressure on the chest may well interfere with the breathing. With the Alexander Technique you learn how to let go of unnecessary tension so that the muscles of the spine and back can expand and lengthen, thereby allowing the head to balance freely on the top of the spine, with minimum of effort.

Open Hours Thursday 31/01/19

Saturday 31 January, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

If you would prefer to find out a bit more about the Alexander Technique before trying a lesson, then come along to an Open Hour. You can meet us, hear a short talk about what the Alexander Technique is, and how it could benefit you. You can also experience the Alexander Technique for yourself in a short practical demonstration (time allowing), and have your questions answered.

This event will be in English and German.

You can just drop in during the Open Hour, there is no need to book in advance. We look forward to meeting you!

Open Hours Thursday 05/01/19

Saturday 05 January, 10:00 am – 12 noon

If you would prefer to find out a bit more about the Alexander Technique before trying a lesson, then come along to an Open Hour. You can meet us, hear a short talk about what the Alexander Technique is, and how it could benefit you. You can also experience the Alexander Technique for yourself in a short practical demonstration (time allowing), and have your questions answered.

This event will be in English and German.

You can just drop in during the Open Hour, there is no need to book in advance. We look forward to meeting you!

Wholeness in Walking

‘To take a step is an affair, not of this or that limb solely, but of the total neuromuscular activity of the moment, not least of the head and the neck.’ said the famous, Nobel-Prize winner physiologist Sir Charles Sherrington. This was a tribute to Alexander’s technique, for it was preceded by: ‘Mr. Alexander has done a service to the subject by insistently treating each act as involving the whole integrated individual, the whole psychophysical man.’*

The Alexander Technique teaches how mind and body work as a whole. Take the example of walking. Walking depends on the freedom of the joints, especially of the hip, knee and ankles joints to bend freely. The freedom of the joints depends also on the ability of the muscles to lengthen effortlessly. Muscles constrained by tension restrain joints from moving easily and may also compress joints, making walking stiff and a lot of work. With the Alexander Technique you learn to expand your musculature in movement, especially of the head and neck, so that the spine can lengthen and all joints are decompressed. This in turn allows for swift and effortless movement of the joints, so that walking can be easy and efficient.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.

[* quoted from The Endeavour of Jean Fernel by Sir Charles Sherrington (Cambridge, 1946).]

Taking Care of Yourself Through 8 Shows a Week

Advice for professional actors on how to take care of yourself using the Alexander Technique in the Backstage Magazine:

Everyone needs a chance to rebound from stress. The good news is that you can build in a regular practice such that the more you work, the more resilient you become. . . . This is where Alexander Technique comes in. The Alexander Technique gives actors tools for taking ownership of their time, starting by learning to pause. Allowing for moments to reset and drop in can free you from leaking too much of your energy over the day. Efficient use of energy is not just a body question, it’s the way we think into our body that can help us reduce stress and exhaustion, increase stamina, increase energy. . . . In an ideal world, there would be an Alexander specialist assigned to every show and a place to meet with actors backstage.

Read more at backstage.com/magazine. Or contact us for an introductory lesson and learn how to use yourself and your energy efficiently in everyday life – or in performance!

Primary Coordination

Alexander discovered that there exists an optimum coordination of the head, neck and back which makes human movements fluid, easy and graceful.

This organisation of movement exists in all vertebrate animals. Small children have this coordination instinctively. Due to stress and harmful habits we may lose this natural coordination. Typically we strain the neck, causing the head to compress down on the spine, and we shorten the spine. Instead the whole muscular arrangement of the body should ease and expand so that the spine can lengthen and the head can be delicately balanced on top of the spine. This makes for uprightness and freedom of movement.

This is not achieved by exercise or manipulation but by a conscious change of our habitual way of sitting, standing and moving in everyday life.

With the Alexander Technique you can reinstate this primary coordination of movement.

You are warmly welcome to come to one of our ‘Open Hours’ events to get an impression of the Alexander Technique.
Through a series of lessons you can learn to practice the Alexander Technique.